Fiddler on the Roof

When Tevye the Milkman daidle-deedle-daidled onto Broadway in 1964, he was almost instantly a hit. Fiddler on the Roof, with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, wasn't the first adaptation of Sholem Aleichem's 'Tevye and His Daughters' stories, but it was by far the most successful. We'll look at the history of the show's source material, its road to Broadway, the criticisms of its portrayal of Jewish life, and discuss what makes this miracle of miracles show so beloved.