Forbidden Broadway: Behind the Mylar Curtain (97 page)

HUGH

LIZA

BOTH

HUGH

JUDY

LIZA

[Trying to get JUDY's attention.]

Mama! Mama!

JUDY

Pushing LIZA away.]

HUGH

JUDY

ALL THREE

ALL THREE

HUGH

[Outdoing LIZA and JUDY!]

"Fiddler Made a Goof"

Here in this revival of Fiddler on the Roof, everything
is mis-directed. Golde looks like a fashion editor from
Vogue; Tevye is played by a British Spaniard putting
on a fake Midwestern accent. Even the cheery little
character of Nachum the Beggar now ferociously
mimes and mimics everything we do. You may ask,
"Why is this simple beggar now a central character?"

I'll tell you: I don't know. But as long as a brilliant Brit
is directing the show, we do exactly as he says even if
nobody knows what it means.

[ALFRED MOLINA enters.]

ALFRED

A Fiddler with no Jew. Sounds crazy, no? But here
in our little village of Manhattan, there is a current
revival of Fiddler on the Roof that looks like a Branson
Missouri Shtetl revue. Sitting through it isn't easy. You
may ask, "Why do British directors like Sam Mendes,
David Leveaux, and Trevor Nunn want to direct Gypsy,
Fiddler, and Oklahoma!? Who knows? And how do they
destroy and dismantle our masterpieces?That I can tell
you in one word: Direction!