Olivier Awards: ‘Fiddler on the Roof' Secures Most Nominations
The show got 13 nods — seven more than any other musical or play — including best musical revival, where it is up against a production of 'Hello, Dolly!' starring Imelda Staunton, which ran at the London Palladium, as well as ongoing revivals of 'Oliver!' at the Gielgud Theater and 'Starlight Express' at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theater.
Directed by Jordan Fein, 'Fiddler on the Roof' is a stripped-back version of the tale of a Jewish milkman in Czarist Russia who is marrying off his daughters against a backdrop of antisemitic pogroms. It received rave reviews when it opened last August at the Regent's Park Open Air Theater. (It transfers to the Barbican Center on May 24).
Marianka Swain, writing in The Daily Telegraph, called the production 'a masterclass in balancing innovation with tradition.' Fein resisted the temptation to draw out the musical's parallels to contemporary events like Russia's invasion of Ukraine or surging antisemitism, Swain wrote. 'No need when they come through so powerfully anyway,' the reviewer added.
Fein is nominated in the best director category, where he will face tight competition from the directors of three of the past year's most critically acclaimed plays: Nicholas Hytner for 'Giant,' about Roald Dahl's antisemitism, staged last year at the Royal Court and opening in April on the West End; Robert Icke for a version of 'Oedipus' that ran at Wyndham's Theater; and Eline Arbo for 'The Years,' running at the Harold Pinter Theater.
'The Years,' which tells the story of a Frenchwoman's life from early childhood to late-in-life affairs, has recently been the talk of London's theater scene, because numerous audience members have fainted during a scene in which she tries to give herself an abortion with a knitting needle.
Both 'The Years' and 'Giant' secured five nominations and will compete for the coveted best new play award, alongside 'Kyoto,' about climate change negotiations, which is running at @sohoplace until May 3, and 'Shifters,' about two high school lovers who meet eight years after splitting up, which ran at the Duke of York's Theater.
'The Fear of 13,' a production starring Adrien Brody that ran at the Donmar Warehouse, makes up the best new play nominees.
Brody secured a nomination in the best actor category for his performance as a man sentenced to death for a rape and murder that he did not commit. He will compete for that prize against Paapa Essiedu, for 'Death of England: Delroy' at @sohoplace; John Lithgow for his turn as Roald Dahl in 'Giant'; Mark Strong for his performance in the title role of 'Oedipus' at Wyndham's Theater; and Billy Crudup for 'Harry Clarke' at the Ambassadors Theater.
The winners of this year's awards are scheduled to be announced on April 6 in a ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Another category likely to be closely watched is best actress, because it sees two competing Jocastas: Lesley Manville, nominated for 'Oedipus' at Wyndham's Theater; and Indira Varma, nominated for a different 'Oedipus' at the Old Vic Theater.
Also nominated in that category are Heather Agyepong for 'Shifters,' Rosie Sheehy for 'Machinal' at the Old Vic, and Meera Syal for 'A Tupperware Of Ashes' at the National Theater.
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Epoch Times
2 days ago
- Epoch Times
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SKOKIE, Illinois—When 'Fiddler on the Roof' opened on Broadway in 1964, this Golden Age of Broadway musical had a nostalgic appeal, as it looked back to an old-world culture. That made the show charming and engaging. Now, against the backdrop of what is going on in the world, the revival at Music Theater Works in Skokie, Illinois, while still joyous entertainment, has taken on a deeper, more intense, and contemporary significance. The musical was adapted from Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem's tales about Jewish life in the Pale of Settlement, more specifically, during the pogroms of Czarist Russia in 1905.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Art Fein, Los Angeles rock-scene renaissance man, dead at 79
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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Art Fein, Cable TV Host & Author, Dies at 79: ‘The Ed Sullivan of Public Access TV'
Art Fein, a longtime fixture of the Los Angeles music scene who achieved his greatest success as the host of Art Fein's Poker Party, a music-focused public access TV show, died on July 30. He succumbed to heart failure while recuperating from surgery for a broken hip. He was 79. Art Fein's Poker Party, which debuted in 1984 as Lil Art's Poker Party and ran for 24 years, drew such guests as Brian Wilson, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Love with Arthur Lee, Dwight Yoakam, Spirit, Dion, Joe Strummer, Etta James, and session musician Carol Kaye, a member of the fabled Wrecking Crew. And that's just for starters. More from Billboard Gone But Not Forgotten: Musicians We Lost in 2025 UMe & Sofa Entertainment to Bring Vintage Ed Sullivan Show Clips to Streaming for the First Time 10 Memorable Band Managers in TV Shows & Movies Each episode ran for 30 minutes, and featured conversation and performances. Many of the videos are archived at Fein's YouTube channel. 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'Who was this side-burned Pied Piper from outer space with slick black hair like Superman, and just as handsome? … What was this music? This was rock & roll!' Fein became an even bigger fan of Lewis. 'If Elvis was God, Jerry Lee Lewis was the Prince of Darkness,' he wrote. Fein graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder at the end of the 1960s with a degree in journalism. He moved to California in 1971, living for a couple of years just south of Santa Cruz. In 1973, he moved to L.A. He had a brief stint at Capitol in the label's newly-created college promotion department. The department was eliminated less than a year later. Fein freelanced music articles for a time before being hired as music editor at Variety. That job didn't last long either, nor did subsequent jobs in publicity at Elektra/Asylum and Casablanca. Some people just aren't cut out for 9-to-5 gigs. Fein did better working for himself. He hung out his shingle as an artist manager, working with Ray Campi & the Rockabilly Rebels, The Blasters, The Cramps and The Heaters. In 1983, he produced the album, (Art Fein Presents) The Best of L.A. Rockabilly. He was a music consultant for TV and film — Roadhouse 66 (1984), Tour of Duty (1987) and Blood Diner (1987). Fein was also a successful author. He wrote three books: The L.A. Musical History Tour: A Guide to the Rock and Roll Landmarks of Los Angeles (Faber & Faber, 1991, with a second edition published by 2.13.61 in 1998); The Greatest Rock & Roll Stories: The Most Outrageous, Magical and Scandalous Events in the History of Rock & Roll (Rhino/GPG, 1997); and the memoir Rock's in My Head (Trouser Press Books, 2022). In The L.A. Musical History Tour, Fein told readers where to find such L.A. rock sites as the Foster's Freeze in Hawthorne where The Beach Boys hung out; Morrison Hotel, where The Doors shot the cover photo for their 1970 album of the same name; and the location of the 'Rock & Roll Denny's.' He also wrote a blog, Another Fein Mess. Dispatches from 1998 to 2017 are archived at Fein's website. Fein had a long and complicated friendship with Phil Spector. Fein had long idolized the legendary producer and creator of the Wall of Sound. The first place Fein stopped when he arrived in L.A. in 1973 was the now-defunct Gold Star Recording Studios in Hollywood, where Spector produced sessions by such acts as The Crystals and The Righteous Brothers. Over the years, Fein brought many friends, including Gene Sculatti, Bob Merlis, Dick Blackburn, Kristine McKenna and me, to Spector's home for visits. Fein remained loyal even after Spector shot and killed actress Lana Clarkson at his home in 2003. He attempted to stay in touch even after Spector was convicted of second-degree murder in 2009 and was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. But eventually, Fein seemed to accept that he had been loyal to a fault. 'I wrote to him 15 times when he was in prison and never got an answer,' Fein revealed in his memoir. 'By the time he died, on January 16, 2021, at the age of 81, I had completed my mourning.' Journalist Chris Morris (a former Billboard writer and editor), summarized Fein's unique collection of strengths in a review of Fein's memoir: 'Art has served rock & roll as scribe, flack, label guy, manager, promoter, TV host, kibitzer, schmoozer, and all-around good Joe. He has known the famous, infamous, nefarious, and fabulous denizens of the music and lived to tell the tale.' Fein is survived by his wife, Jennifer, and their daughter, Jessie. 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