Inside Zoetic Stage's ‘Fiddler' and what it means to present the musical now

Miami Herald

11-03-2025

'Fiddler on the Roof' has been on Zoetic Stage Artistic Director Stuart Meltzer's wish list for quite for some time. The director has been waiting to stage a production for years, he confides. This season, his wish is granted.
Playwright Joseph Stein's 'Fiddler on the Roof' is an ageless classic for many reasons. While its story depicts the struggle of a traveling Jewish milkman named Tevye, who, yes, knows how to play the fiddle, it ultimately is a tale about family and love. It features such universal — and timeless — themes that it's no wonder it has been revived countless times and still being produced since its Broadway debut in 1964.
Although 'Fiddler on the Roof' is a classic musical, there's always room for artistic interpretation. While Zoetic Stage is a small, 11-person company, Meltzer says he used this as an opportunity to get creative. On par with the theater company's mission to create bold interpretations of plays, Meltzer and his team dreamed up the idea of using puppets to help move the story along.
'We have a rabbi puppet, we have an innkeeper puppet, we have our Russians,' lists Meltzer. 'If we can bring a little joy to the audience through the puppets, let's go ahead and do it.'
Zoetic Stage's production of 'Fiddler on the Roof' begins with a preview Thursday then opens on Friday through April 6 in the Carnival Studio Theater at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
Meltzer believes that the play's fundamental storyline about family automatically makes it relatable and relevant, no matter the place or decade. 'We keep coming back to 'Fiddler' in different periods of time and we ask ourselves, 'What can we see from it? What can we learn from it? What can we gain from it?' Aside from everything, it also has this wonderful music that is not necessarily incredibly complex but is something that is memorable and wonderful.'
The plot concerns Tevye, a father and husband, and his family dynamics. His eldest daughter, Tzeitel, wants to get married to a man she loves rather than the future husband her family has picked for her. Set in 1905 in the Empire of Russia, such notions were unheard of. However, being a man of faith and a father who loves his daughter, Tevye decides he needs to work through what he should do while the world changes around him.
Meltzer says the choice to produce 'Fiddler on the Roof' was a deliberate one, especially with what's happening around the world. Since last October's Hamas attack in Israel, reports of antisemitism around the globe continue to be on the rise.
'It is absolutely because of everything going on in the world that we chose this musical,' says Meltzer. 'Antisemitism is at an all-time high and the access to true Jewish stories becomes muddled by the media… I think that there is a bit of an importance within our Jewish community to identify that and to bring people together in a space of dialogue.'
The Jewish faith is predominant throughout the musical — references to certain prayers are made, Yiddish phrases are baked into the dialogue, and many Jewish traditions are brought to life on stage.
'Everyone deserves to tell their own stories,' says actress Shayna Gilberg, who plays Tzeitel. 'Everyone deserves to tell the story of their people and their history. And that's why I think it's really important to put Jewish people in Jewish pieces.'
This will be Gilberg's first performance with Zoetic Stage and one that she says holds a special place in her heart. The actress says as a Jewish person herself, it's always been a dream of hers to be in a production of 'Fiddler on the Roof.'
'My whole life, my family has sung the songs of the musical and we've always joked that 'Sunrise, Sunset' is going to be my father-daughter dance at my wedding,' says Gilberg. 'It's not very often, especially being Jewish, that you're actually given the opportunity to play a role that pertains to your heritage,' says the actress.
As for her character's story? 'I'm telling the story of a girl who cares deeply about her family and her traditions but also cares about herself as an individual.'
Gilberg will be sharing the stage with actor Ben Sandomir, who plays Tevye.
Sandomir was in the last musical produced at Zoetic Stage, 'Cabaret' in 2024. The veteran actor is excited to once again grace the intimate stage and step into such an iconic role. For Sandomir, the voice of Tevye has always been the actor Topol, who brought the character to life in the 1971 film version of the musical.
'It's been hard getting Topol's voice out of my head,' reveals the actor.
In order to prepare for his version of Tevye, Sandomir says he created a world in his mind. Closing his eyes to envision that reality, he says, 'I went through stories . . . and tried to just see that from a different perspective and to take it in without anything else. I tried to ground myself in the world of a man who's living at that time.'
Since the sets are minimal and the 200-seat house is incredibly intimate, it's up to the actors to help build this world for the audience to see, says Sandomir. And the creation of that world starts with the actor before they step foot underneath the spotlight, he emphasizes.
'It's really about the connection with the people,' says Sandomir. 'When you're so close to the audience, there's no hiding the reality of your character. You have to ground that in something in order to be believable.'
If you go:
WHAT: Zoetic Stage's 'Fiddler on the Roof'
WHERE: Carnival Studio Theater at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. preview, Thursday. Opens Friday. Performances 7:30 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Through April 6.
COST: $76, $66.
INFORMATION: 305-949-6722 or arshtcenter.org
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