"FIDDLER ON THE ROOF" - ABY RELEVANCE FOR ECONOMISTS? Nuremberg Opera, Germany: Premiere „Fiddler on the Roof“ The good and the bad The production of the musical hit "Fiddler on the Roof" at the Nuremberg Opera is as holy as the Pope himself. Good and bad are face to face. Here, the bad protagonists are the Christian Russians: drunk, violent, obeying orders without reflection, always ready to rape - and only capable of folk-dancing. Facing them are the good protagonists, the Jewish Russians: poor, tidy, hard working, and deprived of their rights. Director Hansjoerg Hack has portrayed the history of the oppressed Jews. He has converted the criticism of Russians in the original musical into anti-Russian platitudes. For example, take the conflict between some young Russians and the Jewish girl Chava. The exact wording in the original musical text reads as follows: "Fedja, Sascha and another Russian appear at the same time. They cross the road and stop Chava from entering the shop... A dispute begins. Chava: "Would you please let me pass?" Sascha: (standing in Chava’s way): ‘‘Why? We would like to congratulate you." Fedja: (calm) "Come on, stop it!" Sascha: "What is the matter with you?" Fedja: "I said, stop it!" " This is the original Jewish-American text of Joseph Stein. How does the musical performance interpret this text? Sascha and another Russian grasp Chava’s feet. She is being dragged by the two boys and cries out loudly. The question is planted in the audience’s mind: Has a rape occurred? Actually, only small parts of this musical refer to the relationship between Christians and Jews in Anatevka, which is taken to represent village life in tsarist Russia around 1905. The major part of the performance focuses on the life of the Jewish community - and particularly the rebellion of the young daughters against Jewish tradition. The struggle between the old and the young comes to a head with the selection of the daughters’ future husbands. With the assistance of the matchmaker Jente, the head of the family Tewje (Heinz Klaus Ecker) is looking for three wealthy brides. The marriage of the Jewish girl Chava to the Christian boy Fedja causes a severe breakup between Chava and her parents. The reaction of Tewje is to characterize Chava as dead, and to state that her name should no longer be mentioned. This episode shows the resistance against day-to-day life that is molded by religion. A similar conflict still exists today between orthodox and non-religious Jews, particularly in some cities of Israel. The orchestra, under the direction of Karsten Huschke, played better than the badly recorded Duchesse CD. But the music was not able to communicate the feeling of lightness and amusement that was captured on the CD of Robert Merrill (Decca 448 949-2) or in the video with the heartwarming Chaim Topol (MGM Home Video, 1971). Perhaps the producers underestimated the difficulty and expense of staging a sparkling musical performance in Nuremberg? Or were they ignorant of the special features of a musical, in contrast to an opera or an operette? After seven years without musicals in Nuremberg, this might not be considered surprising. Opera stars usually don’t do well playing joking philosophical milk men like Tewje, just as good writers may find it hard to be entertaining boulevard journalists. It is not easy to achieve the same success as on Broadway, where Fiddler on the Roof performed over 3,000 times on stage. Even though Ecker with his bass voice was very convincing, the portrayal of the Tewje character was poor. Also, Robert Geiger’s stage set left a good deal to be desired. The attempt to show a poor village was not convincing, since new, pre-manufactured wooden huts were featured. Perhaps the general discussion in Germany about Auschwitz interfered with the creativity and the verve of the premiere. In any case, it was not a courageous performance. A bit of reflection suggests there might have been alternative approaches to this production that would have still maintained its uniqueness in relation to the entertaining Jewish-American Broadway version. At any rate, the black and white conception of the world on which the current production is based should have been avoided. The simplistic childish framework of good Jews, bad Christians should have been replaced by a more sophisticated presentation. A starting point might be the statement of the Jewish philosophers Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno: "The Jews were the colonizers for progress...They carried capitalistic ways of life to various countries and drew upon themselves the hatred of all who had suffered under capitalism." Also, a different stage set could have been chosen, for example a picture of German refugees emigrating from the east, or a photographic collage showing destroyed West Beirut, or a Soviet extermination camp under the direction of Leo Trotzki and other Jewish bolshevists such as Swerdlow or the secret service boss Felix Dserschinski. But this kind of innovative performance will probably be staged only by young Israeli directors. Werner Veith Next performances: Ticketphone +49 911-231 3808; http://www.oper.nuernberg.de Oper Nuernberg, Richard-Wagner-Platz 2-10, 90443 Nuernberg (c) Werner Veith 1999 (Anatev20.doc) -- Sent through Global Message Exchange - http://www.gmx.net
