Tag Archives: ASHLEIGH SCHUMAN

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

★★★★★

Barbican

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

Barbican

★★★★★

“Fein’s direction and Julia Cheng’s muscular choreography is marked by sublime precision”

In its Barbican transfer, director Jordan Fein’s revelatory Fiddler on the Roof retains the elemental power that made it a five-star phenomenon in Regent’s Park. He strips the beloved 1964 musical of its nostalgic veneer to expose something more potent and contemporary: a raw and resonant meditation on tradition, displacement, and the endurance of community.

Fun, too, in case there should be a misunderstanding. Great fun.

Set in 1905 in the menaced Jewish shtetl of Anatevka before the Russian revolution, Fiddler follows Tevye, a weary but devout milkman, as his five daughters begin to choose love over arranged marriage, and the outside world encroaches upon his way of life.

Anchored by songs like Tradition, If I Were a Rich Man, and Sunrise, Sunset, it’s long been cherished for its warmth and wit. But Fein’s version – subtly but decisively restaged – asks more interesting and topical questions too: what happens when the traditions that once sustained a community begin to fracture under the weight of change? What is the true impact of displacement, of a people menaced from their homes?

Where the musical was once critiqued as “shtetl sentimentalism,” this staging leans into pared-down grit, stoic humour, and haunting lyricism. There is a modern feel to the witty script – and to the resolutely ambiguous ending.

Tom Scutt’s gorgeous design is emblematic of the approach: instead of quaint rooftops, we see cornstalks uprooted and suspended above the stage, evoking both harvest and trauma. The titular fiddler (a magnetic Raphael Papo) becomes not just a symbol but a shadowy companion, echoing Tevye’s inner world with eerie cadenzas and an eventual duet with Hannah Bristow’s Chava – whose marriage outside the faith breaks her father’s beleaguered heart.

The huge cast is potent, using impressive numbers to magnificent effect, a dream sequence appearing like a fully-realised Hollywood dance number. Meanwhile, Adam Dannheisser’s Tevye is no grandstanding showman but a wry, tired father trying – and failing – to hold his family together through reason, prayer, and rueful monologues. His comedic timing is sharp and he plays out with great relish the classic sitcom paradigm of the father and husband who declares his dominance only to have it slyly eroded by the headstrong women around him.

But it’s his gentleness that resonates most, particularly opposite Lara Pulver’s commanding Golde, whose grounded and wary pragmatism keeps the domestic scenes taut and touching.

Fein’s direction and Julia Cheng’s muscular choreography is marked by sublime precision. The Bottle Dance at Tzeitel’s wedding is performed under a canopy that rises and falls. On top of that precarious canopy, and ominous, the fiddler makes clear that everything is poised on the brink of a mighty disaster. The Russians are coming.

The cast functions as a true community, especially in the spine-tingling finale as they sing Anatevka, their voices braided with longing, resilience, and bitter clarity. In a final image, the toppled milk cart, beautifully lit, appears like an oil painting. Everywhere, indeed, there is beauty and catastrophe.

One of Fein’s many achievements lies in his refusal to oversell modern parallels. The production trusts its audience to make the connections – to recognise in Anatevka’s forced dispersal the long shadow of global displacement. It neither moralises nor rants; it simply tells the story with integrity and emotional intelligence.

For all its sumptuous visual invention and musical flair, Fiddler is most powerful in its silences: a father cut off from his daughter, a community carrying candles into the dark, a fiddler playing an aching lament.

A joyous and moving triumph from beginning to end.



FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

Barbican

Reviewed on 3rd June 2025

by Giles Broadbent

Photography by Marc Brenner

 

 


 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA | ★★★★ | October 2024
KISS ME, KATE | ★★★★ | June 2024
LAY DOWN YOUR BURDENS | ★★★ | November 2023

 

 

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

A SONG OF SONGS

★★★★

Park Theatre

A SONG OF SONGS at Park Theatre

★★★★

“The songs are pools of splendour we would happily bathe in for hours”

According to tradition, King Solomon wrote three books of the bible, the most famous of which is ‘Song of Songs’ (also known as ‘The Song of Solomon’) – a collection of erotic verse that, over time, has been interpreted literally and metaphorically. It is either an allegory for the relationship between God and his people, or a description of a romantic and sexual relationship between a man and a woman. It is apparent that Ofra Daniel, the force behind the musical play – “A Song of Songs” – is of the latter persuasion as she reinterprets the ancient Hebrew text, spinning her own eroticism on the timeless poetry and weaving it into an extraordinary and striking celebration of love, and music. Lush, passionate and sexy, it is a unique theatrical experience that fuses poetry, dance, music and storytelling.

Written, composed (with Lior Ben-Hur) and directed by Daniel, she also plays the narrator – Tirzah – a woman who is “organised differently”. A bittersweet tale of a woman consumed by desire for a lover she never meets. In an unsatisfying marriage to a fisherman, she starts to receive anonymous love letters from a secret admirer which awakens a deep longing in her. Her awakened sensuality turns into obsession until she is eventually known as the ‘crazy poet of love’, surrounded by the Women of Jerusalem who ostracise and envy her. While they obey Solomon’s musical refrain, ‘do not arouse love until it so desires’, for Tirzah it is already too late. She can never put it back to sleep.

Daniel’s performance is powerful and compelling, yet vulnerable and often allowing her to retreat into the shadows cast by the formidable supporting cast. This is in no way a one woman show. The onstage musicians, the dancers and the supporting roles are all on an equal footing, which lends a gorgeous harmony to a musical score that mixes Flamenco, Klezmer and the exotic sounds of the Middle East. The musicians often wander into the action. Daniel Gouly’s haunting, glissando clarinet and Amy Price’s melancholy violin can often be seen and heard dancing with the voices of the ensemble (Laurel Dougall, Rebecca Giacopazzi, Shira Kravitz and Ashleigh Schuman). The Gypsy King’s Ramón Ruiz is simply stunning on Spanish guitar, while multi-instrumentalist Ashley Blasse oozes charisma from behind their double bass. Ant Romero, on percussion, ties each strand of the musical styles into solid knots of rhythm.

 

 

The musicality is undoubtedly the star of the show. Whether or not the songs enhance the narrative is irrelevant. The songs are pools of splendour we would happily bathe in for hours. Matthew Woodyatt’s rich baritone adds depth and layers of strength onto the female dominated chorus, while Joaquin Pedro Valdes hovers between the two in an androgynous mid-range. Woodyatt is often accompanying the musicians on accordion and also takes over the narrative from Daniel, portraying the wronged husband with a masterful sensitivity. Valdes is the lover that Tirzah conjures from her heart to spend her life trailing through the streets searching for.

Will they ever meet? The story follows a cyclical path that kind of gives us the answer at the start as well as the end. As the twist is revealed to us, we feel like the story might be starting over. Even at two hours long we wouldn’t mind if that was the actual case. Instead, though, we have an upbeat refrain of the opening number. This is, ultimately, a celebration. There are warnings along the way, and we drift through many moods, enhanced by Aaron J Dootson’s ambient lighting, full of ingenious little tricks and innovations.

Tirzah is a woman who lived from one poem to another. A woman sick with love, crazy for love. Who has lost her way for love. Yet in the hands of Ofra Daniel she remains powerful, feminine, erotic and independent. Beneath the ‘crazy poet of love’ outer shell is a vivid embodiment of the human condition that is as old as the bible itself. “A Song of Songs”, describes itself as a musical play rather than a musical (despite boasting nearly twenty musical numbers). Whatever label you want to give it – it is a musical feast.


A SONG OF SONGS at Park Theatre

Reviewed on 14th May 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Pamela Raith

 


 

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:

SUN BEAR | ★★★ | April 2024
HIDE AND SEEK | ★★★★ | March 2024
COWBOYS AND LESBIANS | ★★★★ | February 2024
HIR | ★★★★ | February 2024
LEAVES OF GLASS | ★★★★ | January 2024
KIM’S CONVENIENCE | ★★★★ | January 2024
21 ROUND FOR CHRISTMAS | ★★★★ | December 2023
THE TIME MACHINE – A COMEDY | ★★★★ | December 2023
IKARIA | ★★★★ | November 2023
PASSING | ★★★½ | November 2023
THE INTERVIEW | ★★★ | November 2023
IT’S HEADED STRAIGHT TOWARDS US | ★★★★★ | September 2023

A SONG OF SONGS

A SONG OF SONGS

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