New stroke on 'Fiddler'

Photo by Joan Marcus, Joan Marcus

Not just a Jewish tale, ''Fiddler on the Roof'' resonates across the world, Chaim Topol says he now realizes. ''People come up to me after the show and say, 'This is our story as well.'"

The last time Chaim Topol visited Memphis, he'd been flown here by producer David Gest as part of a celebrity-packed revue of famed acts such as the Doobie Brothers, Dionne Warwick and Jerry Butler.

Photo by Joan Marcus

Not just a Jewish tale, ''Fiddler on the Roof'' resonates across the world, Chaim Topol says he now realizes. ''People come up to me after the show and say, 'This is our story as well.'"

The man with the deep Israeli accent was a strange addition to the bill of pop musicians. Topol took the stage and stomped out an a cappella rendition of "If I Were a Rich Man" from the musical "Fiddler on the Roof."

It's hard to tell if people recognized the now 73-year-old actor from the 1971 film version of "Fiddler." Or maybe they identified with the song title. By the end, the audience was cheering, and Topol strode triumphantly into the wings.

Though many actors have performed the role of "Fiddler's" protagonist and narrator Tevye over the years -- Zero Mostel and Harvey Fierstein among them -- no one owns the role quite like Topol.

He is to Tevye what Rex Harrison was to Henry Higgins in "My Fair Lady," or Yul Brynner was to the King of Siam in "The King and I."

"There are very few parts like it," Topol said last week from a hotel in New York. "It's a good part and is well constructed. For me, it's a joy to go onstage every night because you know the audience is going to come out happy. I'm not being modest, but whoever plays the part is really going to enjoy the role."

Topol, who has performed as Tevye more than 2,500 times, is currently on a new national tour of "Fidder on the Roof," which runs Tuesday through May 10 at the Orpheum.

As a child in Israel, Topol became familiar with the stories of Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem because he was often asked to tell them to his classmates.

"Fiddler" is based on Sholem Aleichem's recurring character, Tevye, a milkman with five daughters who finds that even in the isolated Jewish village of Anatevka in Tsarist Russia, sacred traditions are disappearing with the changing times.

Topol's own perspective on the stories that he learned as a child has changed over the years.

"I did 'Fiddler' a long time thinking that this was a story about the Jewish people," he said. "But now I've been performing all over the world. And the fantastic thing is wherever I've been -- India, Japan, England, Greece, Egypt -- people come up to me after the show and say, 'This is our story as well.'"

Topol says he can't explain why close to a billion people have seen the film. He speculated that if contemporary writers were to attempt a musical based on a minority culture, it would be successful if the story were universal.

"When you sing 'If I Were a Rich Man,' it lights a candle in people's hearts," he said. "Yes, you have to be specific in the theater so you know what their habits and customs are. But in the final analysis the love between Othello and Desdemona is not necessarily about a black man and a white girl. It's a story of jealousy. Everyone can relate to it."

"Fiddler on the Roof"

Opens Tuesday at the Orpheum theater, 203 S. Main. Shows are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. May 8, 2 and 8 p.m. May 9 and 1:30 and 7 p.m. May 10. Tickets are $15-$80. Call 525-3000.

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