A special edition of the 1964 Broadway hit “Fiddler on the Roof” is coming to the Cherry Hill Performing Arts Center beginning Friday, August 25 via its August summer camp program.
To prepare for the musical “Fiddler on the Roof Jr.,” the center’s owner and artistic director, Sarah DuVall-Pearson, called on Cherry Hill resident and Synagogue Without Walls cantor Scott Borsky to help campers understand the Jewish history and tradition in the story.
“Being a Catholic, I didn’t want to represent the Jewish faith incorrectly,” DuVall-Pearson said.
The original musical – whose Broadway run lasted a record 3,000 performances – is based on the life of a beleaguered Jewish farmer making a hard living and trying to find “suitable” husbands for his five daughters in a Russian shtetl, described by Borsky as a ghetto or poor area.
Its songs include “To Life,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” and “Sunrise, Sunset,” a lament about how children “blossom as we gaze” and how “swiftly fly the years” as they grow into adults.
“The characters, they’re fictional, but it’s definitely based on the way that Jewish life was back in the 1880s, 1890s, early 1900s of Eastern Europe, especially Russia,” Borsky explained.
“People didn’t just start to break into song and dance, but it’s actually the hardships and the joy, family, struggle, faith, religion, antisemitism of Russia at that time period.”
In addition to the show’s history, the cantor also spoke to cast members about ritual clothing and the meanings of some of the Yiddish words used. The songs in the original “Fiddler on the Roof” are enriched by Jewish traditions.
DuVall-Pearson wanted to do the show because she thought it was time to bring back old, classical musicals.
“There’s a lot of songs in (“Fiddler on the Roof”) that really go back to family roots and things like that – and traditions,” she explained. “And there’s something to be said about that that’s missing right now in a lot of families.”
Borsky agreed.
“If you just break it down to the themes that ‘Fiddler’ is about, it’s about family,” he noted. “It’s about struggling through life. It’s about being a parent. It’s about holding on to your faith.
“It’s about being different in a world that wants you to be the same,” Borsky added, “and those are themes regardless of where you live, your wealth, your height, your weight, your education, whether you are religious or not religious, no matter who you are or your background, your creed, your culture.
“Those themes are innate in you no matter what, and that’s why ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ touches everyone, no matter who they are.”
The show’s performers are campers 6 to 13 who will have a special preview performance on Thursday, August 23 at 7 p.m. Other shows are Friday, August 24 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, August 25 at 1 and 7 p.m.
Tickets are available at the door: $10 for adults and $7 for kids.
For more information about the Cherry Hill Performing Arts Center, visit https://www.cherryhillpac.com/musical-theatre-troupe.html.
