Yes. That's the TOPOL. The original Fiddler on the Roof. As part of his retirement plan, he's committed to doing 2 world tours, and we were lucky enough to catch his one of his last shows in the southern hemisphere.Topol was amazing--funny, sad, weary, proud. His "If I were a Rich Man," brought the house down! (although Nathan and I agreed Merle's cackling chickens were better).
Actually, despite having the biggest name possible for FOTR, we were amazed how favorably the Rochester Civic Theater compared. With the exception of the dancing (sorry Hilary, these were pros!), our cast stood its own--and managed most of the time to be funnier! In this production, Yenta stole no cookies, Lazar didn't seem quite as desperate to ease his loneliness with a cow, Golda never as strong a personality as Topol. The show was great, solid, professional, but somehow seeing Fiddler on the Roof in Rochester Civic Theater's production spoiled me for the "big show." I will clearly say, though some may accuse me of bias, that Nathan was a MUCH better Motel. Nathan found the comic moments of trying to emulate what a PaPa was supposed to be--Nathan's demands to dance with his wife at the wedding left the audience laughing, this one wasn't even noticed. Although we tried to meet the great Topol to introduce him to his younger protege we were unsuccessful. So we went home enjoying a good night of theater but even more proud of the great achievements of the Rochester Civic Theatre Fiddler on the Roof cast!
4 comments:
Wow, what a windfall to get to see Topol. I'm glad to hear it was better than when I saw Carol Channing do Hello Dolly! Poor thing couldn't even do a little shuffle, she was so frail.
I have no doubt that Nathan's Motel was better. I know!
That's awesome! I'm a bit jealous.
After washing my brain of the half-dozen FotR songs that lodged themselves there, I had to check on Topol's age, since he had to be pushing 135 by now. But no...a spry 71 years young. So, he's now about 10-15 years too old for the part he was 20 years to young for when he did the movie.
But he's still out there...kvetching away. Yiddle-deedle-didle-didle-dum.
Now, we'll have to see if he's up for a "Flash Gordon" sequel!
todd--we spent ages trying to remember what else Topol was in. We should have gone to the source of all knowledge (IMDB) or its oracle--you.
Glad I could help. Other than Flash Gordon, I honestly couldn't think of anything else he was in either. Not much of a CV on IMDb...he's spent most of his life on stage, I guess.
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