Fiddler on the Roof

Having earned a well-deserved reputation for sleeping through various musicals, operas and plays over the years, I was pleasantly surprised that my eyelids stayed in the upright and open position for the entire performance of Fiddler on the Roof last night at The Paramount.

I think this is probably one of the best musicals of all time - not only because I stayed awake but because, unlike a lot of musicals and operas, the music and storyline are understandable, moving and entertaining.

Megan the Elder loves the musical and the movie. She owns a videotape (how 80's is that?!) of the movie and brought it to my place a few months ago to watch it with me. I was vaguely familiar with the storyline, but I had never seen the play or watched the movie in its entirety. And in spite of the fact that musical movies don't usually work for me, I was quite prepared to do my boyfriendly duty and watch it with her. I was unprepared to enjoy it as much as I did.

So when this highly professional production came to the Paramount, I jumped at the chance to grab a couple of tickets to see the real thing. Having already seen the movie, seeing the stage production was a bit like reading the book after seeing the movie. I was prepared to be disappointed because there usually are big and sometimes huge differences between the original and the movie. But not in this case. The movie was a faithful reproduction of the the stage version, and both are fabulous!