If only this Fiddler raised the roof
OMID DJALILI is lovable as Tevye, the ‘If I Were A Rich Man’ milk seller in this revival of Fiddler On The Roof.
Poor Tevye is a man much put upon — nagged by his wife, run ragged by his daughters and let down by both his lame horse and (he feels) God.
In addition, he has the Tsarist authorities conducting pogroms against him and his Jewish neighbours in their early 20th-century Russia shtetl.
This venerable show plays its ace song early. If I Were A Rich Man is third in the play list and it is the first big test of the audience’s appreciation.
Mr Djalili, who almost picks the opening notes out of his teeth as he contemplates life, passed that test with merit at Monday’s final preview. He received — and deserved — sustained, warm applause. But he did not quite sing it.
The delivery was more conversational than that. There lies the drawback to an otherwise agreeable and moving evening: the singing is not what it could be.
Mr Djalili has pailfuls of stage presence and is a tremendously engaging central figure, but he sings no more powerfully than a decent Herefordshire church choir baritone. When you put him up against a lively 14-person orchestra in a theatre as large as Chichester’s, his voice disappears. Audiences at musicals tend to expect a bit more warble for their ticket.
As far as the evening’s storytelling goes, that does not entirely matter. From the moment the cast advances on us at the start, we are given a clear idea of the context. It is as if they are arriving at yet another new destination in their nomadic existence fleeing brutal officialdom.
At the end, director Daniel Evans delivers a masterly touch by projecting photos of Russian Jews on to a wall of dropping water. You feel a shiver down your neck. What resilient people the real-life Tevyes must have been.
The staging is, accordingly, traditional: period costume, prayer shawls, a few dicey beards and exuberant company work for the wedding scene and a song called The Rumour.
Tracy-Ann Oberman is a good match as Tevye’s wife Golde. There is spirited acting from Simbi Akande, Emma Kingston and Rose Shalloo as some of the daughters, while Miss Kingston’s full-bodied singing of Far From The Home I Love gives us much-needed vocal satisfaction.
Mr Djalili is a reliable good egg. But he would never win, or perhaps even qualify for the opening rounds of, The Voice.