Fiddler On The Roof call for Andy . . .

ANDY NYMAN is ready to shout it from the rooftops: he’s going to play Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof.

The actor will be directed by Trevor Nunn in a production of the classic musical that will run at the Menier Chocolate Factory from November 23.

Nyman joked that after David Babani, the Menier’s artistic chief, told him he had the part: ‘I managed to pick myself off the floor and wanted to run up to the roof and shout out to everybody.’ Somehow, he managed to keep the news to himself, until he spoke to me.

The show about Tevye the dairyman — father of five daughters — who wants to keep his way of life as everything changes around him, has been a theatrical landmark since it was first staged on Broadway in 1964.

Nyman met with Sheldon harnick, the veteran songwriter who wrote Fiddler’s lyrics. ‘he said, “Don’t play it for laughs. play it straight”.’ The actor said doing Fiddler would be ‘an extraordinary opportunity’, not least because his great-grandparents fled Lithuania and went through some of the ordeals fictional Tevye and his family endured.

And he said he felt close to his character, despite having a smaller brood. ‘I have one daughter and one son,’ he said, adding that daughter Macy and son preston are both actors.

Nyman will be appearing on big screens next year in Jungle Cruise with The Rock and emily Blunt, and Judy starring Renee Zellweger.