Fiddler on the Roof was a remarkable Broadway musical, home to an amazing array of such memorable tunes as "Sunrise, Sunset," "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" and "If I Were a Rich Man." Successfully transposing the production to film in 1971, director Norman Jewison maintained the integrity of the musical numbers while expanding the story for the cinema. A 40th anniversary edition is out in a Blu-ray/DVD set with bonus commentaries.
Aside from the songs, the book provided a set of endearingly human characters in a Russian shetl at the turn of the 20th century. They faced the same cares and joys as people anywhere at anytime but in a particular context: their lives were defined by an Orthodox Jewish tradition unraveling at the edges under pressure from modernity and the darkening shadow of anti-Semitism. Topol headed the superb cast as Tevye ("Tradition!"), the boisterous milkman who wanted to be learned but never had enough time for learning, who dreamed of being rich but could never escape poverty. After a pogrom demolished his eldest daughter's wedding party, he looked heavenward and asked, wordless with only the on his face, "Why?"
