Those who saw Zero Mostel’s famously ad-libbing Tevye in that first ever production of Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s 1964 musical, might wish for something a little more crowd-pleasing. If you witnessed Topol in the role, or grew up with his 1971 movie, you may miss a certain sweetness. Fans of Henry Goodman’s much more recent and (as I remember it) slightly over-egged Tevye, may wish for more exuberance, and those who saw Omid Djalili in last year’s terrific Chichester production could want for something funnier.
But if it is a Tevye who is as a likely to express his displeasure with a punch on the chin as he is to display his pleasure with a pinch of a jowly cheek, then Andy Nyman could well be your man.
In Trevor Nunn’s new production, Nyman, the Ghost Stories co-creator directs a glare where past Tevyes emitted a twinkle. Cross him, and a clenched fist may appear from just below the tassels of his tzitzit. In short — and Nyman’s Tevye is, both in temper and height— this milkman is not exactly likeable but he is complex, tough and always interesting to watch. Even his one-way banter with God is a conversation between equals.
To borrow the title of one of the prettiest songs in a gorgeous score, Nunn’s intimate production is a miracle of miracles in the way it somehow fits this big Broadway show into the Menier’s tiny performance space. The audience may never get closer to the denizens of Anatevka and, as imagined by designer Robert Jones, their timber, grey, humble homes. So when it comes to the wedding scene and that marvellous bottle dance, Jerome Robbins’s original choreography almost tumbles into our laps.
The show deserves a West End transfer, though probably no more so than last year’s Chichester production which for some reason was never given a new lease of commercial life.
If Nunn’s makes the transition, the challenge will be to keep the intimacy that makes this production so distinctive. That, and its ability to evoke Sholem Aleichem’s world without wallowing in cliché or Jewish stereotype. For instance, Judy Kuhn as Tevye’s wife Golde has none of the hectoring characteristics that so often define a fictional Jewish matriarch. Instead Kuhn’s is a performance of nuance, poise and — despite the poverty of her existence — dignity.
And she has a better voice than her husband, too This might have been a bigger problem than it is.
Granted, the show would have soared higher if Nyman’s voice were stronger. But his acting is impeccable. The admonishing asides to God are beautifully timed — though perhaps a trick may have been missed when his daughter Hodel (Harriet Bunton) leaves to join firebrand Perchick (Stewart Clarke) in Siberia, and Tevye sends a message to God to look after his daughter.
As in past productions, it comes across as a plea, though Nyman’s Tevye could have issued it as a warning.
