Fiddler on the Roof – Liverpool Empire

Fiddler on the Roofis a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein and is based on the story of Tevye a poor dairy man in imperial Russia around 1905.

Entering the packed Empire theatre, the stage was set in a dark haze with the orchestra pit set at the back of the stage – it looked intriguing and inviting. As a lover of this wonderful story of a man’s fight for tradition in a Jew-hating world, the set was very fitting. I saw this play on stage many years ago when the lead was played by Topol who also played the lead in the film – it was great then and I was hoping that this would compete.

The opening scene of the iconic fiddler sat precariously on a roof playing the melodic tune sets the scene wonderfully and below the straw roof canopy, the family of Tevye the dairyman and Golde his sharp-tongued wife and their 5 daughters and the towns people,  emerged , to sing to us “Tradition” in harmony and sharing with us their world of values, loyalty, respect and submissive families. At Tevye’s home, everyone is busy preparing for the Sabbath meal, Golde, and their daughters, Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze and Bielke, about their tasks

My immediate response as the cast sang in great voice “Tradition” was the authentic costumes, the magnificent choreography and the simple but impactful set- all praise must then go to Tom Scutt for the design, Aideen Malone – lighting, Nick Lidster – sound and Lucy Martin -costumes, who did a very realistic design on bringing it all to life so well – the cast had us in their hands after the first song.

Following this is the famous scene of Tevye is delivering milk, pulling the cart himself, as his horse is lame. He asks God: Whom would it hurt  to have some money and sings (wonderfully) “If I Were a Rich Man”, to rapturous applause.

It is the story of how in the town of Anatevka, where every daughter was ‘matched’ to their future husband by the revered town’s matchmaker, following Jewish traditions. In Anatevka the matchmaker was Yente- was played magnificently by Beverley Klein. She has great plans for Tevye’s eldest daughter Tzeitel (played superbly by Natasha Jules Bernard), in marrying the rich and lonely local butcher Lazar Wolf (played by the impressive Michael S Siegal) – who although may have nice traits was 3 times Tzeitel’s age.  So, Tevye meets Lazar Wolfe in the local inn and agrees to the matching of the butcher and his eldest a daughter and an energetic party erupt with again magnificent choreography and dancing. Outside the inn, Tevye happens upon the Russian Constable, who has jurisdiction over the Jews in the town. The Constable warns him that there is going to be a “little unofficial demonstration” in the coming weeks. The men think nothing of it.

When Tzeitel finds out that she is betrothed – she is horrified, as she has throughout her life been in love with the local tailor -Motel, (wonderfully played by Dan Wolff). This pair were a match made in heaven and the casting by the casting director Stuart Burt Cog was a fabulous choice (of these characters and all of the cast).  When the young couple find out that of this betrothal they beg Tevye to let them wed and he relents – seeing the love they have for each other. He just needs to convince his wife Golde.  

I remember in seeing the scene in the film – whereupon to convince Golde that Motel is the right spouse for their daughter (and not Lazar Wolf) Tevye feigns a nightmare whereupon Lazar’s deceased wife and Golde’s grandmother (Tzeitel) curse the family if the wedding goes ahead. The superstitious Golde is terrified, and she quickly counsels that Tzeitel must marry Motel.  I am utterly stunned how this complex scene was brought to life on the stage and congratulate the choreography Julia Cheng and the designer Tom Scutt on achieving this wonderful vision.  

The wedding scene from here was absolutely amazing – and everything that I loved and remembered from the film was there on stage- the enthusiasm and gaiety, the acrobatics and the bottle on heads dance – which was sublime- was done so well by such a talented cast. The celebration ends abruptly however when a group of Russians rides into the village to perform the “demonstration”. They disrupt the party, damaging the wedding gifts and wounding Perchik, who attempts to fight back.

At the end of act 1 the roof canopy that covered the scene was seen to be ablaze, which was a great effect and the violinist who weaved around Tevye, mimicking and taunting him in a way (great movement and playing by Raphael Papo) all created a great atmosphere and set the scene of their plight. 

In act 2 from this joyous scene, time passes. Motel has purchased a used sewing machine, and he and Tzeitel have had a baby and we see that another daughter Chava (played with charm by Carys McQueen), has fallen in love with the activist  Perchik ( played with panache by Greg Bernstein)  from Kyiv, who due to the unrest in the country wants to ‘make a difference’ and fight for his country and freedom. Tevye invites him home for the Sabbath meal and offers him food and a room in exchange for tutoring his two youngest daughters. Chava falls for his heroic nature, and they too shun tradition and even ignore the works of the matchmaker completely by getting engaged without permission. Although Perchik is a radical – he is loved by the family, so Tevye again relents and gives his blessing and consent for the two to marry, even though this means that one day his beloved daughter will leave.  Tradition is melting away day by day and Tevye’s family is in turmoil.

Finally, his third daughter Hodel (played perfectly by Ashley Schuman) who loves reading and has an interest of the world, commits the ultimate sin and falls in love with a Russian man Fyedka, who is anti-jew and this is too much for Tevye to accept, and so he disowns his daughter as it goes against everything he holds true.   He dismisses his daughter stating that she is “dead” to him.

From this, the situation worsens as the town is to be taken over by the Russians (following Tsar directions) to evict all Jews from their homes and all have to leave within 3 days and so the people are dispersed and traditional is eliminated forever. Family’s torn apart by hated and greed. The show concludes with the family leaving for Poland accompanied by the enigmatic violinist.

The magnificence of this show cannot be explained in words – every single song – Tradition, Matchmaker, Miracle, If I was a rich man, To Life, Sunrise sunset, and many more- were sang with superb voices from every single cast member. The props on the stage, the marriage, the sabbath meal – all done so authentically and transforming the stage in every scene – a stroke of genius by all involved. Tevye was played magnificently by Matthew Wooodyatt and Golde by Jodie Jacobs, and both were a joy to behold and ignited the stage with pure perfection.

To all involved – this was very, very well done. It was a faultless show, which made me smile and sing along throughout. It was heart warming, was performed sublimely from the first misty scene to the final bow – a pure masterpiece.

Playing until 27th of September 2025, https://www.atgtickets.com/venues/liverpool-empire/

Reviewer Jan Mellor

Reviewed: 23rd September 2025

North West End UK Rating: