If you have not yet seen Upper Room Theatre Ministry's production of the Broadway musical "Fiddler on the Roof" this week at the All Saints Performing Arts Center in Manassas, I highly recommend it. Not every theatre company could balance the show's comedy and drama while remaining sensitive to its cultural and religious aspects, and the Upper Room Theatre Ministry did just that.
"Fiddler" tells the story of a Jewish father of five daughters living in a Russian ghetto in 1905. He struggles to preserve his traditions while balancing the love he has for his family and the values of a modernizing world. That the show is set in a time and place of political upheaval adds another layer of suspense, drama and realism.
The show carries the weight of history and religion while delivering an abundance of loud-out-loud moments. Perhaps it is because I have Jewish family members that I laughed the loudest -sometimes even before the punch line was even delivered.
Jim Lawson, the show's lead, seems as though he was born to play Tevye. Renée De Ponte (Golde), and their three eldest daughters, Chloe Steverson (Chava), Nouwen Doyle (Tzeitel), Maggie Saffian (Hodel) were also well-suited to their parts, delivering powerful and believable displays of emotion.
And in the traditional Broadway sense, the acting, singing and dancing make the show greatly entertaining. The set design, by James Maxted, and an orchestra hidden behind the set walls, added authenticity to the theatrical experience. I was especially surprised by how good the dancing was, as choreographed by Marianna Constable, as I don't remember "Fiddler" as a particularly dance-heavy show.
The show is appropriate for all audiences. It is a bit long for young children to sit through, but there is an intermission.
There will be performances every day, through Sunday, but tickets are selling out fast.
Producer/Director Rob Tessier. Music direction by Chris Zavadowski. Choreography by Marianna Constable. General Manager Lynn Pechiney. Set designer James Maxted.
I was fortunate enough to talk to Director/Producer Rob Tessier about "Fidder" and Upper Room Theatre.
INTERVIEW with Rob Tessier
Why did you choose this particular show? How does it align with your mission? Is there a theme that resonated with the company?
It is important to us that we produce shows with positive messages. We chose "Fiddler on the Roof" because it highlights the importance of family and keeping God at the center of our lives. It is also one of the greatest musicals ever created.
"Fiddler" is a reminder that even in the middle of real adversity, if we put our trust in God, we're going to be okay — no matter what the challenge. That's the thread that resonated with our company, and it's exactly why we leaned so hard into the family elements in both the staging and the casting. Nearly every member of this cast is part of a family unit on stage.
Talk about the choice, as a Christian organization, to produce a play about the Jewish diaspora. What led you to that decision, and did it prove to be controversial?
This show is about the human experience, and we're all God's creatures. The roots of Christianity are Jewish roots; so for us, honoring Jewish tradition and the Jewish people isn't a departure from who we are. It's part of who we are.
We also didn't take it lightly. To make sure we told this story with reverence, we brought in a dramaturg and a dialect coach who are both Jewish, and we consulted with a rabbi before staging ever began. A tremendous amount of research and history went into this production and was shared with the entire company — everything from the specific words used in the show to the style the music has to be played in.
What's meant the most is hearing it back from the audience. We've had Jewish audience members come up to us this week to tell us they could tell how much time we spent honoring the details and being authentic in the storytelling. That's one of the things we absolutely wanted to get right.
As for it being a controversial decision, honestly, no, it hasn’t been. The response from the area and community has been the opposite.
Can you say something specifically to praise a couple of your stars? (I think Tevye was perfect. But they were really all amazing.)
I'll start where you did. Jim Lawson, who plays Tevye, is a fantastic performer and enormously talented — but more importantly, he's a generous person who genuinely believes in the ministry we have here. Jim is a professional actor. He gets paid for this craft. And he's donating his time to us because he believes so wholeheartedly in what we're doing. He completely embodies the role, and the way he prepares, and the way he performs, inspires and uplifts every other performer around him.
Every year we also tend to discover new talent, and I'd love to highlight Nouwen Doyle, who plays Tzeitel. She came to us new to the area and specifically looking for faith-based theatre opportunities. She's a wonderful fit for who we are as a company, and she's an amazing actress. When we saw her at auditions, we knew there was going to be a special role for her. I'm so glad it turned out to be Tzeitel.
And then we have some returning faces who are, in a sense, rocks of this program. Joshua Ewalt has played a number of roles for us over many years, and he's playing Perchik. He's a very intuitive actor who makes really interesting, really smart choices. But the consistent thread with Josh is the same one as with Jim… he's just a great person. He brings people together. He's a team builder inside our cast and inside our program.
How do you recruit such talent? Is it a reputation you've built over 25 years?
A large portion of the people we have on stage and behind the scenes comes from our own parish community (All Saints Catholic Church.) That said, between word of mouth and the reputation we've built over the last 25 years, we have a lot of people who come to us from well beyond the walls of All Saints. "Our Fiddler on the Roof" production alone has people coming in from Virginia, West Virginia, and DC.
There's a long playbill. As an estimate, how many people were involved in the production overall?
It takes more than 140 people and literally thousands of hours to bring a show like this to life. For our 25th season, we started more than six months ago.
Approximately how many people auditioned?
We had over 100 people who signed up to audition.
How many rehearsal hours did you have?
We started rehearsals on May 27 and ran roughly 19 hours a week across four days a week. As we got closer to the show, that number increased.
How often does Upper Room Theatre present such elaborate full-length musicals with a live orchestra, singing, choreography, set design, costumes, etc.?
Starting in 2002, we have produced one large-scale musical every summer.
What other shows are you producing this year? Ard are you producing any children's shows?
In addition to our summer musical, we also produce a Winter Cabaret the first week of February. Like our summer shows, it’s family-friendly. It features a Broadway music revue highlighting many of the stars from our recent musicals. Plus, we have a one-act play and an improv comedy group. We even have light snacks and drinks delivered to tables. Our Winter Cabaret has something for everyone.
What was the theatre company's (theatrical) mission when it began, and do you think it continues to carry out that mission?
Our first show wasn't until 2002, but 2001 was when we started conceptualizing what a theatre ministry could even be. We began with the idea that theatre as a craft is a powerful instrument — it taps into creativity and expression in a way that's completely unique, and it's a wonderful way to tell stories and inspire people. So by taking this wonderful thing we call theatre and placing it inside a faith-based community, we could use our productions to inspire audiences, and at the same time give young people a way to be engaged and be part of something powerful.
In those first few years we had a large number of teenagers in our productions, along with college students and folks generally in their twenties. A younger group overall. And that group was dedicated not just to the performance of the show, but to the ministry side of it. We prayed together at the beginning and end of rehearsals and dedicated our efforts and our performances to God.
So we started as a program designed to bring people together — particularly from our parish, but always open to their friends from outside it as well — to be part of something special, and then to use that production to lift up an audience.
That mission is still intact today. At the very core, we use our gifts to glorify God, and we make sure we're bringing in and growing members of our parish while opening opportunities to people outside the parish walls too. None of that has changed.
There's one change, though, and it's a good one. When we started, there was no financial upside to any of this. We just wanted to break even so we could keep doing productions, and anything left over went back into the program. There wasn't much left over in those early years, especially since we had to rent so much of what we needed while we were performing in the gymnasium. But as the program grew in popularity and we sold more tickets, and once we moved into the Parish Activity Center, we started to realize the program could raise money in a way that let us do more — support more young people, fund mission trips and service projects, invest in youth ministry.
Over the last decade or more, this program has become a real funding engine for an entire year's worth of youth ministry at the parish. That was never part of the original mission. It's a bonus, and I think it's a way God has blessed us for honoring him and keeping him at the center of this program. It's been really neat to see.
Is there a service component too?
From Chris Zavadowski, a spokesperson for Upper Room Theatre Ministry: As we tell our audiences, we're the theatre that performs twice: once on stage, once in service. Every ticket purchased also helps fund nearly 300 youth and young adult programs throughout the year. That includes service days, mission trips, outreach programs, and more. When you experience the power of Fiddler with us, you're creating lasting impact that extends far beyond the stage.
How can people follow you or find out more about your shows?
To learn more about our program or to get involved, please visit UpperRoomTheatreMinistry.org.
You can also find Upper Room Theatre Ministry on Instagram: @upperroomtheatre, Facebook: Upper Room Theatre Ministry, or YouTube: @upperroomtheatre
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