Word: fiddler
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Many people might long for a life in Hawaii. Bette was determined to get away, and in 1965 she did, arriving in Manhattan with the intention of becoming an actress. For her it was easier to make it as a singer, however. She joined the chorus of Fiddler on the Roof and eventually moved up to play Tzeitel, Tevye's eldest daughter. When she left Fiddler, she did a cabaret act at the Improvisation club and, a short while later, at the gay Continental Baths. That is where the Divine Miss M, as she called herself, was born...
...perhaps because although Wilder is funny and endearing, we never quite believe in the character he plays. He is not really a pure Polish rabbi, he is Gene Wilder doing bits. We are asked to laugh at all too human failings, as we laugh at Tevye's in Fiddler on the Roof, but through some lapse of direction or acting, we are never really shown a man. - John Skow
Fiedler seemed destined to be a musician. His grandsires were musicians in Europe (Fiedler is German for fiddler), and his father, two uncles and a first cousin were all members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Fiedler joined the orchestra in 1915 as a violinist. Eager to conduct, the suave young maestro founded a series of free outdoor Esplanade concerts that are now a Boston tradition. In 1930 he was named conductor of the Boston Pops, the symphony's spring series, and proudly held that position for half a century...
Despite the success stories, doctoring is often not enough. Composer Jule Styne believes that great hits-My Fair Lady, Oklahoma!, Fiddler on the Roof, A Chorus Line-were great from the start and only needed polishing. "Ninety percent of plays that call in a new writer and director fail," says Styne. "Sometimes the best you can do is to convince them to close," adds Joseph Stein, who wrote Fiddler on the Roof and has doctored such plays as Irene and Raisin. "If you're lucky, the show will be mediocre...
...Alex Haley's career, it also becomes an irresistible American success story. Taken as a whole, Roots 11 is a compendium of pop cul ture: it mixes elements of Gone With the Wind, Uncle Tom 's Cabin, March of Time newsreels, Horatio Alger sto ries and even Fiddler on the Roof...