2007, Fiddler on the Roof

Directed by Deborah Oates, MD Ian Lowe, with Eltham Orchestra

SHOW PROGRAM

Deborah Oates, who had played Ado Annie in Oklahoma, directed Fiddler on the Roof. It was a very popular show, drawing both a large chorus and large audiences.

There were a lot of auditionees for Fiddler on the Roof over that weekend and the following weekend they had call-backs and spent over an hour taking John Leahy and Malcolm Wilton through their paces as Tevye before John narrowly got the nod. It was during this period that it was agreed that we should pay Gerard as our company pianist for rehearsals. He was struggling with a young family.

Deb and Damian Useliotes, who had performed in Oklahoma, were directing and had a very clear concept of what they wanted. This initially involved covering over the orchestra pit, but it was agreed the orchestra would be less than impressed, so this idea was shelved. She designed a minimalist set and Lynne suggested it was a bit big, so they cut it down, but still one major piece had to stay on stage for the entire show as it was too big to move. It was very effective.

At the first rehearsal following auditions Graham put up a PowerPoint presentation with all the soloists as there were a number of new people. We had to search for a Perchek and eventually found one at Eltham Little Theatre.

At the first full dress run Mary, the conductor, was worried that Graham seemed to be missing, until he spoke some lines. She didn’t recognize him with a beard. By the final dress rehearsal all the matinees were sold out! Meg Warren had taken on the role of props coordinator and took that to extreme lengths, giving birth to Abagail three weeks before opening night so that Motel could have a real baby to bring on stage. She stole the show.

We had one of our biggest audiences for the Wednesday performance but they were a bit quiet and Mary came down to say we were dull as dishwater, and Deb following shortly after to say it was going brilliantly! At the third matinee one group arrived with tickets for the previous weekend, so that was a struggle to fit them in.