Post by anthony40 on Apr 13, 2021 16:35:16 GMT
So I suppose I should start by stating up front that I am not Jewish.
That said, I live in NW London, which is a very Jewish area and with numerous synagogues around.
To support this Jewish community is the JW3 Centre, which is the central hub of all Jewish events. This is about 400 metres up the road from me.
Although I do not attend regularly, their posts appear on my Facebook wall.
One such event was Fiddler at 50.
This a free online event celebrating the success of the film release 50 (unbelievably) years ago.
Via Zoom there were four of the five daughters:
Rosalind Harris as Zeitel
Michele Marsh as Hodel
Neva Small as Chava
Candy Bonstein as Bielke
As well as
Paul Michael Glaser as Perchik
And
Ruth Madoc as Fruma Sarah
It starts with several men all coming in for a line or two of 'To Life'. As both Topol and Henry Goodman are there, I can only assume these are men who, in their time, have all played Tevye.
Through the course of interviews each actor went on to describe how they were cast.
Some interesting things that came out of the interviews were as follows:
Rosalind Harris was actually starring in a production of this show with Bette Middler and as friends used to go out together to clubs and bars.
Despite being only 10 years old, Candy Bonstein was (and still is) a North London girl who kept a diary throughout the filming process.
There was concern about the colour of the eyes of both Hodal and Perchik so both actors were forced to wear contacts. (At the time) it was felt that Jewish people would not have blue eyes and given the focus on the eyes throughout the film, this was important.
Ironically, the actor playing Lazar Wolf (Paul Mann) has blue eyes.
Speaking of Lazar Wolf, in real life, Paul Mann became Rosalind Harris' brother-in-law, marrying her sister.
They used marble dust to form the snow whilst filming in Yugoslavia.
Ruth Madoc explained that this was one of the first big things she had done and when she went to the audition, it came down to her and four other women and she was eventually cast. Later on she went on to star in Hi-de-Hi!
Far From The Home I Love was one of the last scenes filmed whilst on location in Yugoslavia and the dream sequence was one of the last scenes to be filmed in London.
She explained how supportive Topol was to her and how it was only when it came to filming it that it was explained to her that she would be fitted with a harness and suspended with piano wires.
Being of Welsh heritage, she thought that Yiddish sounded like Welsh. (At the time) the way it was filmed was quite technical and it was thought it may be nominated for an Academy Award.
Because of the length of the film, two songs- The Rumour and Now I Have Everything (despite being recorded)- were cut
Topol
Rest assured, the great man himself is still with us. However his daughter was on the call representing him.
Unfortunately he recently had a severe fall where he hit the right hand side of his head, which affects his speech. She explained that he knows what he wants to say, but because of his injuries, his speech is affected and he struggles to do so and the family agreed that they didn't want him to be seen in his current condition.
However, apparently he takes daily walks on the beach with his son and they showed a photo of that.
She also explained how she performed in the show with her father in Korea and despite their concerns that it wouldn't be understood, the Koreans just lapped it up. She did explain however that they laughed before the punchline was delivered so they had to say the line really quickly.
There was recently a production in Yiddish on Broadway, directed by Joel Grey and at the end, he introduced his leads singing 'Do You Love Me?' in Yiddish, with subtitles.
This was thoroughly enjoyable and for anyone who may want to view it, you can do so at the following link:
system.spektrix.com/donotofflinecookiebounce/website/CookieBounce.aspx?redirect_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jw3.org.uk%2Fstories%2Ffiddler-50%3Fdm_i%3D6035%2C74UT%2CJLXAB%2CTQAD%2C1
Unfortunately I do not know how long the link will remain active for.
The whole thing goes for about 90 minutes.
That said, I live in NW London, which is a very Jewish area and with numerous synagogues around.
To support this Jewish community is the JW3 Centre, which is the central hub of all Jewish events. This is about 400 metres up the road from me.
Although I do not attend regularly, their posts appear on my Facebook wall.
One such event was Fiddler at 50.
This a free online event celebrating the success of the film release 50 (unbelievably) years ago.
Via Zoom there were four of the five daughters:
Rosalind Harris as Zeitel
Michele Marsh as Hodel
Neva Small as Chava
Candy Bonstein as Bielke
As well as
Paul Michael Glaser as Perchik
And
Ruth Madoc as Fruma Sarah
It starts with several men all coming in for a line or two of 'To Life'. As both Topol and Henry Goodman are there, I can only assume these are men who, in their time, have all played Tevye.
Through the course of interviews each actor went on to describe how they were cast.
Some interesting things that came out of the interviews were as follows:
Rosalind Harris was actually starring in a production of this show with Bette Middler and as friends used to go out together to clubs and bars.
Despite being only 10 years old, Candy Bonstein was (and still is) a North London girl who kept a diary throughout the filming process.
There was concern about the colour of the eyes of both Hodal and Perchik so both actors were forced to wear contacts. (At the time) it was felt that Jewish people would not have blue eyes and given the focus on the eyes throughout the film, this was important.
Ironically, the actor playing Lazar Wolf (Paul Mann) has blue eyes.
Speaking of Lazar Wolf, in real life, Paul Mann became Rosalind Harris' brother-in-law, marrying her sister.
They used marble dust to form the snow whilst filming in Yugoslavia.
Ruth Madoc explained that this was one of the first big things she had done and when she went to the audition, it came down to her and four other women and she was eventually cast. Later on she went on to star in Hi-de-Hi!
Far From The Home I Love was one of the last scenes filmed whilst on location in Yugoslavia and the dream sequence was one of the last scenes to be filmed in London.
She explained how supportive Topol was to her and how it was only when it came to filming it that it was explained to her that she would be fitted with a harness and suspended with piano wires.
Being of Welsh heritage, she thought that Yiddish sounded like Welsh. (At the time) the way it was filmed was quite technical and it was thought it may be nominated for an Academy Award.
Because of the length of the film, two songs- The Rumour and Now I Have Everything (despite being recorded)- were cut
Topol
Rest assured, the great man himself is still with us. However his daughter was on the call representing him.
Unfortunately he recently had a severe fall where he hit the right hand side of his head, which affects his speech. She explained that he knows what he wants to say, but because of his injuries, his speech is affected and he struggles to do so and the family agreed that they didn't want him to be seen in his current condition.
However, apparently he takes daily walks on the beach with his son and they showed a photo of that.
She also explained how she performed in the show with her father in Korea and despite their concerns that it wouldn't be understood, the Koreans just lapped it up. She did explain however that they laughed before the punchline was delivered so they had to say the line really quickly.
There was recently a production in Yiddish on Broadway, directed by Joel Grey and at the end, he introduced his leads singing 'Do You Love Me?' in Yiddish, with subtitles.
This was thoroughly enjoyable and for anyone who may want to view it, you can do so at the following link:
system.spektrix.com/donotofflinecookiebounce/website/CookieBounce.aspx?redirect_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jw3.org.uk%2Fstories%2Ffiddler-50%3Fdm_i%3D6035%2C74UT%2CJLXAB%2CTQAD%2C1
Unfortunately I do not know how long the link will remain active for.
The whole thing goes for about 90 minutes.
