Book Concierge — Fiddler on the Roof

Skylight Music Theatre completely sold out of its closing weekend of Fiddler on the Roof, successfully launching the 2025 - 2026 season with the wonderful, classic musical.

Fiddler on the Roof  is based on the short stories by Sholem Aleichem (born Solomon Rabinovich, March 02, 1859 — March 13, 1916).  Because of similarities in style of writing, he was sometimes referred to as the Jewish Mark Twain. 

There are some works by Aleichem that may be of interest to readers:

• Tevya the Dairyman and the Railroad Stories begins with the story of the irrepressible, scripture quoting milkman from Anatevka and his family, and then includes twenty-one stories featuring various men and women as they ride the rails from shtetl to shtetl.

• In the collection Tevye’s Daughters, Aleichem focuses on the dairyman’s children. He explores themes of tradition verses modernity, especially as the first three daughters seek love and independence.

• And Motl the Cantor’s Son, follows the young Motl as he emigrates to America. Readers will enjoy the mischievous Motl’s keen observations, as the boy and his family make their way from Russia to a new life in America.

Other books which feature the same time period include:

• Your Mouth is Lovely by Nancy Richler — Miriam is a nineteen-year-old imprisoned in Siberia following the Russian Revolution of 1905. Reaching out to the young daughter whom she gave up at birth, Miriam weaves a haunting tale of life in a small Jewish village during the last days of imperial Russia and of a community caught between the rich yet rigid traditions of the past and the frightening, unfamiliar ways of a society desperately trying to reinvent itself.  (from the publisher, via Goodreads)

• When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb — Uriel the angel and Little Ash are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl. The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young emigrants goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her. Along the way they encounter humans in need of their help, including Rose Cohen, whose best friend has abandoned her to marry a man, and Malke Shulman, whose father died mysteriously on his way to America. (from the publisher, via Goodreads)

• And Quiet Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokov — This 4-volume epic novel is considered one of the most significant works of Russian literature in the 20th century. It depicts the lives and struggles of Don Cossacks during WWI, the Russian Revolution & Russian Civil War. In 1965, Sholokhov was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.  At 1408 pages, this one is a real commitment.

And, if you want to read more about the musical, try:

• Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof by Alisa Solomon. In the half-century since its premiere, Fiddler on the Roof has had an astonishing global impact. Beloved by audiences the world over, performed from rural high schools to grand state theaters, Fiddler is a supremely potent cultural landmark. In a history as captivating as its subject, award-winning drama critic Alisa Solomon traces how and why the story of Tevye the milkman was reborn as blockbuster entertainment and a cultural touchstone, not only for Jews and not only in America. Solomon reveals how the show spoke to the deepest conflicts and desires of its the fraying of tradition, generational tension, the loss of roots. Audiences everywhere found in Fiddler immediate resonance and a usable past, whether in Warsaw, where it unlocked the taboo subject of Jewish history, or in Tokyo, where the producer asked how Americans could understand a story that is "so Japanese."

Happy reading!

Tessa Bartels

a/k/a Book Concierge