Back in my undergrad days, when I was a Theatre major, I was thrilled when I was, as my mother put it, “cast as the title role” in Fiddler on the Roof. During the audition the director asked, “Are you afraid of heights?” I answered in the negative which was a lie but I knew why I was being asked “Are you afraid of heights?” since this was Fiddler on the Roof and so I was willing to face this fear if it meant getting a role “on the roof.” When time came to rehearse my rooftop performance I couldn’t bring myself to climb the straight-back ladder which resulted in a very frustrated director and five hours of horrifying “cognitive behavior therapy” in which I did nothing but climb up and down a 15 foot ladder until I was comfortable enough to do it without four cast members spotting me. I digress. This isn’t about my failings during this production. Those are minor compared to the event which was about to unfold.
As we approached the show’s opening it was becoming more clear that our Tevye was ill prepared. Staging appeared to confuse him. Directions were a mystery. Half-hour call meant little in the grand scheme of things. (During an actual performance he vanished during the fifteen minute intermission only to reappear after 25 minutes with a Mrs. Winner’s Chicken Potpie.) But it was during the invited dress rehearsal that the most ludicrous “oops” of all came to pass.
During the opening number, a classic Broadway showtune known to theatre aficionados and novices alike, Tevye introduces the song as follows:
“A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But in our little village of Anatevka, every one of us is a fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn’t easy. You may ask, why do we stay here if it’s so dangerous? We stay because Anatevka is our home. And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word…”
He then screams out “Tradition!” and the song, also titled “Tradition!” trumpets into full force.
But in this moment of theatrical crescendo, our Tevye said:
“… And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word…………… LINE!“
The cast, at this point completely at our wit’s end, popped out of our “Laugh In” inspired village windows and screamed, in unison, “TRADITION!” and then slammed our windows shut as the orchestra began to play.
Tevye jumped in fear, not expecting the horde to come after him from behind and perplexed that, once he turned, there was no one there that he could see who could have screamed out his line. He spun around on his heels once or twice, looking to the wings, wondering what had happened as the music continued and other cast members, playing village fathers, appeared on stage singing “Who, day and night, must scramble for a living…?”
The rest of the show continued on, much to the surprise of everyone, including our Tevye.
To hear the late, great Zero Mostel perform it properly, grab the cast recording from Amazon or at least listen to the sample.
Or click below to see Topol performing the number in the 1971 film version (jump to 1:10 if you want to skip the elongated intro).
Tommy Karr 
