It's a tradition: 'Fiddler on the Roof' heading back to town on tour once again

It’s a tradition: ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ heading back to town on tour once again

May 28, 2019 10:52 AM PT

Talk about tradition: “Fiddler on the Roof” has been a musical-theater mainstay for 55 years, since the show first hit Broadway — where it’s been revived five times since.

The latest Broadway production, which launched in 2015 and ran for a year, has spun off the national touring version that visits the San Diego Civic Theatre for a quick stint starting Tuesday.

The show is directed by Bartlett Sher — the onetime San Diego political-theater maverick who has gone on to a sterling Broadway career, with nine Tony Award nominations, including a win in 2008 for “South Pacific.”

Taking on the central role of Tevye — the humble milkman who faces wrenching social and familial change in early-1900s Russia — is the veteran Israeli actor and artist Yehezkel Lazarov.

He’ll be leading the company in such ageless “Fiddler” favorites as “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Sunrise, Sunset” and, yes, “Tradition.”

‘Fiddler on the Roof’

When: Opens May 28. 7 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday; 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Through June 2.

Where: Broadway/San Diego at the Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown.

Tickets: About $22.50 and up

Phone: (619/858/760) 570-1100

Online: broadwaysd.com

James Hebert

James Hebert is The San Diego Union-Tribune’s theater critic, and has covered the San Diego arts scene for more than two decades. He earned his master’s degree at Columbia University in New York and worked as a magazine editor in Boston before joining the U-T. Hebert’s awards include a national arts-writing prize from the Society for Features Journalism (for a profile of the choreographer Twyla Tharp), and some two dozen local and regional journalism honors; his work also has been republished in two college writing textbooks. In 2009, Hebert served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.