Current Production:
Central Park Players’ Family Theatre will be presenting the musical, Fiddler on the Roof. Jr., at 7:00 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, with two performances on Saturday, July 9-11, 2009, at the Grand Haven Community Center.
The production is directed by Norma Bethke and assisted by Henry Tiles. Music Direction is by Kay Wells and the show's Producer is Trudi Kerkstra.
Fiddler on the Roof, written first in Yiddish in 1894, and then translated and performed with music under the direction of Jerome Robbins, was the longest-running play in Broadway history until Grease was produced a decade later.
This is the second time Central Park Players has performed Fiddler on the Roof, its first in 2000 when it was directed by John and Ruth Bethke with Norma Bethke as a cast member.
Tevye, played in this production by Erin Robere, is a Jew living in Russia in the early 20th century. In Fiddler on the Roof, Jr. he must face several issues: his poverty, the tension between the Jews and Gentiles in his small village; his not-always easy relationship with his wife Golde, played by Maggie Barnard; and the marriage arrangements of his five daughters, played by Becca Kerkstra, Erin Mickelson, Mollie Labeff, Michaela Kerkstra, and Katie Parks.
When the village matchmaker, Yente, played by Courtney Cotter, tells Golde that the wealthy butcher Lazar Wolf, played Brandon Marion, wants to marry her eldest daughter Tzeitel, Golde jumps at the chance.
But what she doesn’t know is that Tzeitel is in love with her friend since childhood, the tailor Motel Kamzoil, played by Sean Billingsley.
Tevye doesn’t know this either, and so he makes the marriage arrangements with the butcher. That is when the difficulties begin, and what follows is a sometimes-comical-but-always-heart-tugging story that is wonderfully supported by classic songs, such as “Tradition,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Matchmaker,” and “Sunrise, Sunset.”
Fiddler... is the perfect addition to Central Park Players’ anniversary season as it rounds out a series of reprisals of the patrons’ favorite choices from past seasons.
CPP’s Family Theatre production of Fiddler on the Roof, Jr. also features the talents of Riley Remington, Allison Cotter, Emma Dale, Douglas VanBennekom, Breezy Vanderlaan, Alexa Shampine, Lindsey Bronold, Chaz Bratton, Leann Mayberry, Hannah Dillree, Josephine Hardman, Gabriella Holmberg, Cassie Kotrch, Anna Carmolli, Gabby Rabon, Caleb Sportell, Thomas Wells, Kelci Gilmore, and Caitlin Shampine as the Fiddler on the Roof.
Tickets for Fiddler on the Roof, Jr. can be reserved starting Monday, July 6, 2009, by calling the CPP box office at (616) 971-1329. The show will be performed at the Grand Haven Community Center, 421 Columbus Ave. Grand Haven. Ticket prices are $8.00 for adults and $5.00 for children ages 12 and under.