In October 1981 the Bristol Light Opera Club returned to Fiddler on the Roof, the story of Tevye the milkman and his daughters in the village of Anatevka, for a week at the Bristol Hippodrome. Brian Harding, who had played Tevye in the Club’s 1972 production, reproduced Jerome Robbins’s direction, with Gerry Parker as Tevye. Chairman Alan Seager’s greeting notes that “it is forty-eight years since Bristol Light Opera Club was formed”, calls the show “a challenging musical” with “a message” and “some beautiful music”, and names the Bristol and West Building Society as “this year’s Patrons-in-Chief”. Friday 23rd October was the Bristol Civic Night and Gala Night, attended by the Deputy Lord Mayor, and members of Bath Light Opera Club acted as understudies.
Cast
- Tevye, the milkman — Gerry Parker
- Golde, his wife — Meirion Ashton
- Tzeitel — Maureen Roberts
- Hodel — Alison Sutton
- Chava — Caroline Lethbridge
- Shprintze — Susie Greenbaum / Samantha Seward
- Bielke — Diane Parrott / Emma Seward
- Yente, the matchmaker — Faith Roberts
- Motel, the tailor — Roderick Young
- Perchik, the student — Alex Turasiewicz
- Lazar Wolf, the butcher — Frank Hobson
- Mordcha, the innkeeper — Brian Harding
- Rabbi — Roy Blanning
- Mendel, his son — Eric Arnold
- Avram, the bookseller — Peter Marlowe
- Nachum, the beggar — Peter Dyment
- Grandma Tzeitel — Anne Barnard
- Fruma-Sarah — Adrienne Higgins
- Constable — Peter Davey
- Fyedka — Andy Martin
- Sasha — Roger Cromwell
- Shandel, Motel’s mother — Betty Carver
- The Fiddler — Simon Croucher