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Re: Fiddler and The Rothschilds

  I've always liked both Musicals. I wouldn't say that Rothschild wasn't successful , just not HUGE. Hal Linden got his job from Barney Miller out of it(Danny Arnold saw him at a matinee of Rothschild) so I don't think that it was a negative for the actors involved. That, and there were wonderful moments in the score.

  Trudi the G

>From: "Robert Cohen"
>Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>To: World music from a Jewish slant
>Subject: Re: Fiddler and The Rothschilds
>Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 17:59:41
>
>Since my cousin (by marriage) _wrote_ the (best-selling) book from
>which THE
>ROTHSCHILDS was adapted, I suppose I should have some words of
>wisdom
>regarding its (only relative) lack of success as a musical. But I'm
>not
>sure I have any special insight on the subject.
>
>I do, however, have some reservations about what George has written
>here. I
>think his proferred explanation is rather too glib; I respectfully
>suggest
>that George has wheeled into play a plausible, and always
>discouraging,
>thesis--to the effect that some American Jews and some American
>non-Jews are
>more comfortable w/ Jews being depicted as victims than as
>successful--and
>applied it, I think, not especially ... applicably.
>
>Consider: Would George's proferred explanation _really_ explain the
>phenomenal, world-wide appeal of FIDDLER (of which I was by no means
>a
>tremendous fan, btw)? Did Japanese audiences, say, really shell-out
>bick
>bucks to see Fiddler cause they cared _that_ much to see Jews
>depicted as
>victims? (And, btw, I think Fiddler's depictions of Jews and
>Judaism,
>however romanticized, are far from so uniformly negative, either.)
>Surely
>not.
>
>When I asked Theodore Bikel to comment in my NPR documentary, "One
>People,
>Many Voices: American People Comes Of Age," about the astonishing
>success
>of Fiddler, he opined: "It is universal because it is understood
>that what
>this is about is not a narrow, Jewish thing but an experience that
>can be
>shared: poverty, oppression, persecution ... and tradition, and
>children
>who refuse to follow it."
>
>That's a lot closer to the mark, I suspect. Fiddler was a
>phenomenal
>success not because it so successfully depicted Jews as victims, but
>precisely because it transcended its subject(s) and context: It had
>a
>*universal* appeal, because of its universal themes.
>
>The songs from Fiddler--I don't really remember those from The
>Rothschilds
>musical, even though I saw it, in its origianl staging, and from
>front-row
>seats!--brilliantly succeeded in capturing and embodying that
>universal
>appeal. Do you really think "Sunrise, Sunset" is, I imagine, played
>and/or
>sung in weddings all over the world because of how Fiddler did or
>didn't
>depict Jews? No--it was a phenomenonally successful song because it
>captured an experience, and emotions, that every parent, every
>future
>parent, every potential parent, and even every quasi-parent (of
>nieces and
>nephews, friends' children, etc.)--in other words, everyone--could
>relate
>to.
>
>(Though, btw, my favorite song from Fiddler is the Sabbath prayer of
>blessings for their girls.)
>
>I'd really caution all of us from too readily invoking dark
>explanations for
>the greater popularity and success of things we don't like.
>
>Then again, I'm all too ready to sally forth, darkly, on why Irving
>Berlin's
>infernal music was so popular....
>
>--Robert Cohen
>
>
>
>>Khaverim --
>>
>>Since the subject has come up indirectly, I thought I would pose a
>>question to the list regarding Fiddler on the Roof, or more
>>accurately,
>>the next Bock-Harnick show, The Rothschilds.
>>
>>I have to admit that I have never seen The Rothschilds staged.
>>However,
>>I am very fond of the original cast album and know large parts of
>>the
>>score by heart. I have always wondered why the show was
>>(comparatively)
>>a failure; I actually prefer the music and lyrics to those of
>>Fiddler.
>>
>>I have always suspected that the reasons for its failure were
>>two-fold.
>>First, it wasn't Fiddler -- how do you follow a success of that
>>magnitude and NOT disappoint people?
>>
>>Second, and I think more salient, its attitude towards its Jewish
>>protagonists and non-Jewish antagonists is very different. Fiddler
>>sentimentalizes the shtetl (as we have established earlier this
>>week ;))
>>and makes loveable victims of its Jews. The Rothschilds paints a
>>very
>>different picture -- it shows Jews who fight back and do so not
>>with
>>conventional weapons but with their financial acumen. And it shows
>>the
>>Gentiles as overtly hostile, uniformly so, and pretty damned nasty
>>at
>>that (In fact, the casting of Keene Curtis as all the bad goyim
>>sort of
>>creates a Universal Bad Gentile who transcends history.)
>>
>>Somehow I think it was easier for the theater-party crowds to
>>handle
>>long-suffering noble shtetl Jews than a bunch of take-no-prisoners
>>wheeler-dealers who beat the Gentiles at their own game.
>>
>>Of course, it's also possible that the book was weak and the
>>supporting
>>performances disappointing. Hey, I never got to see the show.
>>
>>At any rate, anyone who has looked into this, I'd welcome comments.
>>
>>George Robinson
>>
>>
>
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