History Theatre / FiddlerOnTheRoof

* FriendlyEnemy: The constable and the village Russians, until the czar's decrees force them to become [[PunchClockVillain PunchClockVillains]].

* HailToTheThief: During the opening song "Tradition", a villager asks the rabbi if there is a blessing for the czar. "Of course! 'May God bless and keep the czar... far away from us!'"

* StealthInsult: "Is there a proper blessing for the czar?" "Yes. 'May God bless and keep the czar... far away from us!'"

* ArrangedMarriage: To life![[hottip:*:L'Chaim!]]

* TroubledSympatheticBigot: Tevye is constantly struggling with his belief in tradition versus his three daughters' yearning for liberation. He manages to accept the first two of them (who want to chose their own husbands, but within their own ethnic group), but draws the line with the third (who falls in love with a Christian). With this daughter, Tevye is shown to be on the edge of committing HonorRelatedAbuse: but he never carries it out, making him a failed patriarch but [[AvertedTrope keeping him]] from [[MoralEventHorizon becoming a failed human being]][[hottip:*:He fully disowns her in the original stories, see ValuesDissonance on the YMMV page]].

* PragmaticAdaptation: If the story's main theme is tradition vs. upheaval, the way the musical approaches that theme is inverts the approach taken by its source material. Sholem Aleykhem's original stories, written for exclusively Jewish audiences around the turn of the (20th) century, stressed the importance of upholding tradition despite surrounding social change. The musical, though, which was intended for a more general audience, to take the position that change - both good and bad - is inevitable. (Which was pretty much the theme of TheSixties, if you think about it.)

* FailOSuckyname: Seriously, who the heck names their kid "Motel"?!

''Fiddler on the Roof'' remains a popular choice for high schools to this day. The musical was later spoofed in the Franchise/CthulhuMythos parody, ''ShoggothOnTheRoof''.

* PragmaticAdaptation: If the story's main theme is tradition vs. upheaval, the way the musical approaches that theme is very different from the approach taken by its source material. Sholem Aleykhem's original stories, written for exclusively Jewish audiences around the turn of the (20th) century, stressed more the importance of upholding tradition despite surrounding social change. The musical, though, which was intended for a more general audience, seems to take the position that change - both good and bad - is inevitable. (Which was pretty much the theme of TheSixties, if you think about it.)

The original Broadway production starred Zero Mostel in the role that would make him famous, but producer-director Norman Jewison refused to cast him in the movie, feeling that his performance was too over the top, and chose Chaim Topol, star of the London production, instead. The movie was released in 1971. Originally, Jerome Robbins, the director-choreographer of the original musical, had shown an interest in directing the film as well, but the production company, Mirisch Pictures, refused to even consider the idea, due to the difficulties they had when Robbins was assigned to co-direct and choreograph ''Theatre/WestSideStory''. (Robbins had spent so much time shooting and re-shooting scenes in his quest for perfection, that by the time he had completed about 60% of the picture, the film had gone $1,000,000 over budget and six months behind schedule. He was summarily fired from the film shoot and producer and co-director Robert Wise completed the film alone.)

* PragmaticAdaptation: If the story's main theme is tradition vs. upheaval, the way the musical approaches that theme is very different from the approach taken by its source material. Sholem Aleykhem's original stories, written for exclusively Jewish audiences around the turn of the century, stressed more the importance of upholding tradition despite surrounding social change. The musical, though, which was intended for a more general audience, seems to take the position that change - both good and bad - is inevitable. (Which was pretty much the theme of TheSixties, if you think about it.)

** [[TearJerker "...and God be with you."]]

* OneSceneWonder: Fruma Sarah. It's also a theatre role where hamming it up is required, along with a harness (or a cast member with a sturdy set of shoulders).

''Fiddler on the Roof'' remains a popular choice for high schools to this day.

** Although, if you actually listen to the lyrics, the whole THING is a sort of grief-song. Even "L'Chaim", one of the boisterous upbeat songs, has the lyrics:

* IncrediblyLongNote: Fyedka's "Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazaaaaaaaaaar..." in "L'Chaim." It is not uncommon for betting to be going on backstage about when the actor will pass out. (Answer: not before he gets his applause, dammit!)

* PunchClockVillain: The Constable, and if "L'Chaim" is any hint, possibly the rest of the Russian villagers.

* IWantSong: "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" for the three eldest girls (Tzeitel, Hodel, and Chava)

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: An inverted example. Motel brags after getting his sewing machine that he'll no longer make any hand-made clothes. (At the time the movie was made and a century later, and people are paying big bucks for hand-made clothes.)

* CategoryTraitor: Tevye considers [[spoiler: Chava]] to have passed the MoralEventHorizon for wanting to marry a guy who isn't Jewish, [[spoiler: effectively telling her [[IHaveNoSon I Have No Daughter]] when she comes asking for his acceptance of her marriage]]. This is both TruthInTelevision and ValuesDissonance, as the fragility and small numbers of the Jewish faith - especially in the film's setting of pre-revolutionary Russia, where Jewish communities (as we seen in the musical) were under constant threat of attack from the Christian majority - means that each marriage is an important part of the preservation of the religion. Marrying out of the faith for even many modern Orthodox Jews would be the ultimate betrayal.

* AllIssuesArePoliticalIssues: Perchik says something like this.

** ...Wow. I just looked up the lyrics to the song and reread them. [[http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/fiddlerontheroof/tolife.htm You're totally right.]]

* TroubledSympatheticBigot: Tevye is constantly struggling with his belief in tradition versus his three daughters' yearning for liberation. He manages to accept the first two of them (who want to chose their own husbands, but within their own ethnic group), but draws the line with the third (who falls in love with a Christian). With this daughter, Tevye is shown to be on the edge of committing HonorRelatedAbuse: but he never carries it out, making him a failed patriarch but [[AvertedTrope keeping him]] from [[MoralEventHorizon becoming a failed human being]].