History Theatre / FiddlerOnTheRoof

The original Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins (his last original Broadway show), starred Creator/ZeroMostel, but producer-director Creator/NormanJewison refused to cast him in the movie, feeling that his performance was too over the top, and instead chose Creator/ChaimTopol, the star of the London production. [[note]]Mostel was so pissed off at the rejection, that when his son, Josh Mostel, later received a phone call from Jewison, offering him the role of King Herod in ''Music/JesusChristSuperstar'', for which he accepted, the elder Mostel reportedly retorted, "You should have told him to hire Topol's son!"[[/note]] The movie was released in 1971.

The original Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins (his last original Broadway show), starred Creator/ZeroMostel in the role that would make him famous, but producer-director Creator/NormanJewison refused to cast him in the movie, feeling that his performance was too over the top, and instead chose Creator/ChaimTopol, the star of the London production. [[note]]Mostel was so pissed off at the rejection, that when his son, Josh Mostel, later received a phone call from Jewison, offering him the role of King Herod in ''Music/JesusChristSuperstar'', for which he accepted, the elder Mostel reportedly retorted, "You should have told him to hire Topol's son!"[[/note]] The movie was released in 1971.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Lazar Wolf, though entirely by accident -- in the 1900s, it was just another Jewish name. It also sounds cooler in the film than in real life. In Russian language, the first a is pronounced as a long ah. In ''Yiddish'', however, it ''is'' pronounced like "laser" (and often transcribed as Leyzer).

* NonIndicativeName: Many people, including the studio heads who hired him, have been surprised to learn that the film's director Creator/NormanJewison is not Jewish at all (he's a Protestant Christian).

The original Broadway production starred Creator/ZeroMostel in the role that would make him famous, but producer-director Creator/NormanJewison refused to cast him in the movie, feeling that his performance was too over the top, and instead chose Creator/ChaimTopol, the star of the London production. [[note]]Mostel was so pissed off at the rejection, that when his son, Josh Mostel, later received a phone call from Jewison, offering him the role of King Herod in ''Music/JesusChristSuperstar'', for which he accepted, the elder Mostel reportedly retorted, "You should have told him to hire Topol's son!"[[/note]] The movie was released in 1971.

* 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 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 as marrying a Gentile who doesn’t first convert to {{UsefulNotes/Judaism}} is stringently forbidden by Halacha.

* FirstGuyWins: Subverted, in the film at least; during the opening number "Tradition," we see Lazar Wolf looking at Tzeitel right before panning to Motel, her {{childhood friend|Romance}}.

* IHaveNoDaughter: [[spoiler:Tevye to Chava]] when she declares her intent to marry a non-Jew.

* 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 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.

* PetTheDog: To Lazar Wolf's credit, he's offended on Tzeitel's behalf when he [[OneDialogueTwoConversations believes that]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext Tevye calls her his "old milk cow."]]

** In a rare heartwarming example, Motel finally stands up to Tevye when he calls him a poor tailor.

* 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 choose 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]][[note]]He fully disowns her in the original stories, see ValuesDissonance on the YMMV page[[/note]].

%%* IHaveNoDaughter: [[spoiler:Tevye to Chava]] when she declares her intent to marry a non-Jew.

* [[FirstGirlWins First Guy Wins]]: Subverted, in the film at least; during the opening number "Tradition," we see Lazar Wolf looking at Tzeitel right before panning to Motel, her {{childhood friend|Romance}}.

* [[IHaveNoSon I Have No Daughter]]: [[spoiler:Tevye to Chava]] when she declares her intent to marry a non-Jew.

* PlayingGertrude: In the film, 36-year-old Topol plays the 50-something Tevye, with 21-year-old Rosemary Harris as one of his teenage daughters. She eventually played Golde opposite him onstage instead.

* PlayingGertrude: In the film, 36-year-old Topol to 21-year-old Rosalind Harris (who would later play Golde to his Tevye onstage).

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Tevye and Golde, who after nearly 30 years of bickering, child bearing, and drudgery, realize that they really do love each other.

* BigBeautifulWoman: Golde is not this, but Tevye wishes she could be. In the song "If I Were A Rich Man", he sings about "My wife, my Golde, looking like a rich man's wife with a proper double chin." This may be more about the life of abundance and leisure he wishes to give her than about his personal preferences.

* MoneySong: "If I Were A Rich Man"

Set in the fictional ''shtetl'' of Anatevka, in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_of_Settlement Pale of Settlement]] of the Russian Empire, just before the Revolution of 1905, it tells the story of Tevye, a milkman with five daughters: Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Schprintze, and Bielke. The plot centers on Tevye and Golde's efforts to find husbands for their daughters, but their daughters break tradition by marrying for love rather than having their marriages arranged by Yente, the town matchmaker.

* BigNo: In some productions, as Tevye [[spoiler: disowns Chava]], he shouts a BigNo as [[spoiler: she begs for his acceptance]].

* 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 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.

* ChildMarriageVeto: Tzeitel refuses to marry Lazar when Tevye tells her of the match. [[spoiler: Granted, Tevye does relent after realizing how ''much'' she doesn't want to marry Lazar; Tzeitel might have gone along with it if he had continued to force the issue.]]

* DarkReprise: "Tradition" after Tevye disowns [[spoiler: Chava]]. No words, but the chorus dancing in the back... dancing like they're trapped and can never escape...

* DefiantToTheEnd: Though the Jewish population of Anatevka are forced from their homes, they maintain a degree of pride as they do so. Tevye chases the constable off with backing from the other villagers--"This is still my home, my land. GET OFF MY LAND!"--and later, Golde refuses to leave until she's swept the floor: "I don't want to leave a dirty house." It's implied that this is a special trait of Jewish people--regardless of their circumstances, they never give up hope.
* DirtyOldMan: {{Averted}}. Lazar Wolf is in his 50s and wants to marry a woman less than half his age, but it's a case of ValuesDissonance and he's not shown to be lecherous or creepy. He's portrayed as a decent human being who is lonely after the death of his wife, grows fond of a woman who visits his butcher shop often, and genuinely cares about her, with realistic InUniverse reactions from other characters (e.g. Tzeitel is little squicky about the age but mostly just is annoyed that it's not Motel she'd be marrying. Tevye feels uneasy about having a son-in-law who is own age, but isn't flat out against the idea, and it's more important to him that Lazar Wolf is going to treat her well and take care of her).

Be glad you got a man!

* IncrediblyLongNote: Fyedka's "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... zaaaa, vaaaaa, sha zdarovia" in "To Life." 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!)

* ThePresentsWereNeverFromSanta: Golde changes her mind about Tzeitel marrying Motel instead of Lazar Wolf by Tevye's prophetic dream from her great-grandmother... which Tevye entirely made up. The dream never happened.

* HumbleGoal: Ironically, the true motivation behind "If I Were a Rich Man." After describing all the nice things he and his wife could have and how important he'd seem to the rest of the village, Tevye quietly notes that being rich would free him to study Torah, pray in the synagogue, and discus the holy books with learned men... things that a working man's life leaves him little time for.

* MoodWhiplash: Frequently, there are moments of celebration, family drama, oppression and comedy. A brutal example occurs during [[spoiler: Motel and Tzeitel's]] wedding: the joyous celebration is violently broken up by the Constable and his men at the beginning of a pogrom.
** Plus, the Constable telling everyone they have to leave comes directly after we've been shown the ugliest side of their religion with Tevye disowning his daughter for marrying outside the faith.

* RealityEnsues: In "Matchmaker, Matchmaker", Hodel and Chava discuss their expectations for the men they want Yente to pair them with, with Hodel eying the rabbi's son. Tzeitel throws cold water on their fantasies, stating that, coming from a poor family with no dowries, they would be more likely to be matched with dirty old men or abusive drunks. Indeed, Yente's match for Tzeitel is a widower her father's age.

* DirtyOldMan: {{Averted}}. Lazar Wolf is in his 50s and wants to marry a woman less than half his age, but it's a case of ValuesDissonance and he's not shown to be lecherous or creepy. He's portrayed as a decent human being who is lonely after the death of his wife, grows fond of a woman who visits his butcher shop often, and genuinely cares about her, with realistic InUniverse reactions from other characters (e.g. Tzeitel is little squicky about the age but mostly just is annoyed that it's not Model she'd be marrying. Tevye feels uneasy about having a son-in-law who is own age, but isn't flat out against the idea, and it's more important to him that Lazar Wolf is going to treat her well and take care of her).

''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a popular musical from the 1960s, based on a set of stories by Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem (pen name for Solomon Rabinovich).