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2%% Administrivia.ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Do not uncomment them without expanding them so that it is clear to someone who has seen neither the play nor the film how these tropes are used in the play and/or film.
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4[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FIDDLER_ON_THE_ROOF_COLOR.gif]]
5
6->''"A fiddler on the roof... Sounds crazy, no? But here in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof, trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck."''
7-->-- '''Tevye'''
8
9''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a popular 1964 {{musical}} based on a set of stories by Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem (pen name for Solomon Rabinovich), with a book by Joseph Stein, music by Jerry Bock, and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.
10
11Set in the fictional ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shtetl shtetl]]'' of Anatevka, in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_of_Settlement Pale of Settlement]] of the [[UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia Russian Empire]] (in what is now [[{{UsefulNotes/Ukraine}} Ukraine]]), just before the [[UsefulNotes/RomanovsAndRevolutions Revolution of 1905]], it tells the story of Tevye, a Jewish 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 opting to MarryForLove rather than having their marriages arranged by Yente, the town's matchmaker.
12
13The 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.
14
15As a stage musical, ''Fiddler on the Roof'' was an international success, with multiple productions breaking records in Europe, South America, Africa, and Australia. It was a particularly big hit in UsefulNotes/{{Israel}} (for obvious reasons), and is the longest running musical ever produced in Japan (for... [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff less obvious reasons]]?). It remains a popular choice for high schools and community theater to this day, as well as multiple revivals on and off Broadway.
16
17''Fidler Afn Dakh'', an adaptation of the musical by Shraga Friedman in Yiddish, the language of the original stories, was first produced in Israel in 1966. The first professional American production of this version opened off Broadway in 2019.
18
19See also ''Film/{{Tevya}}'', a 1939 non-musical adaptation of the same source material.
20----
21!!Tropes featured in ''Fiddler on the Roof'' include:
22* ActuallyPrettyFunny: The rabbi's son cracks up when Tevye jokes that the Jews' constant migrations is "why we never take off our hats."
23* AdaptationDistillation: In the original books, Tevye had ''seven'' daughters (one of whom was never actually named), and many aspects of his life (such as his journey from abject poverty to respectable milk farmer, earning him the "Reb Tevye" moniker, and the suicide of one of his daughters) were cut out.
24* AdaptationExpansion: The film includes three scenes not portrayed in the stage show:
25** The constable is given orders from his superior, who calls the Jews "Christ-killers."
26** Perchik actually shown being arrested in Kiev after making a speech about his communist views.
27** A short scene where Golde actually enters the church to ask the priest, a scene only described on stage.
28* AffablyEvil: The constable, who is polite and respectful - even speaking to Tevye like a friend - when not being forced to carry out antisemitic orders from his superiors. His Cossack soldiers apparently have no problem dancing with Jewish villagers during one wedding celebration and then riding back into the village a few weeks later to sack it during another wedding. However, it's clear that the constable is uncomfortable doing so. In one scene, he seems to be convinced by the likelihood that any replacement would be wantonly cruel about it.
29* AgeProgressionSong: "Sunrise, Sunset" marvels at how quickly the couple went from birth to childhood to marriage.
30* AllIssuesArePoliticalIssues: Perchik says this when he is trying to propose to Hodel.
31* AllJewsAreAshkenazi: Justified, given that it takes place within the Pale of Settlement, the heartland of Ashkenazi culture.
32* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations: Adapted from Arnold Perl's play ''Tevye and his Daughters'', which was adapted from the Sholem Aleichem's original collection of short stories entitled ''Tevye the Dairyman''.
33* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: In-universe, Socialist-leaning Perchick gives [[Literature/BookOfGenesis the biblical story of Jacob]] the unconventional {{Aesop}}, "You must never trust an employer!" Hodel is skeptical.
34* AntiVillain: The constable, while slightly demeaning toward Jews, doesn't despise them, and has a lot of respect for Tevye. His attacks on them are orders he follows from anti-semitic authorities, and he knows if he doesn't do it, the authorities would hire someone who would.
35* AppealToTradition: [[ExaggeratedTrope There's a whole song about it!]]
36* ArrangedMarriage: The story, taking place in an early 20th century Slavic Jewish community where Old Traditions (Arranged Marriage) were rapidly clashing with New Ideas (marrying for love), discusses this as a tradition; the original books suggested that it was a good idea, while the musical adaptation was more neutral on the subject. [[spoiler:Each of Tevye's teenage daughters ultimately ended up with the man she wanted, but each suffered the consequences: Tzeitel lives in abject poverty with Motel, rather than the relative comfort she would have had with Lazar Wolf; Hodel winds up in Siberia and Chava is disowned.]] The practice was to keep marriages within the Jewish community, but the musical points out that this is why the system fails.
37** Tevye and Golde's duet "Do You Love Me?" addresses the belief that an arranged marriage can ripen into love, while "Matchmaker", sung by the daughters, addresses both the pros and cons of arranged marriages.
38* ArmorPiercingQuestion: When Tevye angrily rants about how he already promised Tzeitel to Lazar Wolf, she tearfully hits him back with:
39-->'''Tzeitel''': Is that...more important than ''I'' am, Papa?
40* AsTheGoodBookSays: Probably TropeNamer. Tevye is always saying this to everyone, [[NoFourthWall including the audience]].
41** And he tries to tell God "As the Good Book says ..." before realizing that God wrote the Good Book.
42** Subverted in that he makes up most of the quotes or gets them wrong.
43--->'''Tevye''': Yes, well, ''somewhere,'' it says '''''something''''' about a chicken.
44** Motel's song "Miracle of Miracles" is also filled with biblical allusions.
45* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Tevye and Golde, who after nearly 30 years of bickering, childbearing, and drudgery, realize that they really do love each other.
46* BeingGoodSucks: The story starts off with his mule injuring its leg and Tevye's luck just goes downhill from there.
47* BaitAndSwitch: The "New Arrival" at Motel and Tzeitel's that everyone is goo-gooing over is... a sewing machine. And done immediately in reverse when Tzeitel walks in with a newborn baby.
48* BelligerentSexualTension: Perchik and Hodel start to bicker just about as quickly as they fall in love.
49* BerserkButton: Do not tell Grandma Tzeitel that her great-granddaughter is marrying Lazar Wolf.
50* BetrayalByOffspring: Tevye considers [[spoiler: Chava]] to have done this for wanting to marry a non-Jew.
51* BigNo: In some productions, as Tevye [[spoiler:disowns Chava]], he shouts a BigNo as [[spoiler:she begs for his acceptance]].
52* BilingualBonus: In the Yiddish production, some Russian is thrown in for good measure, especially for the Constable and Fyedka, to remind us that this play takes place in Russian Empire. It would be more natural--for Fyedka at least--to speak Ukrainian than Russian though.
53* BittersweetEnding: The Jews of Anatevka may have been forced to leave the Russian Empire entirely, but at least they got out alive, and in time to avoid UsefulNotes/WorldWarI and the [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Russian Civil War]]. Apart from those eight years of warfare wrecking the economy and killing a tenth of a population of the entire Empire, the latter was known for its ''even more'' violent pogroms against Russian Jews committed by the Reds and Whites (the Greens opposed them, but were too weak to stop them happening). On the other hand, those of them who went to Poland not only would've had the frontlines move through the country thrice (once in the World War, twice in the Polish-Soviet War), but [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany later, well]]... As for Tevye and his family, his three daughters are married (not in the way he expected, though) but he may very well never see Hodel or Chava ever again. And the fiddler follows them away, as does the traditions it symbolizes. Thus Tevye finds a balance between the changing world and tradition.[[note]]Though in some productions, Tevye leaves the fiddler behind.[[/note]]
54* BookEnds: The 2016 Broadway revival began with Creator/DannyBurstein (the actor playing Tevye) dressed in modern clothing waiting at the Anatevka train station, and he reads the opening lines from supposedly a guidebook, then changes into Tevye. At the end, Burstein reappears in his modern dress joining the exiled Jews and pulling Tevye's cart.
55* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Provides that page's quote.
56-->'''Avram''': (''gestures at Perchik and Mordcha'') He's right, and he's right? They can't both be right.\
57'''Tevye''': You know... you are also right.
58** The show in general runs on this trope. Tevye is caught in the clash between the traditional world and the modern world. He tries his best to be fair and see both sides of the situation, with many inner monologues about "on the one hand [...] but on the other hand". In the quote above, he gets ridiculed for not simply picking a side when two guys who both have valid ideas stick to parroting slogans at each other instead of making more nuanced arguments for their causes.
59* BrawnHilda: Fruma Sarah, Lazar Wolf's deceased wife, is sometimes depicted as one of these.
60* BrickJoke: In the opening, Tevye mentions that one of their traditions is always wearing hats. In the end, Tevye speculates that maybe the reason hats are constantly worn is because historically Jews/Hebrews have been forced out of a number of places at a moment's notice.
61* ButHeSoundsHandsome: Fruma Sarah's (completely fabricated) rant about her husband's remarriage includes "Such a learned man as Tevye wouldn't let it happen!"
62* 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 she is not his 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.
63* ChildhoodMarriagePromise[=/=]ChildhoodFriendRomance: Motel and Tzeitel.
64* 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.]]
65* ComplimentBackfire[=/=]MyGodYouAreSerious:
66-->'''Tevye:''' Thank you, your honor. You are a good man. If I may say so, it's too bad you're not a Jew.\
67'''Constable:''' [laughs] That's what I like about you, Tevye. You're always joking.\
68''(Awkward silence ensues as the Constable realizes Tevye was not joking.)''
69* ChoosyBeggar: The prologue ("Tradition") shows an interaction between wealthy townsman Lazar Wolf and Nahum the Beggar, in which Lazar offers Nahun a kopek and Nahum protests that Lazar gave him two kopeks the previous week. After Lazar responds that he had a bad week, Nahum retorts, "Because you had a bad week, I should suffer??". The scene basically is a staging of a stock joke about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnorrer Schnorrers]] (essentially professional beggars).
70* ConspicuousConsumption: Tevye fantasizes about how extravagantly he would live if he were a rich man.
71** Ultimately subverted in that the thing he wants the most, the greatest luxury of all...is to study the holy books with the learned men every day.
72* CosmicPlaything: Tevye seems to see himself, and the Jewish people as a whole, as this at times.
73-->'''Tevye:''' I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can't You choose someone else?
74* CreepyShadowedUndereyes: PlayedForLaughs in Tevye's "dream" sequence.
75* DanceOfRomance: Perchik and Hodel's constant bickering takes a turn when he shows her how men and women dance together in the city.
76* DanceOff: A variant happens in the bar twice when Tevye and Lazar are celebrating. At first when the Russians show up, everything is tense and the Jewish patrons are worried until then the Russians start singing and dancing. Then one Russian accidentally bumps into Tevye and nearly trips over, and the whole place goes silent and it looks like a fight may break out. The Russian offers Tevye a hand-shake and then starts dancing and Tevye soon declares the Russian dance style is pretty fun, and then everyone joins back in dancing together and men of each group are dancing in the style of the other. It's not quite a DanceOff but close, and has about the same effect.
77* 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...
78* DeadpanSnarker: Both Tevye and Golde have their moments. The Rabbi has a moment early in the musical when a congregant asks him if he has a special prayer for the [[BigBad Tsar]].
79-->''"May God bless and keep the Tsar… far away from us!"''
80* DeadGuyJunior: Tevye's oldest daughter Tzeitel is named for her great-grandma, dead thirty years.
81* 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.
82* 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 a 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 his 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).
83* DowryDilemma: Alluded to in "Matchmaker".
84-->"Did you think you'd get a prince?\
85Well, I do the best I can.\
86With no dowry, no money, no family background\
87Be glad you got a man!"
88* DreamBallet: Accompanies the song "Chavaleh".
89* EgocentricallyReligious: Tevye complains to {{God}} a fair bit, notably making the case in song that it would be a very good thing [[IfIWereARichMan if he were a rich man]]. On another occasion he starts to argue with God by pontificating "AsTheGoodBookSays" [[FridgeLogic before realizing]] that God already knows perfectly well what the Good Book says. Ultimately he's self-aware enough to avoid actually ''being'' this trope, but he's pushing it a bit.
90* EvolvingMusic: A meta-example. With the popularity of "Sunrise, Sunset" as a wedding song, lyricist Sheldon Harnick produced two lightly rewritten versions with the words adjusted to fit a ceremony for a same-sex couple ("When did they get to be so handsome?"). Of course, the version in the show itself is unchanged.
91* {{Foreshadowing}}:
92** During the film version of "Tradition," there's a glimpse of Lazar Wolf smiling brightly at Tzeitel as he prepares her purchase, which the woman next to her notices. This is followed by the man Tzeitel actually loves, at work.
93** In “If I Were a Rich Man,” Tevye sings, “The most important men in town will come to fawn on me / They will ask me to advise them.” While they don’t exactly fawn on him, when rumors start spreading about the Jews being forced out of Anatevka, all the men in the village show up at Tevye’s house to see what he’s heard from the constable and ask him what they should do.
94** Lazar asks Tevye how his brother-in-law in America is doing when he's making small talk before "To Life." At the end, as the Jews are driven out of Anatevka, Tevye, Golde, and family are going to travel to America to stay with him.
95* ForgottenThemeTuneLyrics: Besides appearing as the melody for the daughters' and papas' verse, the fiddler's theme was released in sheet music form as the title song, "Fiddler on the Roof" with different lyrics:
96-->Away above my head, I see the strangest sight
97-->A fiddler on the roof who's up there every night
98-->He fiddles when it rains, he fiddles when it snows
99-->I've never seen him rest, yet on and on he goes
100
101-->What does it mean, this fiddler on the roof
102-->Who fiddles every night and fiddles every noon?
103-->Why should he pick so curious a place
104-->To play his little fiddler's tune?
105-->[...]
106-->A fiddler on the roof, a most unlikely sight
107-->It might not mean a thing, but then again it might!
108* FriendlyEnemy: The constable and the village Russians, until the tsar's decrees force them to become {{Punch Clock Villain}}s.
109* GeekyTurnOn: Motel, the town tailor. Also [[spoiler:Chava and Fyedka, who meet at the bookseller]].
110* GossipEvolution: "The Rumour" is an entire song of this.
111-->'''The Original (what actually happened):''' "Perchik's been arrested in Kiev!"\
112'''Round 2:''' "Hodel's been arrested in Kiev!"\
113'''Round 3:''' "Motel's been arrested for dancing at the wedding! In Kiev!"\
114'''Round 4:''' "Tevye's been arrested and Golde's gone to Kiev!"\
115'''Final version:''' "Golde's been arrested, and Hodel's gone to Kiev! Motel studies dancing, and Tevye's acting strange. Shprintze has the measeles, and Bielke has the mumps."
116-->"And that's what comes from men and women dancing!"
117* GriefSong: "Chavaleh".
118** Although, if you actually listen to the lyrics, the whole ''play'' is a sort of grief-song. Even "To Life", one of the boisterous upbeat songs, has the lyrics:
119--->''May all your futures be pleasant ones,\
120Not like our present ones...\
121It takes a wedding to make us say,\
122"Let's live another day..."''
123* HailToTheThief: During the opening song "Tradition", a villager asks the rabbi if there is a blessing for the tsar. "Of course! 'May God bless and keep the tsar... far away from us!'"
124* HandmadeIsBetter: * In a humorous inversion, Motel the tailor is overjoyed when he acquires his first sewing machine, as it means his clothes can be produced more accurately and efficiently than when he had to hand-sew every stitch himself.
125-->'''Motel:''' From now on, my clothes will be perfect. Made by machine! No more handmade clothes!
126* HangoverSensitivity: Tevye has a bad case the morning after the drinking song, and is very put out when Golde keeps clapping her hands for joy.
127* HappilyArrangedMarriage: Tevye and Golde conclude that they do love each other even though their marriage was arranged and they had to learn to love each other. Tevye finds it difficult to allow his daughters to forgo an arranged marriage because it ultimately worked for him.
128* HomosocialHeterosexuality: The traditional ArrangedMarriage custom is portrayed as an emotional and social affair between the groom and the father, the bride hardly being relevant to the process. And thus the plot is setting up for a [[ChildMarriageVeto massive backfire]].
129* HumanLadder: Not part of the story itself, but this [[TotemPoleTrench technique is often used to portray the abnormally tall ghost of Fruma-Sarah. (Especially in modern high school productions, where technical equipment budgets tend to be limited.)]]
130* 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 discuss the holy books with learned men... things that a working man's life leaves him little time for.
131-->'''Tevye''': And that would be the sweetest thing of all.
132* HypocriticalHumor: A good deal of Yente's dialogue. Also invoked by Fyedke, who lists a few of his (somewhat boastful) good points, then tacks on, "and very modest."
133* IfIWereARichMan: The TropeNamer, which also toys with it. The only real thing Tevye shows humbleness towards is that he would be able to work less so he could spend more time in Synagogue praying, which points up why he is willing to have his daughters tutored.
134-->'''Perchik''': Money is the world's curse!\
135'''Tevye''': May God smite me with it. '''And may I never recover!'''
136* [[IHaveNoSon I Have No Daughter]]: [[spoiler:What Tevye effectively tells Chava when he refuses to accept her marriage to a Gentile.]]
137* InconvenientItch: One character invokes this to another:
138--> "May he get an itch he cannot scratch!"
139* IncrediblyLongNote:
140** The Russian soloist'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!)
141** Fruma Sarah exits "Tevye's Dream" with a long note. "Here's my wedding present, if she marries Lazar WOOOOOOOOOOOOOLFFFFFFFFFF!"
142* InformedJudaism: Obviously {{Averted|Trope}}, to the point that mentioning "Fiddler on the Roof" is often used as shorthand to inform us that a character is Jewish.
143* InsistentTerminology: The constable is adamant that it's not a pogrom, it's just "a little unofficial demonstration".
144* 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, people are paying big bucks for hand-made clothes.)
145* IWantSong: "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" for the three eldest girls (Tzeitel, Hodel, and Chava); "If I Were A Rich Man" for Tevye
146* JewishComplaining: Tevye has many things to complain about, and even uses it to save face in the last act.
147** "Anatevka" mostly consists of the Jews singing about what an insignificant town Anatevka is and how difficult life there is [[spoiler:to cope with being forced out of their homes]].
148* JewsLoveToArgue:
149** Invoked in the opening when Tevye happily informs the viewer that amongst the Jews in the village everyone gets along. Then he casually goes over to a pair bartering over a horse and instigates a loud, angry argument, that appears to involve all of the Jewish characters in the market.
150--->'''Group 1 at Group 2:''' HORSE!\
151'''Group 2 at Group 1:''' MULE!\
152'''Group 1 at Group 2:''' HORSE!\
153'''Group 2 at Group 1:''' MULE!
154** In the film, Tevye starts a huge argument between two groups arguing about whether Neighbor 1 sold Neighbor 2 a 6-year-old or 12-year-old horse. The whole village seems to get in on it.
155** In the Yiddish translation, the argument is changed to whether it was a ''tsig'' (a he-goat) or a ''bok'' (a she-goat).
156** Tevye and some of the other men of the village when Perchik is first introduced.
157** Tevye is actually very pleased when Motel snaps and yells in his face, as it proves he has become man enough to argue back.
158* JewishMother: Golde fits the type to the letter, constantly nagging her husband, fretting about the housework, and trying to get each of her daughters married off to a NiceJewishBoy.
159* JustFollowingOrders: The Constable's justification for allowing "a little unofficial demonstration" of anti-semitism. He also faces removal from his post if he doesn't carry out the pogrom. He knows someone would do it, and he would rather it be him instead of someone far worse.
160** The Constable even says at one point in the movie, "An order is an order!" which is a direct quote of the infamous Nuremberg defense. Considering the movie came out only about twenty-five years after the Nuremberg Trials, there's no way that was an accidental reference.
161* KissingCousins: Distant cousins in this case. Motel is implied to be related to Tzeitel through her great grandmother's uncle.
162* LargeHam: Fruma-Sarah is specifically written to be played this way. Tevye also has his moments.
163* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Of course, "Tradition" has Tevye talking directly to the audience. Otherwise, his conversations with God come off as this.
164* LeavingTheNestSong:
165** "Far From the Home I Love" for Hodel leaving to be with Perchik in Kiev.
166** When the inhabitants forced to leave their village, they sing the song "Anatevka," which is about leaving home and becoming:
167--->''A stranger in a strange new place,\
168Searching for an old familiar face\
169From Anatevka...''
170* LifeSavingMisfortune: Probably. The edict that evicted the Jews forced them to leave Ukraine shortly before World War I started.
171* LiteraryAllusionTitle: ZigZagged. The story comes from a literary source, but the title is an allusion to a famous painting by artist [[http://albertis-window.com/2012/12/chagalls-fiddler-on-the-roof/ Marc Chagall]], which shows a surreal violinist suspended above the housetops of a Russian ''shtetl''. On the other hand, the painting's title is just "The Fiddler", no mention of a roof. (The producers considered getting Chagall to do the production design for the musical, but [[WhatCouldHaveBeen he wasn't interested]].)
172* LivingProp: It is ''incredibly'' easy to forget that Tevye has two little daughters as well as his three teenage ones.
173* LongLastLook: The cast sings "Anatevka" as they prepare to leave their village.
174* LyricalDissonance: "To Life," a riotous showstopping dance number all about how life sucks most of the time, except when we can find an excuse to celebrate and get drunk. Plus, the tone is quite at odds with how it's celebrating a contrived, loveless marriage arrangement just after Tzeitel has agreed to marry her true love.
175* MalignedMixedMarriage: Tevye takes a very dim view of the idea of any of his daughters marrying outside the Jewish faith. [[spoiler:When Chava eventually defies him and elopes with Fyedka, he disowns her and declares her dead to him.]]
176-->'''Tevye:''' AsTheGoodBookSays, "Each shall seek his own kind." In other words, a bird may love a fish, but where would they build a home together?
177* MarriageBeforeRomance: The marriage of Tevye and Golde was arranged and they have been together for years, having already raised their eldest children to adulthood, but it isn't until one of their daughters wants to marry for love that they start thinking about romance with one another. Their duet "Do You Love Me?" lampshades, describes and plays out the trope.
178* MarryForLove: Tevye's daughters want to do this.
179* MeaningfulEcho: Tzeitel tells Motel even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness early on, when Motel is working up the courage to ask Tevye to marry Tzeitel. When Tevye later berates him for being “just a poor tailor,” Motel snaps that even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness. Especially in the movie version, Tzeitel looks pleased that he took what she said to heart.
180* MeaningfulName: "Chava" is the original Hebrew for "Eve." [[spoiler:She's the one to be cast out (of the family).]]
181* MoneySong: "If I Were A Rich Man", sort of. Ultimately, Tevye wishes he were rich because he wants his family to know comfort, his wife to be able to rest and avoid working herself thin (literally and figuratively), and for himself to have time to actually ''study'' the Torah.
182* MoodWhiplash: Frequently, there are moments of celebration, family drama, oppression and comedy.
183** 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.
184** Tevye disowning his daughter for marrying outside the faith is an action which shows a very dark side of Orthodox Jewish tradition, and makes Tevye seem like the bad guy for once. However, this is followed by the Constable's announcement of banishment and everyone having to mournfully say goodbye to their village, which evokes pity for Tevye and all his neighbors by showing how precious that traditional way of life was to them.
185* MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong
186* MovieBonusSong
187** Originally, in the film, in place of "Now I Have Everything", Perchik was going to sing "Any Day Now", but it ended up being cut. It was restored in the Yiddish production as a song Perchik sings to Bielke and Shprintze.
188** In the 2004 Broadway revival, Bock (who was still alive at the time) and Harnick wrote a new song for Yente entitled "Topsy-Turvy" to replace "The Rumor/I Just Heard", where Yente laments on the diminishing matchmaker business. This has not been heard in subsequent productions, and as a result, "The Rumor" is reinstated.
189* MundaneLuxury: Everyone in the village treats Motel's sewing machine like a gift from God Himself.
190* NeverBareheaded: The characters are all Orthodox Jews, so this trope is naturally in play.
191* NiceJewishBoy: Motel. Though in perhaps a bit of an aversion, [[JewishMother Golde]] would prefer her daughter to marry a wealthy older man like Lazar Wolf.
192* 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[[note]]he's a Protestant Christian[[/note]].
193* OhCrap: Tevye gets one when he realises he has to tell his wife about their daughter's change in marriage plans.
194-->'''Tevye''': Golde! What am I going to tell Golde?!
195* OldManMarryingAChild: It's a plot point that it's not uncommon for this to happen due to ArrangedMarriage, as mocked in the song "Matchmaker, Matchmaker." [[spoiler:Tzeitel]] gets betrothed to a man who is actually older than her own father [[spoiler:but fortunately for her, Tevye changes his mind and lets her marry for love]].
196* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Are Tevye and Lazar talking about a milk cow, or about Tzeitel?
197* OneSteveLimit: Averted -- Tzeitel's great-grandmother, who appears in the Tevye's "dream", is also named Tzeitel. Justified, as the younger Tzeitel was named for her great-grandmother.
198* OpeningChorus: ''"Traditiooooooon!"''
199* OpinionChangingDream: Invoked by Tevye to persuade his wife to let Tzeitel marry Motel.
200* TheOutsideWorld: Russians are mostly the outside world to the Jews. Even if when Lazar Wolf buys for everyone to celebrate his wedding Russians are perfectly happy to [[VodkaDrunkenski get joyfully smashed]] alongside Jews.
201* ParentalMarriageVeto: The play portrays the breakdown of this tradition. Tzeitel and Motel accept that they need Tevye's consent to marry, but Perchik and Hodel announce their intention to marry with or without Tevye's consent, and ask only for his blessing. Finally Chava marries in secret after Tevye makes it clear that he will never accept her marrying outside the faith.
202* ParentPreferredSuitor: Golde wants her oldest daughter to go along with Yente's matchmaking and marry Lazar Wolf, the butcher, an older widower who can provide for her. Tzeitel made a ChildhoodMarriagePromise to Motel, a poor tailor, and wants to keep it. Tevye, while not liking the uneducated Lazar, originally goes along with the arranged match. However, after a passionate appeal from the young lovebirds, he ultimately decides Tzeitel's happiness matters more than the traditional wedding arrangements.
203* PragmaticAdaptation: If the story's main theme is tradition vs. upheaval, the way the musical approaches that theme 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, which was intended for a more general audience, takes the position that change--both good and bad--is inevitable. (Which was pretty much the theme of TheSixties, if you think about it.)
204* ThePresentsWereNeverFromSanta: Golde changes her mind about Tzeitel marrying Motel instead of Lazar Wolf because of Tevye's prophetic dream from her great-grandmother... which Tevye entirely made up. The dream never happened.
205* ProperLady: Tzeitel. It's assumed Hodel would have become this had she not fallen in love with Perchik. She originally had a crush on the rabbi's son.
206* PunchClockVillain: The Constable, and if "To Life" is any hint, possibly the rest of the Russian villagers. Except for the fact that there is a very obviously implied tension when the Russian Villagers join the dancing. It recedes, jumps up when Tevye bumps into one, and recedes again, but is always there.
207* PunctuatedForEmphasis:
208** "Now I have piece of advice for you: This. Is still. My land. Get. Off. My. Land."
209** "I! WANT! TO SEE! MOTEL'S! NEW! MACHINE! ''NOW''!"
210** "UNHEARD OF! ABSURD!"
211* RageAgainstTheHeavens: A light version in "If I Were A Rich Man," where Tevye asks God if it would really destroy his entire plan for the world to give Tevye some money.
212** A more poignant one later when Tzeitel's wedding reception is interrupted by the Pogrom: Tevye can be seen silently asking God "Why? Why? '''WHY?'''"
213* ThisIsReality: 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.
214* ReasonableAuthorityFigure:
215** The rabbi is beloved, takes the time to answer the questions of his congregants, and has a good sense of humor. Even though it's not traditional, he acknowledges that dancing with the opposite sex is not a sin.
216** The constable appears to have been this until he started getting squeezed by higher-ups.
217* RefugeInAudacity: Possibly the only reason why Tevye can make the "dream" about Fruma Sarah into a plausible excuse for marrying Tzeitel off to Motel. Even more clever and devious: Fruma Sarah's objection is the motivation; Grandma Tzeitel's is the excuse.
218** When Yente comes by to speak with Golde, she rambles about going home to prepare her 'poor Sabbath meal', while casually piling all of the bread and cookies off Golde's plate into a napkin. Golde is so surprised she doesn't say anything.
219* RuleOfSymbolism: Where the three daughters ask Tevye for permission to be married in the film version reflect how far he has to go to accept them emotionally. Tzietel and Motel ask in his barnyard/on his property. Hodel and Perchik meet him on a bridge, halfway between his farm and the town. Chava asks him alone in a barren field seemingly far from any civilization.
220* RuleOfThree:
221** Three girls, three marriages [[spoiler:that undo their father's expectations.]] They have ''more'' girls than that, of course, but only three have plot-important roles[[note]]In the film and the musical, that is; see Fridge for the original stories[[/note]]; the others are not yet of marriageable age. And in the stories, Tevye has seven daughters (with a later {{Retcon}} to five though).
222** Motel asks Tevye not to yell at him twice when he’s asking to marry Tzeitel. The third time, he starts yelling back at Tevye, earning Tevye’s respect in the process.
223* RussianGuySuffersMost: Or, if you're already in Russia, Jewish Guy does.
224* SecretRelationship: [[spoiler:Chava and Fyedka]] keep their relationship from Tevye until it's too late.
225* SerialEscalation: Tevye's frustration about his daughters' marriages manages to escalate with each one.
226** Tzeitel has been arranged to marry the much older Lazar Wolf, but really loves her childhood friend Motel. It is a small breaking of tradition to break off the agreement with Lazar Wolf, but Motel does go through the traditional route of asking Tevye for Tzeitel's hand in marriage, and so Tevye grudgingly accepts it, and does begin to accept Motel as his son in law when the latter grows a spine.
227** Hodel falls in love with Perchik, a stranger from out of town who begins to tutor Tevye's youngest daughters in exchange for room and board. Perchik is a Marxist and has much more liberal ideas than the tradition-minded people of Anatevka. When he and Hodel decide to get married, their engagement breaks tradition even more than Tzeitel and Motel's does as they make it clear that while they would like Tevye's blessing, they are not looking for his ''permission''. Still, Tevye ultimately does give Hodel his blessing as he realizes the world is changing whether he likes it or not.
228** Chava's relationship with [[spoiler:Fyedka]] ends up being Tevye's breaking point. [[spoiler:Fyedka is an Orthodox Christian though he heavily disapproves of the cruelties his fellow Russians are inflicting upon the Jews of Anatevka. When Chava asks for Tevye's blessing to marry Fyedka, the idea of marrying a non-Jew is simply a bridge too far for him, and when Chava elopes anyway, Tevye declares her dead to him. Though upon seeing her for what will likely be the final time ever upon preparing to leave Anatevka for America after the Russians forced them out, Tevye does give her a final acknowledgement, seeming to have forgiven her for her marriage.]]
229* ShrinkingViolet:
230** Chava. She doesn't seem to have friends, unlike her older sisters, and she prefers reading to talking. She meets Fyedka when he stops two other men from picking on her, and she struggles throughout the play to tell Tevye about [[spoiler: her friendship-turned-romantic-relationship with Fyedka]].
231** Motel at the start of the show. Chief among his reasons he hasn’t asked to marry Tzeitel yet? He’s afraid Tevye will yell at him. He [[GrewASpine grows a spine]] during the first act, though.
232* SlapSlapKiss: Hodel and Perchik bicker, and then get married.
233* SlidingScaleOfAdaptationModification: The film adaptation is a Type 4 (Near Identical Adaptation); it cuts out a few musical numbers, but is otherwise identical to the original musical. And the relation of the musical and film to the original stories is probably of a PragmaticAdaptation.
234* SmallReferencePools: In Hollywood, mentioning this play is a good way to establish that a character is a Jewish person [[InformedJudaism even if the character hasn't actually mentioned having Jewish heritage]].
235* SmiteMeOhMightySmiter: Tevye does this in response to someone else's comment.
236-->'''Perchik''': Money is the curse of the world.\
237'''Tevye''': ''[shouting to the Heavens]'' May God Smite me with it! AND MAY I ''NEVER'' RECOVER!
238* SongOfPrayer:
239** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBHZFYpQ6nc If I Were a Rich Man]]" begins with Tevye asking God why he couldn't have a fortune, just a small one. He then sings a song imagining what it would be like to be rich, ending with the lyrics,
240--->"Lord who made the lion and the lamb\
241You decreed I should be what I am\
242Would it spoil some vast eternal plan\
243If I were a wealthy man?"
244** It also has "Sabbath Prayer," which Tevye and his family sing as Perchik, the newcomer to the shtetl, joins them. "Sabbath Prayer" beseeches God to be loyal to his people, and for his people to stay loyal to God, and respect their traditions. Perchik reflects a more modern, revolutionary, viewpoint that threatens those traditions.
245* SpannerInTheWorks: At the end of "If I Were a Rich Man", Tevye wonders if obtaining just a small fortune might upset some grand scheme the big guy upstairs might have.
246-->''Lord who made the lion and the lamb''\
247''You decreed I should be what I am''\
248''Would it spoil some vast eternal plan''\
249''If I were a wealthy man?''
250* SparedByTheAdaptation: Golde, Motel and Shprintze all die in Sholem Aleichem's original stories (Shprintze drowned herself after her intended marriage was blocked by the groom's uncle; Golde died of an unspecified illness and Motel of tuberculosis)[[note]]Keep in mind that the original stories were written and published over the period of ''twenty years'' (1895 to 1914) and set "in present" (each story is actually framed as Tevye relating to Sholem Aleichem all the events which had happened since the preceding story). Hence people dying "off-screen" between the stories, which was more a reflection of relatively short life expectancy in the rural Russian Empire.[[/note]]. Here they survive to the end.
251* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The Yiddish version transliterates most of the characters' names a little differently (Tzeitel is Tsaytl, Hodel is Hodl, Chava is Khave, etc).
252* StealthInsult:
253** "Is there a proper blessing for the tsar?" "Yes. 'May God bless and keep the tsar... far away from us!'"
254** Yente comes to one of the fathers telling him she has a match for his son, the shoemaker's daughter. The father protests, since the shoemaker's daughter is almost blind. Yente explains this IS why it is such a perfect match, as a blind girl should have no worries about whether her husband is ugly.
255** In "To Life," the chorus gives one to Tevye and Lazar Wolf: "We know that when good fortune favors two such men, it stands to reason we deserve it too."
256* StoutStrength: Tevye is often portrayed as going a bit soft about the belly with middle age. He's also shown hauling his loaded milk cart around after his horse injures its leg.
257* TalkingInBed: Sets the stage for Tevye telling Golde his "dream" about Fruma-Sarah.
258* TemptingFate: In the opening scene, Tevye says the Jewish community doesn't bother the Christian community, and "so far, they don't bother us." One guess as to what happens during the course of the show.
259* ThatRussianSquatDance: Shows up at a couple of points in "To Life", which features it among a wide array of Russian dance moves.
260* ThatWasntARequest: When Perchik and Hodel tell Tevye (Hodel's father) of their engagement and he blusters that he won't allow it:
261-->'''Hodel''': You don't understand, Papa.\
262'''Tevye''': I understand, I understand, because I said yes to Motel and Tzeitel you feel you also have the right, but my answer is still no.\
263'''Perchik''': No, Reb Tevye. You don't understand. We're not asking for your permission.
264* ThereIsNoRuleSix: Tevye is mulling over whether to accept Chava marrying a non-Jew and says "On the other hand... there ''is'' no other hand!"
265* TitleDrop: "You might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof." [...] "Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as... as a fiddler on the roof!"
266* 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]]. By the end of the show he hasn't fully come around, but he's starting to when he finally acknowledges his daughter and her husband.
267* TwoActStructure: The first act lasts from the start to the end of Tzeitel and Motel's wedding, with the second picking up months later.
268* VodkaDrunkenski: In "To Life", Tevye and Lazar Wolf join their Russian compatriots in getting royally smashed to celebrate [[spoiler: Tzeitel's engagement]].
269* WeddingSmashers: The UsefulNotes/{{Cossacks}} interrupt [[spoiler:Motel and Tzeitel's]] wedding with "a little unofficial demonstration."
270* WhereDoYouThinkYouAre:
271** When Tevye is railing against Motel for wanting to arrange his own marriage: “Where do you think you are? In Moscow? In Paris? Where do they think they are? America?”
272** A stonier example at the end when Tevye faces the Constable: "And now I have some advice for you: This is still my land. Get off my land."
273* YiddishAsASecondLanguage: A bit downplayed, especially considering that historically all the characters (except the Russians) would have been speaking Yiddish as a ''first'' language. The original script has no Yiddish at all: "Mazel tov" ("Congratulations") and "L'Chaim" (famously explained in the song, "To life", a toast), are Hebrew. More recently, though, an [[https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/fiddler-on-the-roof-in-yiddish off-Broadway production]] of the show translated entirely into Yiddish has been staged in New York to positive reviews.

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