Fiddler on the Roof

There’s nothing wrong with the answer, “You’ll thank me when you’re older.” It applies to everything from vegetables to putting a kid’s allowance in a savings account to, yes, musical theater. We understand why your kids might not initially get excited about Fiddler on the Roof, the touring revival of the 1964 Broadway musical about the Jewish milkman trying to marry off his daughters that comes to Chicago June 9. But much like The Sound of Music—a musical some consider square but that inevitably wins over young audiences when they see it for the first time—Fiddler is a great primer for show-stopping musicals and a longtime favorite among family audiences.

Though the material is decidedly mature (the story starts out light but gets darker as the Russian villagers get evicted from their small town by the tsar), it’s still G-rated. Big, splashy musical numbers like the classic opening “Tradition” and an elaborate wedding-dance sequence should captivate little ones. (Don’t be surprised if kids spend the next few weeks trying to recreate the famed “bottle dance” balancing act; plan on providing unbreakable bottle substitutes.) And grown-ups will enjoy the chance to see Israeli actor Topol portraying Tevye, the role that made him a household name (and earned him an Oscar nod) in the 1971 film version. Add to this the eye-popping opulence of the gorgeous Oriental Theatre—former home to Wicked—and this exciting taste of attending grown-up theater may start new theater-going traditions for lots of Chicago families.

Fiddler on the Roof plays June 9–28 at the Oriental Theatre.

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