Tony Award-winning actors Shuler Hensley and Sophia Gunter rehearse for “Fiddler on the Roof Concert.” The play is a collaboration between Theatre Aspen, the Aspen Music Festival and the school. The performance will be a one-off performance on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Michael Klein Music Tent. Jason Charm/Aspen Daily News▲
“If I Were a Rich Man” and “The Matchmaker” from Fiddler on the Roof are two of the most iconic songs in Broadway history and a big reason why the play has won nine Tony Awards and is the longest-running show of all time on The Great White Way.
On Tuesday at 7:30pm in the Michael Klein Music Tent, theater and music lovers will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see one of the most famous musicals of all time, a collaboration between Theatre Aspen and the Aspen Music Festival and School.
The one-night-only performance of “Fiddler on the Roof Concert” marks the 60th anniversary of the play’s Broadway premiere.
Andy Einhorn (Carousel, Cinderella, Hello, Dolly) will conduct the 60-plus Aspen Music Festival and School student orchestra in a performance of John Williams’ Academy Award-winning score from the 1971 feature film version.
The star-studded production stars and directs Broadway’s Shuler Hensley, a Tony Award winner for “Oklahoma!” and most recently starred in Broadway’s “The Music Man,” who will reprise the role of Tevye in the Pittsburgh Symphony’s production in February.
“Fiddler on the Roof is a play we can all relate to,” says Hensley. “The joys and hardships of family, the challenges of generational divides, the struggle to maintain traditions, and the effects of prejudice and forced assimilation are life themes we can all relate to, no matter where we come from or what religion we belong to. The play beautifully depicts all of these themes while celebrating the special relationship between a father and daughter.”
Anne L. Nathan stars alongside Hensley as Golde. Nathan’s Broadway appearances include Thoroughly Modern Millie, Sunday in the Park with George and Once. Supporting cast members include David Benoist (Les Miserables) as Lazar Wolf, Danny Cornfeld (Harmony) as Motel and Sidney Borchers (The Sound of Music in Concert) as Hodel.
“Fiddler on the Roof Concert” marks the fifth collaboration between Theatre Aspen and AMFS. Past productions include “South Pacific” in 2019, “The Music of Richard Rodgers” in 2021, “The Sound of Music Concert” in 2022 and “Master Class” in 2023.
“We’re thrilled to be celebrating the fifth anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof, an all-time classic that has become even more meaningful than we ever imagined,” said Jed Bernstein, producer for Theatre Aspen. “We’re especially excited to have our local actors join our main company of Broadway luminaries.”
Aspen actors appearing in Fiddler on the Roof Concert include Nina Gabbianelli (Theatre Aspen’s “Beautiful”) as Yente, Sally Maxwell as Fruma Sara, Franz Alderfer as Constable, and Theatre Aspen Education young actors Anna Riley and Sienna Winter as Shprintze and Bjelke. Additionally, a chorus of local Roaring Fork Valley residents accompanies the production.
“Each season, we look forward to collaborating with our esteemed colleagues at Theatre Aspen to present great contemporary musical works,” AMFS president and CEO Alan Fletcher said in a news release. “‘Fiddler on the Roof’ has been on our list for a long time; its universal themes and iconic melody resonate with us all. John Williams’ stunning score is the ideal vehicle to showcase the talents of our young orchestral players on the same stage as world-class Broadway talent.”
Tony Award-winning actor Shuler Hensley rehearses for “Fiddler on the Roof Concert.” Shuler, an AMFS alumnus, will reprise the role of Tevye in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra production. Jason Charm/Aspen Daily News▲
Three years ago, Einhorn helped revive Williams’ score, which hadn’t been performed since the film’s release. A new version of the score was created in collaboration with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the University of Michigan. Einhorn then integrated parts of the original Broadway score into all-new productions of “Fiddler on the Roof” that will open in Philadelphia and Ann Arbor in 2022, and will revitalize the show in Pittsburgh in February, starring Hensley.
“Sometimes songs sound different than they do on the Broadway album,” Einhorn said in an article for AMFS’s weekly music guide, Festival Focus. “People get to hear the songs they know and love arranged a little differently, exposing them to a new sonic landscape.”
Tuesday’s performance will mark just the fourth time that John Williams’ music has been performed, with two of those performances being by Schuller.
This will be Schuller’s first time performing in Aspen since he was an AMFS student in the early ’90s. He said he was thrilled to be back in the valley after so many years and said, “I can’t think of a better place to hear this story and inspiring music than the Michael Klein Music Tent in Aspen.”
A limited number of tickets will be available for purchase through the AMFS Box Office at aspenmusicfestival.com/events/calendar/special-event-fiddler-on-the-roof.