For the new Mountain Play production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” audiences will get more than the old song and dance. They’ll get a little cluck and moo as well.
To create the Russian shtetl of Anatevka and lend a little bucolic charm, the show’s designers have added several hens and a cow to the cast.
That’s on top of more than 30 actors and the grand production values theatergoers have come to expect of the Mountain Play.
Set high above Mill Valley on Mt. Tamalpais, the Mountain Play is a Bay Area institution, staging Broadway musicals in an open-air setting that rivals the Hollywood Bowl. “Fiddler on the Roof” opens for a monthlong run beginning May 21.
“We have 90 feet of stage, which is ridiculous,” says prop designer Carol Selig. “We have a 4,000-seat amphitheater, with some people very far away. But it’s important to transport people to another time and place.”
That time and place, of course, is Anatevka circa 1905, when czars and Cossacks ruled the Earth, or at least the Russian Pale of Settlement where the Jews lived. The hit 1964 musical by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock was based on the “Tevye” stories of Sholem Aleichem, and is one of the best-loved musicals of all time, especially in the Jewish community.
“It is a great show,” says technical designer Laura Chariton. “It’s an important piece of history.”
Chariton supervises construction of all the sets, while Selig builds or acquires the props, everything from rusty hayforks to gleaming Kiddush cups. “It is distinctly a musical with heart,” says Selig. “Anyone who has been a parent or a child can feel it deeply.”
Emotions aside, both Chariton and Selig enjoy the challenges of staging a show for the Mountain Play. “The size of the theater is much bigger than normal,” says Chariton. “The line of sight is different because people are so much higher.”
As for the “live” props, Selig has plenty to crow about. “I just cast my chorus of chickens,” she says. “We also have a milk cow named Kate. We got her from a Sonoma farmer.”
“Tevye’s house was the most complicated set,” adds Chariton, “because people pop out of the roof and the fiddler has to get on the roof. We also have a turntable that turns the living room into the bedroom and dining room.”
In addition to “Fiddler” itself, the Mountain Play brain trust has put together plenty of pre- and post-show entertainment for every performance.
Before the curtain goes up, Scott Gerber, Petaluma’s Jewish singing cowboy, will sing Yiddish folksongs. For the kids, puppeteer Randal Metz of the Puppet Company will present “A Jewish Folk Tale.” And after the final bow, the Jubilee Klezmer Ensemble will play traditional klezmer and Israeli tunes for theatergoers waiting for buses to take them down the hill.
This value-added Jewish content sits well with Chariton and Selig, both of whom are Jewish. “I had an aunt who died in the pogroms,” says Chariton. “There are probably Jews out there who are not familiar with this part of Russian history.”
Adds Selig, “We discussed at the last production meeting having a rabbi give coaching on the Sabbath prayer and the wedding. It’s important to put in context that people light candles every Friday, and that this is a tradition universally done.”
So as Mountain Play audiences enjoy the tale of Tevye and his daughters, of the ghost of Fruma Sarah sailing across the graveyard, and of the Chagall-like fiddler scratching out a tune from the rooftop, they should remember the hard-working tech team that thought out every single aspect beforehand.
“We’re still debating,” says Selig, “whether to use a glass goblet or light bulb in the wedding scene.”
The Mountain Play’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof” takes place 1 p.m. Sundays, May 21 through June 18, and Saturday, June 10, at the Mountain Theatre, Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Mill Valley. Tickets: $18.50-$32. Information: (415) 383-1100 or www.mountainplay.org.