Lyric Opera of Chicago announces casting for Fiddler on the Roof
Lyric Opera of Chicago announced principal casting for its new to Chicago production of Fiddler on the Roof, the North American premiere of an internationally heralded reinvention of the Broadway classic, set to hit the Lyric stage September 17 - October 7, 2022.
Lyric's Fiddler cast will be led by Steven Skybell as Tevye, the role for which he won a Lucille Lortel Award for the 2019 off-Broadway Yiddish production; Broadway personality Debbie Gravitte, a 1989 Tony Award winner for Jerome Robbins' Broadway, as Golde; David Benoit, a Broadway veteran who has appeared in musicals from Les Miserables to Avenue Q, as Lazar Wolf; Lauren Marcus, who recently had a featured role in the Netflix film adaptation of tick, tick... BOOM!, as Tzeitel; and Joy Hermalyn as Yente, a role she has performed on Broadway to great acclaim.
The other talented singing actors in the cast include Austen Bohmer as Hodel, Maya Jacobson as Chava, Drew Redington as Motel, Adam Kaplan as Perchik, Michael Nigro as Fyedka, Liliana Renteria as Shprintze, Omi Lichtenstein as Bielke, Jackson Evans as Mendel, Tommy Novak as Avram, Steven Strafford as Mordcha, Melody Betts as Grandma/Fruma Sarah, Bill McGough as the Rabbi, and William Brown as the Constable. New York casting is by Tara Rubin Casting/Merri Sugarman, CSA, and Chicago casting is by Becca McCracken, CSA.
This new to Chicago production, conceived by the visionary director Barrie Kosky as a tribute to his own Jewish heritage, keeps the "Tradition" center stage while telling Fiddler's joyful and heartbreaking story with Kosky's innovative stagecraft. The creative team for Fiddler on the Roof includes set design by Rufus Didwiszuz, original choreography by Otto Pichler, revival choreography by Silvano Marraffa, costume design by Klaus Bruns, original lighting design by Diego Leetz, and revival lighting design by Marco Philipp. The Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus are led by conductor Kimberly Grigsby in her Lyric debut; Michael Black is Lyric's Chorus Master.
When this new vision of the blockbuster show premiered in Berlin in 2017, international critics heralded the arrival of a completely original and unique vision of the classic Broadway musical, a theatrical experience both grand in scale and intimate in its power. "The single best performance I have ever witnessed...20 years from now, people will still be talking about this legendary production," raved Broadway World.
Fiddler on the Roof offers Chicago theatergoers a unique musical immersion with the full forces of the renowned Lyric Opera Orchestra, members of the powerful Lyric Opera Chorus, and a cast of seasoned Broadway and musical theater artists, all presented on Chicago's largest stage in the acoustically stunning Lyric Opera House with enhanced accessibility, new plush seating, and improved sightlines.