The excitement continued during the second week of Fiddler as on Friday night Peter Kevoian joyously returned to his role as Tevye! A personal triumph for him! And David Girolmo’s Lazar Wolf is all the richer after how David, in true show biz fashion as the understudy, saved the day stepping up and winning raves as Tevye! Peter, as he recuperated, attended rehearsals just before opening and movingly praised David on his fantastic performance and brought many to tears as he complimented the entire company on their powerful work. Emotions just keep riding high all through this process! We are all the richer for the shared goodness of everyone getting us through an astonishing two weeks! Matt Jones, with great skill and heart, playing Lazar last week, David’s remarkable Tevye, Peter’s happy return and the entire cast and crew working so beautifully together to keep the production on point. The press and audience response has been off the charts and I am one lucky guy. Our technical production team also became my heroes once again as we finally resolved that automation glitch that is no more as we called Sunday morning rehearsal to go manual with the fly system. Thank you Rose and Lou Ann and Todd and Mike and all! We leapt the hurdles and challenges all around! There is drama behind the scenes at times to rival the drama in the play! These are the things that bond us and teach us about each other’s merits as we acknowledge that none of this would succeed without everyone pulling together. I am as proud of this part of the story as I am of our gorgeous, deeply felt show itself. To sit with the enthusiastic audience we have at Paramount is a sensation for me difficult to put into words. How the crowd embraces the characters and story so warmly, so fully. The give and take from the house to the stage , the alchemy of play between the actors and the audience is a rare experience one only shares in live theatre. As I look forward to our final week of the run, I encourage all of you who haven’t seen it, to get your seats and be a part of the story that is Paramount’s FIDDLER ON THE ROOF! And thank you for reading my humble blog! See ya next time!
-Jim Corti