‘Fiddler’ veteran recalls how it all started

By JOHN BENSON

entertainment@vindy.com

As an original cast member of the Tony Award-winning “Fiddler on the Roof,” which opened in 1964 on Broadway, actor-director-choreographer Sammy Dallas Bayes remembers when the Jerome Robbins-directed and choreographed show seemed doomed.

“Actually, it wasn’t a hit from the start,” said Bayes, who played a villager in the original production. “It was in terrible shape when we were in Detroit. I think Variety magazine said it wouldn’t last two months when it got to Broadway. So it went through a tremendous amount of changes early on. Robbins always came overloaded. He had more material than he needed, but that’s the way he worked. I think the thing that impressed me most is he tried everything. He wasn’t afraid to throw anything away.

“So I saw him cut things down and change things around. Every time you went into the theater, you had to look into what show you were doing that night because he had variations. And we learned them all. He’d switch the next night, and that went on to opening night, Sept. 22, 1964. And then, five minutes before curtain, he froze the show. The one he chose on opening night is the one that everybody sees now, but there were other versions.”

From opening night, “Fiddler on the Roof” was a smash hit. Audiences were enthralled by the musical that detailed the story of humble Russian milkman Tevye and his five daughters. Perhaps the public saw a connection between the baby boomers beginning to spread their wings for independence and the production’s tale of love, laughter, devotion, defiance and changing traditions.

“The thing is, back then you knew you were a hit when you went to the theater and could see a line around the block,” said Bayes, calling from Upstate New York. “That’s what it was at the Imperial Theater. The only thing I can remember that I laugh at now was one of the critics mentioned it’s a good show but, my god, it’s the highest ticket price on Broadway at $9.95. So times have changed. Changed a lot.”

Over the decades, “Fiddler on the Roof” has naturally changed as well. However, its current national Broadway tour, which features Tony Award- winning actor Harvey Fierstein and comes through Cleveland Tuesday to 27 at the Palace Theatre, is a throwback affair featuring Robbins’ original direction and choreography. The responsibility to bringing Robbins’ vision back to life falls to Bayes, who, over the past few decades, has become caretaker to the original “Fiddler on the Roof.”

“After I was involved in the beginning, Robbins asked me to start staging the show with other companies,” Bayes said. “Basically, he had seen some of his other works watered down by people coming in and trying to copy his work and not succeeding. He wanted to make sure if his work was being done on stage, somebody would not be able to say ‘Original Work of Jerome Robbins’ and it wouldn’t be. I’ve gone out to productions and there are people who have done something of the original and put in ‘original choreography’ and it’s not. It’s like a vague memory. And I think that’s what he was saying: Keep it in the context of what I created originally.”

He added, “I think it’s very important to maintain his choreography. You can’t maintain the directorial aspects of the scenes because each time you’re working with a different actor, so you’ll get a different interpretation. So the important thing was to make sure that all of his choreography was maintained. Actually, I’m the only living being that knows the original. I’m in the process of training a couple of other people so that it can be passed down and so it doesn’t get watered down by somebody looking at a video saying, ‘I think they did this, did that.’ I want it to be maintained as much as possible.”