Dear Editor,
Last March, the Wild Goose Players decided to perform “Fiddler on the Roof,” to open on April 5, 2024, at the Bellows Falls Opera House. Then, on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, which continues to respond.
Since then, many people have approached me to ask if we’re worried about boycotts, protests, sending the wrong message, or negative publicity. At first, I wasn’t sure how to respond. What does “Fiddler on the Roof,” a 60-year-old American musical that takes place in Russia in 1905, have to do with the current Israeli/Palestinian crisis?
It’s true that “Fiddler” is a musical about a people thrown out of their homes as their land is seized, a story achingly familiar in both Jewish history and the current Palestinian crisis. Although this musical was written well before the current Middle East crisis, and is set before the founding of the modern state of Israel, we were asked, “Is it okay to portray Jewish suffering in a time when Israel is causing so much suffering?”
I am hopeful that our production of “Fiddler” could enable powerful conversations about a whole host of issues, from antisemitism to the Palestinian right of return. But more than anything, I believe that it is a beautiful show about a classic struggle in human culture: the need to innovate, and the desire for stability.
It is a story about family dynamics during a time of radical change. It is about a new generation pushing the previous one to change and evolve. In my mind, the show speaks more to the challenges that many LGBTQ+ children and their parents face imagining and creating loving relationships than it does the current climate in the Middle East. I think that is why the show has been so successful: it is not predominantly for or about Jews. We all have experienced the tensions between parental expectations and the choices that children make.
No matter what our intention, it is now clear that the context in which art occurs has real influence on its reception. We at Wild Goose are not trying to make any statement about how the world should or should not be. That, “Fiddler” teaches us, is a personal decision. Rather, we are sharing glimpses from our world, using ourselves as vehicles, as honestly as we can.
Sincerely,
David Stern, artistic director
Wild Goose Players