"'Fiddler on the Roof' is still relevant today": Nathan Datner on the musical and the war in Ukraine | Israel today

It has been 14 years since Natan Datner played the character of Tuvia the Milkman in the musical "Fiddler on the Roof".

Next month he will return to this mythological character as part of a new production at the Hebrew Theater.

The production, under the artistic direction of Gadi Tzedaka, will take place on June 25 at the Northern Theater and on July 3 at the Tel Aviv Hall of Culture.

Datner not only stars in the production, but also directs it alongside choreographer Avichai Hacham.

Among the actors in the musical: Sandra Sadeh, Sheri Tzuriel, Kobi Maor and Shai Gavso.

"I'm very excited," says Datner, "I'm both the director and the actor, and it's an adventure I've never experienced. I hope we can get with this musical anywhere in the country because 'Fiddler on the Roof' for me is not just a show, it's also a mission." .

The musical is based on a story by Shalom Aleichem, and its plot takes place in a Jewish town in the 19th century.

"In the play, the Ukrainians are carrying out a pogrom against the Jews, while today we live in a country that sends doctors and people to save the Ukrainians from the Russians. It's crazy," Datner says.

"What's more amazing about the play is the female empowerment there is in this story. His daughters do their brave deed and decide to marry a white man. It's a breaking of tradition. There's nothing more modern than that."

He says, "How does something become a classic? When you bring it up again and again, and each time you realize how relevant it is."

Shai Gavso, who won last December on the program "The Singer in the Mask," plays in the musical Motl, Tuvia's groom who marries his eldest daughter.

"He's a terribly comical character," says Gavso, "the experience here is amazing, a bit like going back to school, rehearsing every day from morning to evening. It's the first big thing I do since 'The Singer in the Mask.'"

Gypsum after exposure in "The Singer in the Mask", Photo: From the show

Sandra Sadeh plays the character of Golda, Tuvia's wife.

"My mother played in a production of 'Fiddler on the Roof' at the Giora Godik Theater in the 1960s," she says.

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