The long-awaited Toronto run of Fiddler on the Roof performed in Yiddish (with subtitles) which was an off-Broadway hit, finally opens this May. In New York, the production\u2019s original six weeks first stretched to six months, then wound up playing for about two years through extended runs, and earned several theatre critics\u2019 awards for best musical revival in 2019.<\/p>\n
Toronto\u2019s show, produced by Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company (HGJTC), features a Canadian supporting cast (13 of 24 of whom are Jewish), alongside several members of the New York creative team. Most of the Canadian actors in the supporting cast learned to speak Yiddish as part of their preparation for the show.<\/p>\n
New York-based director Joel Grey (Tony Award winner), lead actor Steven Skybell, and musical supervisor Zalman Mlotek (both Tony Award nominees), are on board as key anchors of the show that debuted in 2018. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The Canadian production had been in the works for years, originally envisioned as one stop on an international tour, but that plan was shelved with the COVID pandemic, until HGJTC revived the idea a couple of years ago in conversations with the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF), which produced the New York show.<\/p>\n
After months of work, performances will run May 25 to June 7 at the Elgin Theatre, an ornate, old-school playhouse in downtown Toronto.<\/p>\n
Mlotek, the show\u2019s musical supervisor and NYTF\u2019s artistic director, was in Toronto for the first week of rehearsals, and in an interview with The CJN after the first rehearsal, he said he was \u201ca little high\u201d from the energy the 25 actors (including Skybell) were bringing from the start.<\/p>\n
Each actor studied heavily ahead of the four-week rehearsal period, including Zoom coaching sessions with the NYTF associate artistic director Matthew \u201cMotl\u201d Didner, who serves as the production\u2019s dialect coach (and designed the supertitles).<\/p>\n
Mlotek found the cast\u2019s preparation evident from the get-go. Energized by their enthusiasm, he listened to the actors during rehearsal\u2014starting with \u201cTradition,\u201d the show\u2019s opening number\u2014then offered the players pointers on pronunciation or how to accent a certain phrase.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I made clear from the very beginning is that it\u2019s the words. You have to have a relationship with the words,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s exciting to me is that they came in with that energy, with that desire to really own the words and let it become theirs. And that\u2019s no small feat for an actor who doesn\u2019t speak the language to then be able to then produce it and present it as if it\u2019s theirs. On day one of a four-week process, I\u2019m thrilled with where things are.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the first week of rehearsals, Mlotek leaves only to return at the end of the rehearsal period for any final tweaks as music supervisor. He\u2019ll also work with the 13-piece orchestra assembled by music director Mark Camilleri, and he says the music\u2014adapted from the original 1960s Broadway orchestration\u2014brings the joyous, celebratory vibe of klezmer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you\u2019ll hear is Broadway-influenced, but infused with klezmer, with a special nod to [that] sound,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ll hear that in the clarinet playing, you\u2019ll hear that in the trumpet playing, you\u2019ll hear that, of course, in the fiddle playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
During a recent event at Toronto\u2019s Royal Ontario Museum, Mlotek noted that director Grey had used colour-coded scripts for the New York cast to read in English first, to ensure the cast fully grasped the subtext before delving into the idiom. \u201cThat was an important learning tool,\u201d he told a crowd of nearly 500 attendees, adding that NYTF sometimes also provides actors with recordings for study.<\/p>\n
Speaking to The CJN, Mlotek notes that Skybell as Tevye and Grey in the director\u2019s seat are crucial to remounts, including the Toronto show.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an intimate production,\u201d he said. \u201cEven though it has a full complement and it\u2019s the full, big, beautiful sound of the shtetl singing, there\u2019s an intimacy that Joel [Grey] has created in this production that I think also resonates for audiences. They\u2019re involved. They\u2019re right there with the actors, experiencing the various moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ROMevent-Fiddler-Yiddish-reception_Skybell-img-projection-1024x771.jpg\")
An event at the Royal Ontario Museum featured a conversation with and songs performed by lead actor Steven Skybell (pictured in projected image) and musical supervisor Zalman Mlotek, followed by a reception and viewing access to the museum\u2019s upstairs Judaica collections, April 22, 2026. (Credit: Jonathan Rothman)<\/p>\n
Yiddish language presentation, layered audience experience<\/p>\n
While the Yiddish production tells the story in the language of Sholem Aleichem\u2019s Tevye the Milkman stories forming the basis for Fiddler, Mlotek emphasizes the English and Russian subtitles (or surtitles) will be projected above the stage that audiences will be able to follow, along with the idea of embracing the narrative, and the feeling of the language.<\/p>\n
Many of those following the surtitles closely end up watching them less as the show progresses, he says. For those in doubt about seeing the show because it\u2019s in Yiddish, Mlotek points to the similarity of taking in an opera presented in French or Italian with surtitles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a unique opportunity to hear a work that was conceived in this language, [to] then hear it brought to life in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says in the past, non-Yiddish speaking audience members have told him even if they didn\u2019t understand the words, the sound still evokes a response.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt goes right to your kishkas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toronto production the first outside New York<\/p>\n
The Toronto show marks the first time the production that kept audiences coming back in New York has mounted the full show in a new city with local players and producers.<\/p>\n
In 2025, a narrated concert production of the musical repertoire took place in Los Angeles, with a local cast and musicians. A full theatrical production in that city is slated for February and March 2027 at the Ahmanson Theatre in the Music Center complex that hosts the Oscars gala, LA Philharmonic concerts, and numerous musicals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing this production in Toronto as the beginning of a re-interest, [of] all the interest nationally and internationally that was cut down from COVID,\u201d said Mlotek.<\/p>\n
Originally planned as part of an international tour halted by the pandemic (that had been set to include China, Australia, and the Ahmanson in Los Angeles), the Toronto run now serves as a potential launchpad for future North American engagements.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a very strong feeling that the response to this production will spark interest in other cities in Canada, I hope, and in the United States as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Mlotek emphasizes he\u2019s excited about the present Canadian production. \u201cThe cast here in Toronto is extraordinary\u2026 it\u2019s a very special group of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mamaloshen full circle moment of \u2018Yiddler\u2019<\/p>\n
Most of the cast didn\u2019t know Yiddish before this show, though a few had some grasp of the language, producers told The CJN. But doing the show entirely in Yiddish is at least one cast member\u2019s lifelong dream.<\/p>\n
For actor, musician, and arts advocate Theresa Tova, the opportunity to play Yente, the matchmaker, for a fourth time\u2014the first was as a child in Calgary in her synagogue and Yiddish school\u2019s production\u2014adds to her moment of full-circle joy. Doing this in her mamaloshen (native tongue), though, sets the experience apart.<\/p>\n
\u201cI dream in Yiddish. I speak in Yiddish. I gave birth in Yiddish, screaming at my gentile husband and my gentile obstetrician in Yiddish, and so for me to be able to land in this world, in Sholem [Aleichem]\u2014which I have on my bookshelf in the original Yiddish, which I have read\u2014and to be able to just live in this world, is so brilliant,\u201d she said in an interview.<\/p>\n
The author of Still The Night, a Dora Award-winning play about the experiences of her mother, a Holocaust survivor, Tova told The CJN her Yiddish language challenge for the show wasn\u2019t learning the language, but adapting from her native Polish-Yiddish dialect to what the production\u2019s YIVO Standard Yiddish.<\/p>\n
For the others, Didner\u2019s Yiddish coaching meant teaching words\u2019 meanings, \u201cwhere the stresses are, and how to get those words out of their mouths,\u201d says Tova, while hers was taking on a new accent.<\/p>\n
Tova, who has toured extensively as a performer working in Yiddish, and created the 2015 Jewish Radio Hour live show in Toronto, says doing Fiddler in Yiddish (\u201cI\u2019ve started calling it Yiddler,\u201d she quips) feels like coming home, a revisiting of her childhood in Calgary.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t speak English in the house. We only spoke Yiddish, and I used to live and dream and everything in Yiddish. But living in an English world, working in an English world, I\u2019m not immersed in that world anymore,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, I sing [in] Yiddish concerts<\/a> because I can, and I love the music, but I don\u2019t live in a Yiddish-speaking world.\u201d<\/p>\n Diving back into it means everything to Tova.<\/p>\n \u201cThe joy for me is to be immersed in my mother tongue, to be able to live this show that was originally [a story] written in Yiddish\u2014translated, made into a Broadway musical, but inspired by this Yiddish language, by Sholem Aleichem, one of our greatest writers\u2026 this is a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s performed the role of Yente in productions at different ages of her life, and is fascinated with the direction she\u2019ll take the role this time out.<\/p>\n \u201cI did it when I was 17, I did it when I was 40-something,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m a grandmother now, so when I talk about children being the treasure that the age gives you, I actually own that now, and when I talk about wanting to go and help build Israel, there\u2019s a different awareness now than there was when we did it 25 years ago\u2026 and understanding and knowing that she doesn\u2019t have the context that we have now, or how hard that journey is going to be for her, or whether she\u2019ll even get there.\u201d<\/p>\n Her job is to ask those questions, she says. \u201cIt\u2019s the work of being an actor finding the subtext of where we are now. That\u2019s all I can bring to it.\u201d<\/p>\n A veteran of musical theater, including Broadway and major theaters across Canada and internationally, Tova remains excited for Fiddler on the Roof. (This includes for working with the cast and Grey, and working again with past collaborators Mlotek and Didner.) Despite running through the material for months, she keeps finding something new in the story.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is so finely crafted, so fine-tuned. It is one of the best written and realized pieces of the Broadway canon,\u201d said Tova. \u201cPeople should come see it because it is entertaining. It is funny as hell. It pulls at your heartstrings. And it gives you faith in humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n She says resonance abounds in the piece for everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is so universal. And it is also incredibly profound, I think for us as a Jewish [people], for the\u2014it\u2019s too easy to say pride, because there\u2019s so many complications right now, and we\u2019re struggling so much\u2014but our heritage and who we are, and to take some comfort in what we\u2019ve come from, and how much we\u2019ve grown and developed and moved, and still kept our culture, and still kept our community.\u201d<\/p>\n At the end of the play, she points out, many characters are leaving.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere are they going? Some are going to Chicago. Some are going to Eretz Yisroel to try and help build a nation. Some are going to visit cousins in the archipelago, in Siberia.<\/p>\n \u201cWe, as Jews, we say where should I go? And that\u2019s our constant struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s impressed with Fiddler\u2019s popularity with non-Jews as well, and adds: \u201cI really do hope that Toronto embraces it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Something special\u2019 for Toronto, wider community<\/p>\n David Eisner, the co-artistic director of HGJTC, recalls how the production came together once Skybell was on board to anchor the cast<\/a>. Around 500 people, from Vancouver to Halifax, responded to casting calls for the show. Eisner says that once it was down to fewer than 100 actors at callbacks in Toronto, the rigors of the audition process involved spot tests of actors\u2019 Yiddish skills.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to go through a lot of hoops to get a part in this play,\u201d said Eisner. \u201cI mean, not only do you have to dance, not only do you have to sing brilliantly, you have to be able to speak in Yiddish, and they tested everyone quite vigorously so far as their ability with going back and forth, corrections, and how easily they adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n (During the audition process, according to Tova, actor Tracy Michailidis, who plays Golda, told her: \u201cThis is the hardest I\u2019ve ever worked for an audition.\u201d)<\/p>\n Eisner had seen the show in New York, years earlier, and it touched him unexpectedly.<\/p>\n \u201cMy parents spoke Yiddish, so we wouldn\u2019t understand it, and wouldn\u2019t understand what they were saying. And I\u2019m not alone in this story, and I don\u2019t know why it is, but involuntarily when I saw it in New York, the fiddle happens, and then he [Tevye] starts talking, and you get emotional. It hits you to your core, and it\u2019s just the authenticity of: \u2018These are our ancestors, doing this play in this language.\u2019 There\u2019s a certain truth and honesty.\u201d<\/p>\n With casting underway, another heavy lift was securing capital, and Eisner told The CJN he credits leaders within the Jewish community whose sponsorship and donations comprise part of the show\u2019s seven-figure production costs.<\/p>\n He says groups from around the region are booking blocks of tickets and coming in by bus from London, Ont., and Buffalo, N.Y. One matinee performance was arranged for students from Catholic and Jewish schools.<\/p>\n Eisner calls the Fiddler production significant on multiple levels for HGJTC.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s our 18th season and we wanted to do something really wonderful, because COVID did have an effect on all theatres, but we also want to do it because of the time that we\u2019re in now, and as someone once said: \u2018Instead of the oy, let\u2019s give them the joy.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Fiddler does just that, he says. \u201cThis is something special, for the whole community to come [to] together, and I think there\u2019s some solace and comfort and pride and coming together\u2026 and this show delivers that, and we\u2019re thrilled to be able to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Events and exhibits<\/p>\n In the Elgin Theatre lobby, theatregoers will find exhibits by Ontario Jewish Archives and Jewish Immigrant Aid Services, highlighting Jewish immigration through the past century.<\/p>\n Additional events around Toronto in May spotlighting the Fiddler production include an evening panel discussion<\/a> titled \u201cSholem Aleichem & Evolving Jewish Traditions,\u201d co-presented by Koffler Arts and the Miles Nadal JCC at the Al Green Theatre on May 14.<\/p>\n Jonathan Rothman is a reporter for The CJN based in Toronto, covering municipal politics, arts and culture, and security, among other areas impacting the Jewish community locally and around Canada. He has worked in Canadian online newsrooms and on multimedia creative teams at the CBC, Yahoo Canada, and The Walrus. Jonathan’s writing has appeared in Spacing, NOW Toronto (the former weekly), and Exclaim! magazines, and The Globe and Mail. He has also contributed arts, music, and culture stories to CBC Radio, including an audio mini-documentary report from Brazil.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1601411499989.jpeg\")
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