Wonder of Wonders A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof |
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Author:
| Solomon, Alisa |
ISBN: | 978-1-250-05870-6 |
Publication Date: | Sep 2014 |
Publisher: | Picador
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Book Format: | Paperback |
List Price: | USD $24.00 |
Book Description:
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In the half-century since its premiere,Fiddler on the Roof has become a supremely potent cultural landmark, beloved by audiences the world over. Now, in a history as captivating as its subject, award-winning drama critic Alisa Solomon traces how and why the story of Tevye the milkman, the creation of the great Yiddish writer Sholem-Aleichem, was reborn as blockbuster entertainment and a cultural touchstone, not only for Jews and not only in America. It is first a...
More Description
In the half-century since its premiere,Fiddler on the Roof has become a supremely potent cultural landmark, beloved by audiences the world over. Now, in a history as captivating as its subject, award-winning drama critic Alisa Solomon traces how and why the story of Tevye the milkman, the creation of the great Yiddish writer Sholem-Aleichem, was reborn as blockbuster entertainment and a cultural touchstone, not only for Jews and not only in America.
It is first a story of the theater, as Solomon follows Tevye from his humble appearance on the New York Yiddish stage, through his adoption by leftist dramatists as a symbol of oppression, to his Broadway debut and his starring role in a major Hollywood picture. And it is a cultural story, of a show that spoke to the deepest conflicts and desires the world over: the fraying of tradition, generational tension, the loss of roots. Entertaining and original,Wonder of Wonders reveals the profound legacy of a show about tradition that itself became a tradition.