Jn the early 1960s, writer Joseph Stein teamed up in America with composer Jerry Bock and poet Sheldon Harnick to create the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Stein, who would compose the text for the play, had already written several radio and television dramas, and Bock and Harnick had collaborated on songs for other musicals. Although Harold Prince, their manager, worried that a play about Jewish life in a small Russian town would appeal to only a small faction of the American public, Fiddler on the Roof proved to be highly successful.
Traditional Jewish marriage. In the Jewish villages of Russia and Eastern Europe, marriages were arranged by a matchmaker, or shadkhen. The shadkhen matched partners based on their wealth and education and sought the approval of neither the prospective bride nor groom, but rather of the young people's parents. The eldest daughter in a family usually had to marry before her sisters. Because brides were expected to provide a dowry (money or goods), poor girls rarely hoped for anything more than a poor husband. Even a poor bride was expected to give at least a pair of pillows, a white tablecloth, candlesticks, bedding, and tableware.
This is a free page. This page contains 201 words. This
article contains 4,054 words (approx. 14 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Article with our Fiddler on the Roof Access Pass.
