Fiddler on the Roof

"Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof!" ---Tevye


I have always loved Fiddler on the Roof. I still remember the first time I watched it. I remember it was LONG, but that I enjoyed every second of it. When Eryn decided to audition for a role, I was so excited and nervous for her. When she got called back for a second audition, I was even more excited and nervous for her! We were REALLY excited when we saw the cast list, and there was her name as one of the main characters! She would play Chava (pronounced Hava... kinda). She is one of the three main daughters of Tevye, the main character in the play. After almost four months of after school rehearsals (on Tuesdays and Thursdays) it was finally time for the performance. She was able to do a dress-rehearsal-performance for some people from a Retirement Center the Tuesday before the real thing, but they had the understudies do their parts for that one... then she got to do a half-performance for an assembly on Thursday afternoon... the Thursday night performance was actually understudy night, so she played a villager while her understudy played Chava. She was so excited for Friday night to finally be able to do the full show as her REAL character, and not just as Woman #1 (which is what she played when the understudies got to perform... but she still had a speaking role for that!) But when Friday rolled around, Eryn was sick. REALLY sick. She was heartbroken, and I felt so badly for her. She kept talking about how hard she had worked, and I knew the hours that were put in. She wanted to be able to be involved in every moment of the play. Luckly, by Saturday morning she was back! We went to the Saturday evening performance. We figured that the bugs would be worked out, and it would be the strongest performance anyway. It was AWESOME! Eryn did a fantastic job, and I was in tears as I watched her perform. I was so, so proud of her.

Get ready for a whole bunch of pictures! It's not easy taking pictures behind people's heads in a semi-dark auditorium, so there are some that aren't as in focus as the rest, but I love them. What a wonderful memory of an awesome night!


Matchmaker! I love this song. Eryn had a solo in it, and she did so great.

Later on, she meets up with some not-so-nice Russians... but one of them stands up for her. Fyedka!

Poor Chava. Tevye disowns her when she tells him she wants to marry Fyedka. "TRADITION!"

They all have to leave Anatevka (their village) because of persecution. Tevye won't talk to Chava, but sends a message through the oldest daughter telling Chava "God be with you."

Curtain call! Giving "props" to the tech crew. The lights, music, and almost everything else was done by the students. They did a great job!

I was sneaky and went back to where the cast was getting ready before the show and snapped a few pics. Eryn chastised us when she noticed we were there. "You guys aren't supposed to be back here!" Of course she had a smile on her face :) She was so glad that so many of us were there to support her. Even a family in our ward whose kids are also at the same school, made a special effort to come watch Eryn. They had planned to come on Friday night, but when they found out Eryn was sick, they decided to come Saturday instead!

It was so awesome seeing Eryn do something that she has always wanted to do. She has always had a flair for the dramatic, and LOVES to sing... and to see her be able to do both was the BEST! She did a fantastic job, and can hardly wait for next year to audition for the next musical! I wonder what it will be...