Last Updated on June 16, 2026
Joyful production at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
Musicals at Regents Park Open Air Theatre are one of the highlights of the summer season in London. This year, pride of place is Fiddler on the Roof. In its 60th anniversary year, a new production directed by Jordan Fein bursts into the open-air theatre with poignancy, exuberance and, ultimately, grief for a lost world that was destroyed through social progress and persecution.
Set in 1905 in the tiny village of Anatevka, a fictitious village somewhere in the Russian Empire, Tevya, the milkman grapples with grinding poverty and the challenge of raising five daughters who have their own ideas about following traditional Jewish life, such as marriages arranged for them by a matchmaker. There is the constant threat of pogroms – Jews were forced to live in a region known as the Pale of Settlement and their shtetls were regularly attacked by Tsarist forces and other antisemites. This led to mass migration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with some 3 million Jews moving to America and hundreds of thousands to other countries where they sought to build a new life.
The staging is always exciting at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre where designers have the extraordinary surroundings of the park and, with darkness falling during the performances, the pre and post-interval atmosphere is quite different. Here, the designer (Tom Scott) created the most unusual set. Rather than Fiddler on the Roof taking place in a traditional village setup, the ‘roof’ took the form of a field of wheat that rose about the stage in a curved ramp below which the village scenes played out. The striking opening and closing scenes took place high up on this platform and, as appropriate in a musical, they bookended the production with violin and clarinet solos that soared into the night sky with great beauty.
From his opening notes, The Fiddler (Raphael Papo) was present throughout the play, following the characters around silently and expressing shifting emotional tones through his terrific performance on the violin and the use of mime to express complex feelings. The ever-present threat of menace is represented by the plaintive notes of his violin while his precarious position on the roof is a metaphor for the vulnerability of the community that lives below under the threat of attack.
Act one was well-paced and the singing and dancing were simply joyous and showed off musical theatre at its best. The rendition of Sunrise, Sunset – a song about the passing of the years, children growing up and leaving home – was more poignant and beautiful than ever being performed as the sun literally set. I doubt audiences will ever see a more beautiful wedding scene than the candlelit version depicted on stage here. The village constable has already warned Tevye of ‘a little unofficial demonstration’ (a chillingly pertinent euphemism especially this week in the UK). The wedding party is cruelly disrupted by a pogrom and as the interval begins, the wheat fields above the stage are ablaze, and the audience files out with the smell of destruction in the air.
The second act, post-interval lacked the dynamism and pace of the first act. In part, this was due to more of the joyful big hitter songs all being in the first act, and also because of the sadness of the story which becomes very dark. That said, there were strong parts, including the hauntingly painful song, Anatevka, that would move a stone. It is sung as the community prepares to leave, having been exiled by an edict from the Tsar. While this production does not reference any contemporary politics, it is impossible in our times not to be thinking about events unfolding elsewhere. Like the Director, many of the audience will also be thinking about their own grandparents who lived the life being depicted on stage before being hounded out and taking refuge in other lands. Being ‘othered’ leads to attack, violence and persecution as continues in our own times in all too many parts of the world.
In a cast of 27, there were so many strong performances but none more so than Adam Dannheisser, an American actor making his debut at Regent’s Park. He was a charismatic and thoughtful Tevya, having a tremendous physical presence, warmth, humour, a wonderful rapport with the audience – often breaking the fourth wall – and a terrific singing voice. He remonstrated with god, pleading for a little good fortune and respite from poverty, and he wrestled convincingly with his own traditional expectations when his beloved daughters demanded freedom of choice, to marry men they loved. His rendition of If I Were A Rich Man was not only beautifully delivered but Dannheisser’s wibble and wobble of his body added great humour to this iconic song.
Another standout performance in Fiddler on the Roof was Lara Pulver as Golde – the matriarch of the family – who took no nonsense from Tevya while trying to hold her family together and get her daughters married off. Her voice was clear as a bell and beautiful to listen to. The duet between Tevye and Golde – Do You Love Me? – was sung with great beauty. Dan Wolff lacked the vocal skills needed for a tuneful Miracle of Miracles but was otherwise well cast as Motel the tailor, having the gangly awkwardness required for the role and good comic timing, especially in the scene where he sinks beneath the table at the thought of asking Tevya for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Hannah Bristow brought Chava to life as one of Tevya’s favourite daughters. She defied her father and married out of faith, resulting in her being banished from the family. The pain of being dead in her father’s eyes – his daughter marrying a man who is not Jewish is one tradition that Tevya cannot betray – was conveyed through her clarinet duet with the fiddler and was more moving than any scripted words could convey. Finally, Raphael Papo as The Fiddler was one of the most memorable parts of the production. Not only did he play with great beauty and poignancy, he also managed, wordlessly using only his body, to convey humour, sadness, and a range of feelings as the emotional tone rose and fell from joy to despair.
Choreography (Julia Cheng) was exuberant throughout with lots of ensemble dancing, both traditional Jewish dances and Russian too. It was fabulously vital in the To Life scene in the tavern and came to a brilliant climax in the wedding scene which was the most joyous part of this strong production. The hallucinogenic staging and choreography of The Dream scene was another highlight.
The 11-strong band led by Musical Director, Dan Turek, absolutely rocked. Playing with vigour and joy, the music provided traditional tunes and klezmer and at times had the audience clapping along.
This production of Fiddler on the Roof is musical theatre at its finest with great lyrics, fabulous music, good acting and exciting dancing. Seeing it in the outdoors might just spoil you forevermore.
Fiddler on the Roof plays at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre until 21 September.
Regent’s Park Open Airt Theatre, Inner Circle, NW1 4NU
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