Last night we finished our run of Fiddler on the Roof--a triumphant success with all but the first two performances sold out, and those heavily attended. I get happy while the show is going (from rehearsals in about late September, till last performance in early December) but not TOO happy, but I think the kids really do. When it got to the second-to-last scene, "Anatevka," where the villagers are told to leave, the girl playing the youngest of Tevye's daughters, Bielke, was in tears. This became contagious and the second youngest, Shprintze, started crying, too. In the last scene, where they must pack up and leave, these girls, who have been good actors all along, both had tears streaming down their faces and it was utterly realistic of children forced from their home. Of course, by the time the bows were over, practically every girl between the ages of 7 and 17 was sobbing, some quite heavily, and, I suspect, some guys, too.
