Fiddler on the Roof [Import, Cast Recording]

While no one else "deedle dums" as well as Zero Mostel, this recording removes all doubts: despite any buzz you may have heard when the production opened last February, Alfred Molina is a splendid Tevye. Since this is the first version actually made with the long form CD in mind, it contains far more material than any prior version. So while Molina and cast cover all the beloved moments from 1964, we also get Tevye's three soliloquies and Molina performs them all brilliantly. No one who listens to this recording would ever describe Tevye as "a man desperately clinging to Tradition." The soliloquies make it clear that Tevye is a true mensch, a man who gives himself to each new challenge, and makes each difficult decision with a strong mind and a big heart.

Robert Petkoff does a terrific job as Perchik the revolutionary (lover of second daughter Hodel). His Perchik is virile and ardent, investing his big number "Now I Have Everything" with all the passionate self-revelation it requires. Norman Jewison eliminated this song from the 1971 soundtrack. Big mistake!

Nancy Opel gives uncommon depth to her Yente. At Leveaux's request, Harnick and Bock wrote a new song for her, "Topsy-Turvy," which makes explicit what was implicit in the number they've replaced ("The Rumor"). Yente may say she's doing God's work, but she knows her objection to love matches is purely pragmatic: "The matchmaking business? Finished! Done! I've counted [my blessings]. None!"

(Jewison not only eliminated "The Rumor" from the soundtrack, he also took out Yente's attempt to pitch Ruchel the Shoemaker's Daughter during the opening number "Tradition" - another Big Mistake!)

David Ayers also does fine work in the critical role of third daughter Chava's Russian lover Fyedka. In this new version, it's now Fyedka's voice breaking in with the Russian words "Za va sha, Zdarovia" while Tevye & his Jewish friends are singing "To Life! To Life! L'Chaim!" Fyedka didn't have these lines in the 1964 original or the 1971 film, but giving him these lines now makes a crucial point. From first to last, FIDDLER's Fyedka is a good guy. This is the most significant change FIDDLER's creative team made to Sholem Aleichem's original. They've put him there to challenge us, and that challenge is more relevant than ever.

Finally, this new version also gives us most of the music Jerry Bock wrote for Jerome Robbins' dances. The music for the famous "Bottle Dance" at the end of Act One is especially thrilling, the single clarinet as expressive here as the solo violin which frames the whole musical in its opening and closing moments.

Bottomline: If you buy the 1964, you buy it for Mostel. If you buy the 1971, you buy it for Isaac Stern's medley (created for the film's opening credit sequence). If you buy the 2004, you simply get a whole lot more: more scenes (especially the 3 soliloquies + new Yente song) AND more music (for the Robbins dance sequences).

I'm a FIDDLER fanatic & now that I have the new 2004 CD, I doubt any of the others will get much play. That's the truth!