Fiddler On The Roof 2005
In 2005, Tim Lawson of TML Enterprises in partnership with International Concert Attractions launched “Fiddler on The Roof” at The Capitol Theatre in Sydney, starring the originator of the role, Chaim Topol. Topol at the time was 71, and this would be his second last performance in this iconic role. An auteur and devilish charmer, Topol was not only a powerful force in the direction of the production, but also a charismatic man known for his flirtatious nature!
Whilst this season ran for a relatively short Australian tour, it was, as it always has been, wildly successful. Fiddler was due this year to return to Australia just 5 years after it’s previous revival starring Anthony Warlow. This time was to be fully in Yiddish, the unique language only spoken by 400,000 people worldwide. This unfortunately was delayed by the outbreak of Covid-19 but will surely return in the future.
Fiddler has a unique score, by composers Jerry Bock, Don Walker, with an orchestration of 16, entwining both catchy Broadway stylisations with traditional elements drawn from the rich folk music of the Jewish tradition, particularly that of the Pale Settlement Jews of Eastern Europe. Rodgers and Hammerstein briefly considered the score but like many, particularly investors and those in the media considered it to be “too Jewish” to attract a mainstream audience. How wrong they were! Not only would the musical win 9 Tony Awards, it would be made into a feature film and become the first Broadway musical to surpass 3000 performances. It held the record for the longest running Broadway musical for almost ten years until Grease premiered. It has also remained a staple in the canon of community and school productions due to it’s accessible nature and widespread appeal. Legendary producer/director Hal Prince eventually signed on as producer, likely contributing to the shows phenomenal success.
Designing the sound for the Australian production was our own Kelvin Gedye . Whilst the sound system itself was unremarkable and highly practical, elements of the design such as a it’s MEYER UPJ-1P vocal and CQ-1 left right band systems in conjunction with discrete miking with primarily Sennheiser orchestral mics perfectly reinforced the essentially acoustic nature of the composition. In the Melbourne season the orchestra would be mic’d with System’s famous set of Schoeps CMC microphones. The desk itself was re-utilised from the return seasons of Les Mis and Miss Saigon, a J-Type Cadac with 26 slot K-Type side frame for vocals, unique in it’s upright structure. The multicore was a custom made Autograph UK system wired directly to the desk and sideframe with a jack-plug patchbay for signal routing. In historic patchbay fashion, the plugs were brass and had to be cleaned regularly as they corroded!
Simply put this system was fundamentally the highest quality without unnecessary processing and superbly amplified an already strong orchestra and cast. Musical Director Steven Amos opened the show with Vanessa Scammel taking over midway through the tour.
Cast were mic’d with Sennheiser MKE-2’s and in a very unique personal request, Chaim Topol had his microphone mounted in the third button down on his shirt. This was so that he could control his own level by talking down when he wanted to increase his volume. Naturally, and as a warning to all performers considering this option, this is actually a terrible idea and his microphone had to be compressed to control the wild fluctuations in level! Still, I understand the theory! (If the audience were not laughing enough at his jokes he would look down at the microphones for more level - it makes for a great image ….. !)
The onstage foldback levels were automated by an Outboard Electronics processor unit.
This company would go on to manufacture the Timax sytem currently in use on Harry Potter and a number of other major shows where it uses radio locating technology to perfectly time delays to each performer and musician. Topol was very particular in his requests for foldback so the entire show was custom programmed to suit his requirements.
As for the system processing, this was done via Soundwebs… need I say more…
The design team was the aforementioned Kelvin Gedye, with associate designer and PSE, Nick Reiche and the team was headed by David Greasely, with Gillian Davison operating and Claudia Anderson perfecting, as always the radios and backstage requirements.
Fiddler would play at the Capitol, Sydey, opening 20 September, 2005; followed by the Lyrics theatre, QPAC opening the 1st of April, 2006 and finally Melbourne at Her Majesty’s Theatre, opening the 10th of June that same year.
Here’s an excerpt from the Syndey Morning Herald’s review featuring a few of our friends from many other productions.
“
The cast makes the most of limited parts in what is undeniably a star-vehicle show. Judith Roberts is excellent as the guarded Golde and Maggie Kirkpatrick is terrific as the indomitable Yente.
The three daughters are well cast: Louise Kelly is superb as Tzeitel, Octavia Barron Martin is a passionate Hodel and Emily Green delights as Chava. As their respective loves, the men are just fine: Amos Szeps as Motel, David Harris as Perchik and Shaun Rennie as Fyedka.
One of the best scenes is "The Dream" in which Emma Powell rises to the spirited occasion and sings up a storm. If only the show had more of that inspirational spark. At any rate, it is worth seeing for Topol.
“
See below photographs the team, system, company list and find both a standard res copy of the program by clicking the photo and a full hi-res scan on the button below.
Visible Ink Designs
Also a shout-out to rock and roll industry legend, graphic designer Dominic Barbuto of Visible Ink Design and Marketing for his instantly recognisable work. We love you Dom! He also designed the System Sound logo!
Lo-Res Program - Click the photo