Theatre of Gadsden presents 'Fiddler on the Roof' beginning this weekend

Judy Shealy and her two children are part of the cast of Theatre of Gadsden’s newest show, “Fiddler on the Roof,” which is appropriate.

The story, if it’s about anything, is about family and a common culture.

Shealy, her son Sawyer, 18, and daughter Sophie, 16, are helping to bring the story of changing times in Czarist Russia to the Ritz Theatre.

Shows will be at 7 p.m. July 19, 20, 26 and 27, and at 2 p.m. July 21 and 28. Tickets are $13 to $20 and available at www.theatreofgadsden.org.

Judy Shealy first saw the show in middle school. Then, it was just a story with lively singing and dancing. Now it means much more to her.

“I really hope the audience gets a feeling of community and how important it is in any situation,” she said.

Judy Shealy plays Golde, the acid-tongued wife of Tevye, a milkman with five daughters. Her daughter Sophie plays Tevye’s oldest daughter Tzeite, who challenges her father’s traditional Jewish ideas of marriage.

As times are changing, so are the expectations of Tevye’s family. “It’s a story of romance and feminism,” Sophie Shealy said. “In this time period, there are a lot of girls who don’t get to decide the future for themselves. Tevye’s daughters take their future into their own hands.”

Juli Christensen plays Yente, the gossipy village matchmaker. In some ways, she personifies the change going on. Instead of preserving the bonds of community through arranged marriages, she slowly sees her job slipping away in the face of new ideas. It’s a comedic role, but it has a special resonance.

“I think we have that same struggle today,” Christensen said. “There needs to be change. Things need to evolve, but you have faith and values instilled in you for your whole life. Where do you find the happy medium?”

Director Brian Jones said “Fiddler on the Roof” presents various technical challenges. A cast has to master the musical numbers, which don’t tax the voice but have complicated Eastern European rhythms and fast tempos.

While still having the familiar feel of a Broadway show, "Fiddler" also aims to recreate a vanished world and a way of life far removed from Northeast Alabama.

“We’re trying to be true to the culture we’re representing,” Jones said. “We have to stay true rather than using the culture and just putting it on stage. We’re trying to be respectful.”

David Yingling, who is part of the cast, has also consulted on certain staging decisions.

In the show’s Orthodox Jewish setting, men and women had very definite roles. For example, during a wedding scene, do the men lift up the groom on a chair, and women lift the bride? Actually, the job of lifting the bride’s chair would have gone to the bride’s father.

Yingling said “Fiddler” has an important message for the present, in light of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians after the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.

“There’s been a tremendous rise in antisemitism, both overtly and covertly,” he said. “If you’re silent about something, you’re condoning it. We can’t be silent right now.”