Sholem-Aleichem

I couldn't sleep last night.  First week of school and all.  So around 3ish in the morning, my lovely wife awoke to find me reading a book with the light on.  She didn't really appreciate the light so much, but I was loving what I was reading.  So, really, I had no choice!

I was looking at a book about Fiddler, the opening section of which is dedicated to the life of Sholem Aleichem.  Sholem Aleichem wrote the stories upon which our musical is based.  He was a writer from Ukraine,whose folksy tales of the towns and villages in Eastern Europe and the Jewish people who inhabited them, were and are still beloved by people around the world.  He wrote a series of stories about Tevye, a Dairyman, who of course became the lead character of Fiddler on the Roof.  In the book, however, Tevye had seven daughters.  In our play, we have just five.  The stories are great - written as monologues, delivered by Tevye to Sholem Aliechem, as if they're friends catching up.

As you'll come to learn (if you don't know already) I really like pictures when working on a show.  I posted some pictures of the Shtetl in the last post.  Here are a few pictures of Sholem Aleichem.  Check them out below.  And I'm also posting a scan of one of the stories of the author in the company DropBox.  The scan quality isn't great, but it gives you a sense of Sholem Aleichem's voice, which I think is captured in the play.  Enjoy!

"When the heart is full it runs out of the eyes," - Sholem Aleichem

"Gossip is nature's telephone," - Sholem Aleichem

"When have you ever heard of a cantor or any artist turning anyone down when he is strongly urged to perform" - Sholem Aleichem