Hey skaters! Horatio here—I am glad you are interested in learning more about my best friend Hamlet. Here is the link to my YouTube Channel where you can watch all of our skating videos and learn more about the show! On the channel, you will find a playlist of videos that talk about Hamlet’s story, including 10 Fun Facts about the play Hamlet, themes and symbols in the play and lots of great information about this Shakespearean tragedy. (And of course, I’ve got some fun behind the scenes skating videos!) Hope you watch all of the videos and enjoy the show!
I looked across the room. Standing there, holding a cup, was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen. They looked up and caught my eye and I knew immediately—I was in love.
If Anatevka is like a fiddler balancing on a roof, then the show Fiddler on the Roof also performs an impressive balancing act between its cultural specificity and enduring appeal. Whether or not audiences can relate to the practice of arraigned marriages in Orthodox Ashkenazi Jewish communities, they can understand the tension between personal desire and the social expectations around marriage. The relatability of Tevye’s world—made of hay and cows but also the love of family and dreams of wealth—stems from its timelessness. As a show that premiered 78 years ago and takes place half a century before that, Fiddler on the Roof’s greatest feat is that time does not chip at its relevance.