First produced at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, the Olivier Award-winning production of Fiddler On The Roof is now out on tour and will be spending Christmas at The Alexandra in Birmingham. 

Ahead of its arrival in the city, What’s On caught up with Matthew Woodyatt - who plays the lead, Tevye - and Jodie Jacobs - who plays his wife, Golde - to find out more…

After winning this year’s Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival, director Jordan Fein’s acclaimed version of Fiddler On The Roof has now embarked on a national tour, which concludes at Birmingham theatre The Alexandra across the Christmas period. 

The story follows Tevye - an impoverished milkman in the tiny village of Anatevka - whose Jewish traditions are challenged and disrupted, both within his family, as his daughters choose husbands, and within his community, as the threat of displacement looms.

Matthew Woodyatt plays Tevye on tour. After understudying the role in 2017 at Chichester Festival Theatre, he then played the part at the Barbican, in the same critically acclaimed production that’s now travelling the country.

“It feels like it’s been in my life for a very long time,” says Matthew. “They don’t write many musicals anymore for voices of my type - not lead roles, anyway. It’s always been on the list, and it’s nice to be able to have a go!”

Tevye is the family’s patriarch, who runs a gamut of emotions as three of his five daughters find love with men who, in his eyes, are increasingly inappropriate matches. Having become familiar with the iconic role over the years, Matthew is now developing his own interpretation.

“I’m less terrified of it than I was. It’s ever-changing, because Tevye contains so many facets. It’s a gift - everyone around me is so brilliant. It’s always very alive - we’re several weeks into our tour, and in a glorious way, it’s never quite the same twice. It’s still playful, it’s still alive. New things are being discovered all the time, which is lovely.”

Jodie Jacobs takes the role of Tevye’s wife, Golde - and playing the part is providing her with the opportunity to celebrate her own heritage.

“I could talk about it all day and say lots of glib and silly things,” she says. “For me to be able to play a role that is so closely linked to my heritage - I grew up in a very traditional Jewish family - is really lovely. I don’t have to hide anything, I can be entirely myself, I don’t have to explain what I’m doing - it’s all there for me in the script. In some ways, I feel so familiar with it, and in other ways, I’m discovering a whole new side of myself.”

The role of Golde in this production was first developed by Lara Pulver, with Jordan Fein’s direction, and Jodie is glowing with praise for her predecessor.

“They’ve created a ‘real mum’,” she explains. “Someone who’s not a pastiche, who’s not a caricature. Someone who is caring and loving - and also harangued and put-upon, because they live in poverty. They make the utmost and the best of every moment, and every single thing they have.”

Joining the company for the tour, Jodie took on the challenge of being ‘rehearsed in’, while the existing cast were simultaneously performing in London.

“It was just a whirlwind rehearsal process. I had to integrate with this already set-up family and township, not embarrass myself, and not take away from what Lara Pulver had created. I wanted to honour that and maintain it, and just sprinkle a little bit of Jodie on top… Matthew has been incredibly patient with me, because there were a lot of weeks where I was still finding my feet with it. And he’s been very generous, allowing me to do that.”

“There’s nowhere to hide in this production,” Matthew adds. “It’s pared back. That’s not saying it isn’t massive and brilliant, but there’s a simplicity to it which I think is revelatory. As a result, you only really have each other. Thank God, Jodie’s amazing… We were playing at the Barbican, eight shows a week, and then rehearsing our new cast members pretty much in isolation. Then we had a little ‘starter’ tour date, which was not a full week - that was the first time we properly got our feet under the table as a family. Then it grows and it develops. The blueprint of the script and music is so strong that one can be very free within that - which isn’t always the case.”

After stints of one or two weeks at venues around the country, the show will stop off at The Alexandra for a longer run - and both actors are looking forward to making Birmingham their home for four weeks.

“I did a production of Privates On Parade about 20 years ago at Birmingham Rep,”  Matthew recalls. “I was there for about a month then as well - we had a lovely time! I’m really relieved, at the end of the tour, to actually sit down somewhere for a month. It’ll be a much-needed bit of respite. I think Christmas in Birmingham will be perfect for that.”

Fiddler On The Roof features multiple love stories, but the particular kind of interaction which exists between Tevye and Golde is rarely seen in musical theatre. Their 25-year-long relationship is brought to the foreground in Do You Love Me?, a duet in which the pair’s fond companionship - and hardworking partnership - is revealed.

“There are deep fundamentals that just need doing,” says Matthew. “Even in a shtetl -  Anatevka - which is fairly poor, they are the poorest. There’s graft, and there’s not a lot of time for much else.”

“I watched my mum and dad be really similar to this,” says Jodie of Tevye and Golde’s on-stage relationship. “Lots of bickering. They’re like two children. I feel like they grew up together. You never really see romance. It’s a partnership more than a great, deep, ‘Cathy and Heathcliff’ love story… They seem to make each other laugh, and I find that important in my own life!”

It’s “refreshing” for both the actors and the audience, says Matthew, to see this under-represented love story featured on stage. According to Jodie, it’s been a long time coming: “You go through the beginning of your career, if you’re lucky, to be an ingénue or a romantic lead. I don’t know about you, Matt, but I’ve done a lot of comedy sidekicks…”

“Oh yeah,” he agrees. “Second banana!” 

“It’s nice for the second banana to be Top Banana for a bit,” Jodie continues. “You see kids in musicals and you’re like, ‘How do you know? You haven’t been there yet!’ But by the time you get to our age - I’ve been with my partner for 10 years, you’ve been with your partner 20 years - you know what it’s like. We can ‘fake it’ better!”

Feature by Jessica Clixby

Fiddler On The Roof shows at The Alexandra, Birmingham, from Tuesday 9 December until Saturday 3 January