Valley Light Opera’s Fiddler on the Roof Comes to the Academy of Music in November

Partnership with the Yiddish Book Center and
a stellar cast highlight the production

Continuing the recent practice of broadening its offerings, Valley Light Opera will present the acclaimed musical Fiddler on the Roof in November. Although the company, which celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2025 with a well-received run of Gilbert & Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, is taking on Fiddler for the first time, expectations are high for this production, notes VLO President Sally Greenebaum. “We’re so excited about our partnership with the Yiddish Book Center, which is providing dance instruction, as well as valuable background information about life in shtetl communities like Anatevka and the stories that gave rise to Fiddler,” said Greenebaum. In turn, VLO will appear at the Center’s upcoming open house on October 25 to perform two group numbers from the show[JE1] .

Greenebaum also points to a robust audition season as a factor lifting the company’s expectations: “We had 102 auditions for this production – a record for VLO – and many of those selected will be appearing with our company for the first time. There were several great Tevyes auditioning for that key role, and it was highly competitive. The role of Hodel was especially hotly contested, with 34 women vying for it!”

In the end, Joe Vincent was selected to play Tevye. Although Vincent is an experienced Shakespearean actor – having acted in 34 of The Bard’s 37 plays – and has performed in more than 50 musicals, Tevye is one of his favorite characters. It is also a role he has played on four other occasions, in settings ranging from the small and intimate all the way to the 2,700-seat American Musical Theater in San Jose. “Playing Tevye requires an actor to be much larger than life in one moment, and very intimate in the next,” observes Vincent, “and my classical training allows me to relax into those adjustments in a way I had not expected and that I find quite rewarding.”

Adds Greenebaum, “Although having a great Tevye is an integral part of any Fiddler production, I believe the quality of our production will be evident across the board, from our amazing cast and full orchestra to the behind-the-scenes efforts of our crew and production team.”

VLO has some new faces providing creative direction for Fiddler, eachbringing impressive credentials to the task. Stage Director Rose Schwietz Malla holds an MFA in directing from UMass Amherst and is a veteran director, performer, and educator. She spent a decade in Nepal teaching theater, as well as directing and performing with One World Theatre. She is also a Fulbright U.S. Student Nepal Grantee for 2021-22. Schwietz’s introduction to VLO was as a cast member of H.M.S. Pinafore last fall.

Says Schwietz, “What I love about Fiddler is how it celebrates the ways in which the people of Anatevka, like so many people around the world and throughout history, pursue life’s joys – love, family, and freedom – in the face of great sorrows. Despite the highs and lows of Tevye and his family and friends, this story inspires me, and I believe it will inspire our audiences too.”

Music direction this season falls on the shoulders of Matt Bertuzzi, who is new to VLO but certainly a familiar face across the Valley’s music scene. As the conductor of the Springfield Youth Sinfonia and music director for the Springfield Honors Academy, Bertuzzi has built deep artistic roots throughout the region, including work with the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra, PanOpera, and UMass Amherst. “Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s score for Fiddler on the Roof is one of the most complete and essential works in the entire musical theater canon,” Bertuzzi notes. “What makes it so enduring is how seamlessly the music carries the weight of the story. The score weaves authentic Jewish musical traditions into classic Broadway structure, giving every dance and chorus number a genuine sense of time, place, and community. It is an incredible privilege to work through this music in my first production with VLO.” Fittingly, VLO’s traditional full orchestra will be augmented by instruments that capture the distinctive sound of the shtetl.

Choreography is in the capable hands of Marybeth Mizula Vargas, a native of Western Massachusetts who attended many respected dance studios in the area. Since then, she has performed in numerous shows and has choreographed over a dozen shows for local theater companies. She currently runs her own dance studio in Ashfield, Inspiration Dance Station, where she teaches a variety of dance styles and age groups. Also making a valuable contribution is cast member Asya Schulman, the company’s dance captain and dance consultant. Asya, an expert in Yiddish folk dance, has choreographed a large portion of the Wedding Dance and has been coaching the cast on how to execute the traditional gestures, postures, and steps.

VLO will perform Fiddler on the Roof at Northampton’s Academy of Music on November 5 and 6 at 7:30 p.m., and on November 7 and 8 at 2:00 p.m. For the two matinees, there will be a pre-show talk at 1:00 p.m. by Sebastian Schulman, Director of Special Projects & Partnerships at the Yiddish Book Center. His topic will be “Sholem Aleichem: The Writer Behind Fiddler on the Roof and the Adaptations That Came Before It.” Anyone is welcome to attend the talk, and the doors will open for general patrons at 1:30.

For lovers of musical theater, this experience is not to be missed! Those seeking tickets should be mindful of scammers and purchase tickets only on the Academy’s website: https://aomtheatre.com.

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Fiddler on the Roof, with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. This production is licensed by Music Theatre International.

About Valley Light Opera

Valley Light Opera, Inc., based in Amherst, is a nonprofit Massachusetts corporation founded in 1975 by a group of Gilbert and Sullivan devotees. Initially, the company’s mission was to produce excellent light opera, primarily but not solely restricted to the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. In recent years, the company has broadened its offerings to include musicals such as Camelot, Brigadoon, My Fair Lady, and now Fiddler on the Roof. In every case, the goal is to provide members of the community the opportunity to participate at all levels of these productions, and to afford both participants and audiences enjoyment and a deeper appreciation for musical theater. VLO presents a fully staged production in the fall of each year, and there are often less formal productions in the late winter or early spring. Over the years, Valley Light Opera has produced all fourteen G&S operas as well as Cox and Box, The Zoo, The Rose of Persia, The Chieftain, The Emerald Isle, The Beauty Stone, Haddon Hall, and Sullivan’s oratorio, The Prodigal Son. In addition, VLO has performed Rudolf Friml’s The Vagabond King, Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow, Jacques Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, John Philip Sousa’s El Capitan, and Warren Martin’s The True Story of Cinderella. For more information about VLO, including past shows and a current cast list, or to make a donation to the group, go to www.vlo.org.