THEATER.com 

DIRECTOR'S NOTES

 

Each year choosing the St Joseph Regional Musical is an extremely difficult task. There are so many factors that are considered, and following the success of recent years  and the fact that we have so many talented, lead-worthy male students, the musical chosen needs to be a very special show. After looking over many musicals to determine if they met this criteria while being a good fit for the talented students we have this year, the choice became clear. There is only one show that has had over 4,300 performances on Broadway, won 9 Tony Awards (including Best Musical when it opened in 1966), won 3 more Tony's for the revival (including Best Revival of a Musical), was made into a movie in 1971 (3 Academy Awards). This show is one of the most celebrated pieces of musical theater ever performed and for many people, it is near the top, if not on the top, on the list of favorite musical of all times.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.

 

The original Broadway production of the show, which opened in 1964, had the first musical theatre run in history to surpass 3,000 performances. FIDDLER held the record for the longest-running Broadway musical for almost 10 years .   FIDDLER remains Broadway's sixteenth longest-running show in history. The production was extraordinarily profitable and highly acclaimed. It was nominated for tenTony Awards, winning nine, including Best Musical, score, book, direction and choreography. It spawned four Broadway revivals, a successful 1971 film adaptation, and the show has enjoyed enduring international popularity.  

 

As many of you know, I do not tend to choose the  older,  classic musicals. There are a handful of these classics ("West Side Story", "Les Mis", " Cabaret") that I feel are so special that I would want to bring the show to the St Joe's stage. I am so thrilled that we will be bringing one of the great musicals of all time to St Joe's with so many talented students performing.  

 

Auditions will be on Oct  22 (7PM), Oct 23 (7PM),  and Oct 24 (6 and 7:30PM) , and additional information will be sent out in the weeks ahead and posted here.  

 

With a show like FIDDLER, we have the opportunity to really “WOW” people. With the enormous number of talented students coupled with our incredible production team: Ed, Frank, Neil, Tammy, Thomasina, Rita Harvey (one of the stars of the most recent Broadway production of FIDDLER), Roger, Curtis and Steve, the 2013-2014 St Joseph Regional HS Musical FIDDLER, has the chance to be one of best St Joe's musicals of all time.

 

I hope you are off to a good start to the school year and I look forward to beginning the exciting journey of  FIDDLER ON THE ROOF with you this fall. 

 

John T. Asselta