Hurry up and get yourself to the Paramount, because no theater fan wants to miss their current show! Seattle has welcomed Harvey Fierstein and the rest of the touring cast of Fiddler on the Roof, and the show is running through this Sunday!

Fiddler is a classic musical and a favorite of many theater fans, and although I’m a modern musical girl, I knew I could not miss this. I attended the opening night performance on Tuesday, and although I was completely exhausted, I did like the show. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a favorite (my tastes more fit the most recent generation of musicals, from the last 30 years or so), but it was definitely a well-written show and since I already knew a lot of the music, I did have fun. (I was not happy about missing this week’s Glee episode while I was at the Paramount, but you can’t have everything, right?)

A quick recap for anyone who has never heard of Fiddler on the Roof (although I think that’s kind of like never hearing of The Sound of Music, but what do I know?): it is a musical, written by Joseph Stein, set in the very early 20th century, in a small town called Anatevka. Popular songs from the show include “If I Were a Rich Man,” and “Matchmaker, Matchmaker.” It is basically the story of Tevye, a hard-working Jewish family man, who is trying to live his life true to his faith, in a world where many Orthodox customs are being challenged. Throughout the course of the show, the three eldest of Tevye’s five daughters get married (all picking their own groom, which served as enough of a shock to the parents), each one straying just a little bit further out of the norm of Orthodox Jewish traditons and customs. The final scenes show the beginning of things getting very bad for the Jews in Russia, when the Jewish population of Anatevka are served with an order to sell their homes and leave the village. The story is concluded there, but please don’t let my weak synopsis stop you from seeing the show. I promise, it is much more interesting than I’m making it out to be. There just are too many small plotlines for me to elaborate on right now. The show accomplished incredible things, from being the first show ever to run past 3,000 performances on Broadway, to winning nine of the ten Tony awards the original production was nominated for. The most recent revival of Fiddler has closed on Broadway, and this is the “farewell tour,” so this is probably your last chance to see the show for quite a while.

And since I can’t not talk about him, if you haven’t seen the billboards all over Seattle, gay icon Harvey Fierstein (an original star of Hairspray, and librettist of the Tony-nominated show La Cage aux Folles) is playing the lead character of Tevye, a role he played for several years on Broadway as well. Personally, I found him to be very funny (since the character is supposed to be a bit crazy), although he was hard to understand. Harvey Fierstein made an unusual choice and chose to effect an Eastern European accent for the character, since the story is set in Russia, and on top of that, he has a very raspy speaking voice naturally, so it can be a bit hard to discern what he’s saying. If you can, I’d suggest you either bring a huge fan of the show who can translate for you, or go to the evening performance this Sunday, which has closed captioning provided for hard-of-hearing audience members. It will definitely enhance the experience!

Tickets range from $30.50-73.50, not including fees, which is on the pricey side. However, if you can afford it, it’s a great price to pay to watch a legend like Harvey Fierstein live. Regular tickets are sold at the STG website here. A better option would be to try for student/educator rush tickets, which are last minute tickets given at a discount to anyone with a valid school ID. Rush tickets, if they are available, are sold at the Paramount Theater box office on one hour prior to the curtain time (at every showing of Fiddler except those on Saturday, May 29th), and cost $25 each. You are limited to one ticket per ID, so if you bring friends, make sure they have a school ID too. And enjoy the show, fellow theater geeks!