To Life (song)

Last updated

"To Life" is a song from the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof .

Contents

Synopsis

The Jewish people of Anatevka joyously sing a hopeful song in the face of an uncertain future. It also serves as a toast to celebrate a wedding agreement between Tevye and Lazar.

Seen and Heard wrote "In the inn scene Tevye leads a toast ‘To Life’ featuring an extravagant display of Jewish and Cossack folk dancing". [1]

Critical reception

NewsWorks described it as a "winning song", and added "the perfectly paced scene changes the tone of the production and accelerates its beat". [2] The Toronto Star says it is a "raucous tavern brawl". [3] Chicago Theater Review deems it a "joyous barroom anthem". [4] Decent Films Guide names it "boisterous". [5] NC Arts Review jokingly noted "Russian dancers show off their culture’s great history of destroying their kneecaps through dance". [6]

In other media

A modified version of the song was sung by Dafna Dekel and Sigal Shachmon during the interval act of the Eurovision Song Contest 1999.

In the eighth episode of the first season of The Big Bang Theory, Drunk Sheldon Cooper performs the song at the Cheesecake Factory.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaim Topol</span> Israeli actor, singer, and illustrator (1935–2023)

Chaim Topol, also spelled Haym Topol, mononymously known as Topol, was an Israeli actor, singer, and illustrator. He is best known for his portrayal of Tevye, the lead role in the stage musical Fiddler on the Roof and the 1971 film adaptation, performing this role more than 3,500 times from 1967 through 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tevye</span> Fictional character

Tevye the Dairyman, also translated as Tevye the Milkman is the fictional narrator and protagonist of a series of short stories by Sholem Aleichem, and their various adaptations, the most famous being the 1964 stage musical Fiddler on the Roof and its 1971 film adaptation. Tevye is a pious Jewish dairyman living in the Russian Empire, the patriarch of a family including several troublesome daughters. The village of Boyberik, where the stories are set, is based on the town of Boyarka, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. Boyberik is a suburb of Yehupetz, where most of Tevye's customers live.

<i>Fiddler on the Roof</i> 1964 musical

Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters and other tales by Sholem Aleichem. The story centers on Tevye, a milkman in the village of Anatevka, who attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon his family's lives. He must cope with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters who wish to marry for love; their choices of husbands are successively less palatable for Tevye. An edict of the tsar eventually evicts the Jews from their village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey Fierstein</span> American actor and playwright

Harvey Forbes Fierstein is an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for his theater work in Torch Song Trilogy and Hairspray and movie roles in Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day, and as the voice of Yao in Mulan and Mulan II. Fierstein won two Tony Awards, Best Actor in a Play and Best Play, for Torch Song Trilogy. He received his third Tony Award, Best Book of a Musical, for the musical La Cage aux Folles and his fourth, the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, for playing Edna Turnblad in Hairspray. Fierstein also wrote the book for the Tony Award-winning musicals Kinky Boots, Newsies, and Tony Award-nominated, Drama League Award-winner A Catered Affair. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodore Bikel</span> Austrian-American actor and folk musician (1924–2015)

Theodore Meir Bikel was an American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist. He appeared in films, including The African Queen (1951), Moulin Rouge (1952), The Kidnappers (1953), The Enemy Below (1957), I Want to Live! (1958), My Fair Lady (1964), The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), and 200 Motels (1971). For his portrayal of Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones (1958), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Brent Carver was a Canadian actor best known internationally for performances in both London's West End and on Broadway in Kiss of the Spider Woman as Molina, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 1993 and was nominated for an Olivier Award. A subsequent Broadway appearance in 1999 in Parade as Leo Frank, led to a second nomination for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Carroll (singer/actor)</span> American singer and actor (1918-1994)

Bob Carroll was an American big band singer and stage, film, and television actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herschel Bernardi</span> American actor (1923–1986)

Herschel Bernardi was an American actor and singer. He is best known for his supporting role in the drama television series Peter Gunn (1958–1961) and his leading role in the comedy television series Arnie (1970–1972). The two series earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination and two consecutive Golden Globe Award nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Mekka</span> American actor (1952–2021)

Edward Rudolph Mekjian, known professionally as Eddie Mekka, was an American actor, best known for his role as Carmine Ragusa on the hit television sitcom Laverne & Shirley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosalind Harris</span> American theater and film actress (born 1946)

Rosalind Harris is an American theater and film actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Tzeitel, the eldest daughter of Tevye, in the 1971 film version of Fiddler on the Roof. She also starred as Tzeitel in the Broadway musical, having replaced Bette Midler. Nearly 20 years after the film, Harris played mother Golde in a touring stage revival of Fiddler on the Roof; Topol, the Israeli actor who played her father Tevye in the film, reprised his role, now playing her husband.

Neva Small is an American theatrical, film, and television actress and singer. She made her singing debut at the age of 10 at the New York City Opera, and her Broadway debut the following year. She has numerous acting credits on and Off-Broadway. She is best known for her portrayal of Chava, Tevye's third daughter and the one who marries a gentile, in the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof.

<i>Fiddler on the Roof</i> (film) 1971 film by Norman Jewison

Fiddler on the Roof is a 1971 American period musical film produced and directed by Norman Jewison from a screenplay written by Joseph Stein, based on the 1964 stage musical of the same name by Stein, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick. Set in early 20th-century Imperial Russia, the film centers on Tevye, played by Topol, a poor Jewish milkman who is faced with the challenge of marrying off his five daughters amidst the growing tension in his shtetl. The cast also features Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, Paul Mann, Rosalind Harris, Michèle Marsh, Neva Small and Paul Michael Glaser. The musical score, composed by Bock with lyrics by Harnick, was adapted and conducted by John Williams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Burstein</span> American actor (born 1964)

Danny Burstein is an American actor and singer. Known for his work on the Broadway stage he's received a numerous accolades including a Tony Award, two Drama Desk Awards and nominations for three Grammy Awards.

Michele Marsh sometimes credited as Michèle Marsh, is a French-American television, theater, and film actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Hodel, the second of Tevye’s five daughters who falls in love with a student radical, in the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof. She has acted mainly in television and in West Coast theatre. She now resides in Idyllwild, California, where she performs with the Idyllwild Actors Theatre.

"Do You Love Me?" is a song from the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof. It is performed by Tevye and his wife Golde.

"Sunrise, Sunset" is a song from the musical Fiddler on the Roof written in 1964 by composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick.

"Matchmaker, Matchmaker" is a song from the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof, with music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. It was later made into a film in 1971. The story revolves around a poor Jewish milkman, Tevye, and his five daughters, as he attempts to maintain his Jewish traditions. His three eldest daughters marry, but each daughter's choice of husband moves further and further away from their traditions.

<i>Fidler Afn Dakh</i>

Fidler Afn Dakh is a Yiddish-language adaptation of the musical Fiddler on the Roof translated and adapted by Shraga Friedman. The adaptation revisits the 1894 collection of Yiddish short stories on which Fiddler on the Roof is based, about Tevye the Dairyman. Friedman created the translation for a 1965 Israeli production. It was produced by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene (NYTF) in New York City in 2018 and transferred off-Broadway to Stage 42 in 2019.

<i>Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles</i> 2019 documentary film

Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles is a 2019 American documentary film about the creation and significance of the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof. Directed by Max Lewkowicz, it features interviews with Fiddler creators such as Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, Joseph Stein, and Harold Prince, as well as scholars, actors, and other musical theatre figures such as Stephen Sondheim and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The documentary includes rarely-seen footage of the original Broadway cast as well as interviews with creators, actors, theatrical figures, and scholars.

<i>Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness</i> Documentary film about the Yiddish writer

Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness is an American biographical documentary film about Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem, who is best known for his stories about Tevye the Dairyman, the basis for the musical Fiddler on the Roof. The film uses historical photographs, film, and audio, as well as analysis by scholars and excerpts from his work read in Yiddish, to document the writer's life and the shtetl and Lower East Side lifestyles that influenced him. It was released on 8 July 2011 to positive reviews, and is one of only a small number of works with a 100% rating at the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

References

  1. "Fiddler Leaves Roof for the Seaside". Seen and Heard International. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
  2. Howard Shapiro (2014-06-16). "Review: The universal 'Fiddler on the Roof' — NewsWorks". Newsworks.org. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
  3. Thursday, July 10, 2014 1:23 AM EDT (2013-05-29). "Stratford Festival's Fiddler on the Roof done to perfection: Review | Toronto Star". Thestar.com. Retrieved 2014-07-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. "Fiddler on the Roof Reviews - Theatre In Chicago - Play Reviews". Theatre In Chicago. 2013-03-24. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
  5. "Fiddler on the Roof (1971)". Decentfilms.com. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
  6. Branch, Laney. "Theatre Review: Fiddler on the Roof – at the CFRT". NC Arts Review. Retrieved 2014-07-10.