No Matchmaker Needed! Yiddish Fiddler's Young Lovers Announce Real-Life Engagement

Now they have everything! Drew Seigla and Stephanie Lynne Mason, the talented young stars who fall in love nightly as Pertshik and Hodl in the award-winning Yiddish-language production of Fiddler on the Roof at Stage 42, were engaged in real life on September 20.

"It all feels unquestionably bashert, which translates to destiny in Yiddish," the couple told Broadway.com via email. "We both feel so lucky and grateful that we found someone who's our perfect match in every way. We're over the moon and can't wait to continue on our journey!"

Seigla and Mason were first acquainted three years ago at a mutual friend's birthday party, but it wasn't until two years later that a relationship began to blossom. Seigla was auditioning to take over for Dan Kahn, who originated the role of Pertshik in the first mounting of Yiddish Fiddler at the Museum of Jewish Heritage; Mason, who was playing Hodl in the production, was there to read with Seigla.

"Funnily enough, she didn't recognize me at first since I had grown a beard," Seigla told Broadway.com. "After I was cast, she reached out to congratulate me, and we made a deal to rehearse our scenes since this was my first Yiddish show with only two and a half weeks until my first performance. Needless to say, I was a bit overwhelmed. So, as we started developing our professional relationship with these rehearsal meetups, we realized how much we both had in common."

Those one-on-one read-throughs ignited a connection that led to a steady relationship, which only grew through their shared stage time in Fiddler. The characters of Pertshik and Hodl have a memorable love story that takes them all the way to Siberia; however, Seigla and Mason's love blossomed on a bench in Central Park.

"As the year went on, our relationship deepened and we knew this wasn't just a typical showmance," Mason told Broadway.com. "We just work well together, on and off stage. I'm so grateful the show brought us together and that I get to look into his eyes and tell this beautiful, important, poignant story eight times a week; our relationship goes so much further beyond that and I'm so happy I've found my perfect match."

Seigla's proposal plan brought the couple back to where their relationship as castmates began: "I proposed to her in Central Park on the exact bench where we shared our first kiss," said Seigla. "It was the same bench where we had spent running lines for the last time before my opening night together."

Mason added, "[Director] Joel Grey, and the entire team at National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, were the best matchmakers we could ask for."

Speaking of matchmakers, the inimitable Jackie Hoffman, who plays Yente the matchmaker, tweeted this about the engagement:

The real actress who plays Hodl just got engaged to the real actor who plays Perchik. As the real person who plays the matchmaker, I had nothing to do with it cause I’m real lame @FiddlerNYC

— Jackie Hoffman (@JackieHoffman16) September 21, 2019