Critics Revisit Anatevka to Take In New Leads Fierstein and Martin

Some new faces are filling up Anatevka. Harvey Fierstein and Andrea Martin, both actors known for their comic prowess, are now leading the cast of Fiddler on the Roof at the Minskoff Theatre, where the duo officially opened on January 20. Did critics think their addition provided a miracle of miracles?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Eric Grode in his Broadway.com Review: "Leveaux's staging remains intrusive, but Fierstein has added a hefty and very welcome dose of comic pizzazz. And not at the expense of the piece: He is just as convincing as a weary, loving dad as he was as a 300-pound housewife in Hairspray, and only very rarely does he slip into default imp mode. In fact, he gets better as Joseph Stein's marvelous book forces Tevye into increasingly wrenching parental choices. His chats with God are coy, wheedling, almost flirtatious; his scenes with his family crackle with warmth and, as the mood darkens, helpless anger. And while his inimitable croak won't ever pose any threat to John Raitt, he handles showpieces like 'If I Were a Rich Man' and 'Chavaleh' with a trouper's panache and plenty of heart. Andrea Martin is another gifted comedian with the potential to seriously wreck a show's balance. But as she did with the recent Oklahoma! revival, Martin—who replaces Randy Graff as Tevye's wife, Golde—offers another deadpan delight."

Ben Brantley of The New York Times: "Even at his quietest, Mr. Fierstein... has the presence of a waking volcano. And lest anyone think he needs drag to be big, let it be noted that he wears Tevye's tattered trousers with a homey and winning ease. To see the gray-bearded, bright-eyed Mr. Fierstein pulling a horseless milk cart with sardonic resignation is, you may well think, to look upon the image of the Tevye of the Sholem Aleichem stories that inspired the show. It is Mr. Fierstein's greatest asset as a performer, that unmistakable voice, that perversely shatters this illusion... Tevye must to some degree be an everyman, albeit in exaggerated, crowd-pleasing form. And Mr. Fierstein, bless him, shakes off any semblance of ordinariness as soon as he opens his mouth.... This can be quite a bit of fun. Tevye's first solo, 'If I Were a Rich Man,' takes on a fascinating new life, as Mr. Fierstein slides and rasps through its wordless connecting phrases. But it is sometimes hard to credit this exotic spirit as that of a tradition-bound father who has trouble making the adjustment to changing times. Andrea Martin, who has replaced Ms. Graff as Golde, might do well to borrow a bit of Mr. Fierstein's idiosyncracy."

Clive Barnes of The New York Post: "Fierstein is a splendid, dominating Tevye, from his Falstaffian girth to his untamed forest of a beard—and he grabs control of the musical with both hands. While he doesn't overact, he's occasionally overly roguish, his eyes glinting a tad too mischievously at his happily complaisant audience. There's a certain lack of that patriarchal gravitas, which even the wonderfully outrageous Mostel conveyed. Fierstein's singing, pure gravel and honey, is as effective as it is personalized. And his nimbly elephantine dancing is the best I have seen from any Tevye—[Jerome] Robbins himself would have been enchanted. Fierstein is handsomely supported by the new Golde, Andrea Martin, who gives a beautifully wry, comic performance. Firm, vinegary but sweet, she's a 24-carat Golde."

Howard Kissel of The New York Daily News: "Although Fierstein gets most of the music, the voice itself eventually becomes, like any running gag, tiresome. More important, one does not have the sense of a bedeviled father or a man who has a passionate, embattled relationship with God but rather an actor eager to please an admiring audience. In addition to the comedy, which, of course, he does with gusto, there are emotional moments he does not deliver. Andrea Martin, for example, who plays his wife, Golde, splendidly, has a shattering moment when she screams in joy on seeing Chava, the daughter who married a Gentile. It pierces the heart. Fierstein does not get as much out of the corresponding moment, when Tevye struggles not even to look at Chava."

David Rooney of Variety: "A broad, gruffly endearing vaudevillian, Fierstein plays Tevye as a bear, albeit less a grizzly authoritarian than a teddy who just wants to please everyone. While cuddly might not be the character's fundamental attribute, the actor lends soulfulness and poignancy to the family scenes that help counter the production's emotional austerity... Fierstein's phlegmatic growl of a voice is not a pretty instrument and he clearly lacks the vocal range to sock across songs like 'If I Were a Rich Man,' here half-spoken. But he has the necessary charisma and chutzpah in spades... With generous spirit and canny comic timing, Martin's Golde effortlessly establishes herself as the backbone of the family.. Still, whether it's the stark beauty of Tom Pye's set--with its economical hints of the shtetl, forlornly ringed by leafless birch trees--or the autumnal chill of Brian MacDevitt's lighting there's no more handsomely designed show on Broadway, the production remains a tad unemotional, even with its new shot of heart."

Michael Kuchwara of The Associated Press: "He's pretty good, giving a performance that is expansive, affectionate and full of feeling. OK, so he's not the most melodious Tevye on record. Opera star Jan Peerce, one of the many replacements in the original 1964 production, surely must hold that title. A slimmer, trimmer Fierstein, now sporting a salt-and-pepper beard, doesn't so much sing the notes of the Jerry Bock-Sheldon Harnick score; he bear hugs them—meaning they occasionally come out a bit strangulated. But then, Tevye is an emotional man... Fierstein expertly captures Tevye's perpetual equivocation 'on the one hand ... on the other hand' as he faces these assaults on 'Tradition,' the show's opening number and its most evocative song... Fierstein also shines where you would expect him to succeed—in the play's sunnier moments. In this, he gets fine support from Andrea Martin." Gordon Cox of Newsday: "Even with his big, bulky frame, his deep croak of a voice and a new beard, Fierstein can be decidedly fey. He may throw up his palms and shrug with an expert air of good-humored, long-suffering resignation, but his Tevye still evinces some vestiges of his last, Tony-winning Broadway role, the plus-size hausfrau Edna from Hairspray. Many of his comic impulses -- precisely timed double-takes, the slow-burn glare, the knowing twinkle in his eye -- seem better suited to a silent movie diva than to a humble milkman from Anatevka. On the other hand, as Tevye would say, Fierstein's friendly, roly-poly presence softens the edges of director David Leveaux's austere production, with its autumnal mood and lonely bare-branched trees. The entire show feels warmer than it did a year ago."