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January 12, 2001/Tevet 17, 5761, Vol. 53, No.15
Bikel continues 'tradition'
LEISAH NAMM
Staff Writer
Actor Theodore Bikel brings to life the character of "Tevye," a humble milkman struggling to preserve his family's traditions in a changing world, in "Fiddler on the Roof," Jan. 30-Feb. 4, at Gammage Auditorium in Tempe.
The musical, set in the impoverished fictional Russian village of Anatevka, is based on "Tevye's Daughters," a collection of stories by Yiddish author Sholom Aleichem.
The Tony Award-winning play opened on Broadway in 1964 and since 1967, Bikel has portrayed Tevye in more than 1,650 performances. Generations of theatergoers are familiar with "Fiddler" songs, including "If I Were a Rich Man," "Tradition," "Matchmaker, Matchmaker" and "Sunrise, Sunset."
During a phone interview, Bikel discusses his deep connection to his Jewish heritage.
"I was exceedingly lucky that I had a father who was a very committed person, both in intellectual terms and in Jewish terms," he says. "I got both of these transmitted to me. It's a heritage that is very much appreciated by me."
Bikel was born in Vienna, Austria, on May 2, 1924, and learned Hebrew and Yiddish at home and German in public school.
"My father encouraged me to study, encouraged me to read," he says. "He read short stories and plays in several languages."
After Nazi Germany took over Austria in 1938, Bikel's family moved to what was then Palestine, where Bikel attended an agricultural college and worked as a laborer on a kibbutz.
He originally planned to study and teach comparative linguistics. He now speaks English, French, German, Hebrew and Yiddish fluently, and a little Spanish and Russian.
His desire to act led him to join the Habimah Theatre in Palestine as an apprentice actor in 1943. A year later, he became a co-founder of Cameri, the Israeli Chamber Theater.
After he graduated from London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1946, Sir Laurence Olivier spotted him performing in several small London productions. Olivier offered him a supporting role in "A Streetcar Named Desire," starring Vivien Leigh, and eventually cast him in the male lead role of Mitch.
Bikel has acted in three-dozen plays, including the world premiere of "The Sound of Music," in the role of Captain Von Trapp.
He made his film debut in 1951 in "The African Queen" and appeared in more than 40 other films, including "My Fair Lady" and "The Defiant Ones." The latter earned him an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actor.
Bikel moved to the United States in 1954 and became a citizen in 1961. In the late 1950s, he began appearing on television shows, including "The Twilight Zone," "Little House on the Prairie," "Dynasty," "All in the Family" and "Law and Order." To date, he has appeared in more than 75 television programs, specials, mini-series and movies.
Bikel made his concert debut in 1956 in a folk song program at Carnegie Recital Hall; since then, he has performed in operas, with symphony orchestras and in concerts throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Israel, New Zealand and Australia.
Although he has made more than 30 recordings and performed in musicals, operas and concerts around the world, he never had formal voice training.
"I just sing," he says. "I open my mouth, and it comes out."
Of his many performances in television, film, stage, opera and music, he cites theater as his preference.
"Theater is really the best of them all because it has an immediacy," he says. "A play has a beginning, a middle and an end and you get a sense of an audience."
"You're making a film in more of a sterile environment and hope for a reaction to what you're doing six months, eight months from now when the film is released.
"So the only thing you can do by way of timing - for example, a laugh - is by remembering what caused an audience to laugh when you did it live in the theater."
The details:
What: "Fiddler on the Roof"
Where: Gammage Auditorium, ASU main campus, Apache Blvd. and Mill Ave., Tempe
When: Jan. 30-Feb. 4
Times: 8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Saturday 2 p.m., 7 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $19.75-$52.25
Call: 480-784-4444
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