Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof

In the half-century since its premiere, Fiddler on the Roof has become a supremely potent cultural landmark, beloved by audiences the world over. Now, in a history as captivating as its subject, award-winning drama critic Alisa Solomon traces how and why the story of Tevye the milkman, the creation of the great Yiddish writer Sholem-Aleichem, was reborn as blockbuster entertainment and a cultural touchstone, not only for Jews and not only in America.

It is first a story of the theater, as Solomon follows Tevye from his humble appearance on the New York Yiddish stage, through his adoption by leftist dramatists as a symbol of oppression, to his Broadway debut and his starring role in a major Hollywood picture. And it is a cultural story, of a show that spoke to the deepest conflicts and desires the world over: the fraying of tradition, generational tension, the loss of roots. Entertaining and original, Wonder of Wonders reveals the profound legacy of a show about tradition that itself became a tradition.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Picador USA
Published: 09/02/2014
ISBN: 9781250058706
Pages: 448
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.30d

Review Citations: New York Times Book Review 09/21/2014 pg. 24
New York Review of Books 12/18/2014 pg. 82