Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 3- Fiddler #2

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 22 Additional support is provided by Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Production Circle. Lyric Opera of Chicago thanks its Official Airline,American Airlines. New York casting by Tara Rubin Casting/ Merri Sugarman,CSA. Chicago casting by Becca McCracken,CSA. Additional scenery by Big Image Systems and McGuire Scenic. Additional costumes by Lyric Opera of Chicago Wardrobe Department. Additional masks provided by Laura Whitlock. APPROXIMATE TIMINGS Act 1 1 hour 45 minutes Intermission 30 minutes Act 2 1 hour Total 3 hours 15 minutes A long time ago, or perhaps not so very long ago… there was a Jewish shtetl called Anatevka, in Russia’s vast expanses, where the milkman Tevye lived with his wife, Golde, and their five daughters. The three oldest, Tzeitel, Hodel, and Chava, were expected to marry in accordance with the venerable dictates of Jewish tradition, and to find husbands as wealthy as possible, aided by the ministrations of the matchmaker, Yente. But the daughters are headstrong in matters of love. It’s not the butcher that Tzeitel falls for, but a poor tailor, Motel. Hodel loses her heart to the family tutor, Perchik, a revolutionary, while Chava chooses an intellectual, the Orthodox Christian Fyedka. Against a background of troubles and celebrations, fear of pogroms targeting the village, Golde’s worries about the children, and Tevye’s struggle for his daily bread and true piety, the girls call time-honored traditions into question, posing tough challenges for their big-hearted father. Tevye strives to do the right thing and pardons all their crazy ideas. Well, not quite all. There are limits to his magnanimity, set by faith and tradition—for the sake of which he disowns one of his daughters. A short time later a pogrom happens, the villagers scatter in all directions, and the family is torn apart. Tevye and his children, friends, and neighbors leave Anatevka, their home, for good. Courtesy of Komische Oper Berlin PRODUCTION SPONSORS Lead Sponsor: The Negaunee Foundation Production Sponsors: Gramma Fisher Foundation of Marshalltown, Iowa Zell Family Foundation Marlys A. Beider The Davee Foundation The Harris Family Foundation Invenergy LLC Lori Ann Komisar and Morris Silverman Randy L. & Melvin R.° Berlin Ethel & William Gofen ° Deceased Synopsis TIME | 1905, on the eve of the Russian revolutionary period PLACE | Anatevka, Russia