Fiddler on the Roof, the 1964 musical by Jerry Bock (music), Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) and Joseph Stein (book), is a much-loved classic for good reason. The glorious score with its stirring, achingly beautiful melodies includes memorable songs such as Tradition, If I Were a Rich Man, Matchmaker, Matchmaker and Sunrise, Sunset.

Troy Sussman as Tevye and Ben Adler as the fiddler in Fiddler on the Roof. Photo © Daniel Boud

Meanwhile, its plotline about religious persecution and displacement (based on short stories by Sholem Aleichem) remains depressingly timely – though its celebration of family and community and resilience shines like a light through the darkness, offering plenty of wry humour as well as heartache.

It also has one of musical theatre’s great leading roles – that of Tevye, the poor, warm-hearted milkman who is wedded to tradition and the way things should be done (“On the other hand …”) while having droll conversations with God.

The musical is set in 1905 in the small (fictional) Jewish village of Anatevka in the Pale of Settlement (now Ukraine) in Imperial Russia, home to Tevye (Troy Sussman), his wife Golde (Alexis Fishman) and their five daughters.

Struggling to hold onto tradition, Tevye must decide how much to bend when his daughters Tzeitel (Freya Boltman), Hodel (Ellen Ebbs) and Chava (Caity Plummer) reject their chosen suitors and beg him to allow them to marry the men they love.

Meanwhile, the changing world brings news of pograms in neighbouring villages, foreshadowing The Holocaust. Eventually, the residents of Anatevka will also be forced to leave.

This production, directed by Jordan Fein, was a huge hit in the UK. It premiered at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London in 2024, then transferred to the Barbican Theatre the following year. It now arrives in Australia, performed by an Australian cast.

It’s beautifully staged. Tom Scutt’s rural set evokes a wheat field, which frames the stage and covers the roof that rises and falls. A few tables and chairs do the rest. The band sits along the back, behind the stalks of wheat. Meanwhile, Scutt’s peasant-like, period costuming in muted shades completes the picture.

Fein and choreographer Julia Cheng use the stage brilliantly, creating exhilarating, energetic dance routines – the bottle dance at Tzeitel’s wedding is sensational – and powerful tableaux.

Fiddler on the Roof. Photo © Daniel Boud

The scene in which Tevye convinces his wife Golde that her grandmother Teitzel appeared to him in a dream to tell him who their eldest daughter should marry – instead of the rich suitor recommended by the matchmaker – is given a fabulously surreal staging.

Fein’s clever use of the fiddler (Ben Adler) offers a reflection of Tevye’s inner world and the dilemma he faces. There is also a beautiful moment near the end of the show where Plummer’s Chava plays the clarinet in a duet with the fiddler, foreshadowing the final moments.

While the production felt a little slow to settle on opening night, it is well cast, with committed performances all round, and the ensemble singing is thrilling.

In his first major leading role, after performing for decades and understudying key parts, Sussman is a warm, amiable Tevye, though a little more nuance and dynamism would give his performance greater weight and help land more of the humour. That said, his portrayal gradually built on opening night and he was very moving in Act 2, particularly in the song Do You Love Me? with Golde, and when dealing with his consternation at Chava’s romance.

By contract, in the cameo role of the matchmaker Yente, Sigrid Thornton (who played Golde in the 2016 Australian production opposite Anthony Warlow’s Tevye) gives an over-the-top performance that feels somewhat misplaced in this production.

Sigrid Thornton as Yente and Alexix Fishman as Golde in Fiddler on the Roof. Photo © Daniel Boud

Fishman gives a wonderfully strong, centred performance as Golde – the anchor of the family – capturing the character’s dry humour without making her too bitter, and she lets Golde’s contained passion erupt in the final number Anatevka. Meanwhile, Boltman, Ebbs and Plummer each give nicely detailed, authentic portrayals of the daughters, matched by lovely vocals.

As for the music, the score (with additional orchestrations by Mark Aspinall) surges into powerful life under Musical Director Dominic Woodhead.

With so many wars, occupations, refugees and issues around migration in the world today, Fiddler on the Roof still feels unavoidably topical. (Will we never learn?) But Fein’s production finds the perfect balance as love, hope and resilience resonate in the face of tragedy.

Fiddler on the Roof plays at the Theatre Royal Sydney until 3 October, then the Glasshouse Theatre, QPAC, Brisbane from 9 October, Her Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne from 31 October and His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth from 7 January, 2017. More information here.