Delaware Valley High Drama Club raises the roof with 'Fiddler'

By Anya Tikka
MILFORD — Delaware Valley High School’s ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ raised the roof – pun intended – playing to a full house on Sunday April 10, the last performance of three of the weekend. The young actors, under the guidance of director Kim Golden, danced, sang, and dialogued, often drawing laughter from the audience, especially when Alex Miller, in the main role of Tevye the dairyman, had one of his regular one-on-one chats with God. The other two shows had filled the auditorium to full capacity as well.
Mature beyond his years – he’s still a senior at the school – Alex filled the role of the much older Tevye, portraying a very believable character, and with a booming singing voice to match. Megan Krause in the role of his sharp-tongued wife Golde also made people laugh, and the five daughters, played by Aspen Narvarte as Tzeitel, Molly Scollo as Hodel, Alyssa Mancuso as Chava, Sarah Hawthorne as Shprintze, and Jessica Bello as Bielke each portrayed their characters true to the times.
This was Golden’s 33rd and final production. “It’s time for someone else to take over,” she explained briefly in ‘Golde’s Café’ during the intermission. “But I’ll still be around the area, involved in several art projects.”
The performance ended during the final applause with Alex saying, “She will kill me for this,” indicating Golden’s reluctance to be recognized. But Golden came up to the stage for the speech of appreciation and flowers presented by Alex, joining him and the rest of the crew for the final standing ovation.
The theatergoers that the Courier interviewed explained that they had come to the shows presented by the Drama Club for as long as they could remember, even after their own kids had long left the high school. Young kids ran around the café during intermission, but during the performance, no sound was heard. Presumably, they were as enthralled as the rest of the audience.
The cafeteria sold baked goods and drinks by local businesses before and during intermission.
"Fiddler on the Roof" is currently playing on Broadway, and this is not the first time Golden has taken on demanding Broadway shows. Many of the songs from the original show and movie in the 1960s and '70s seem to have become tunes that everyone somehow remembers. They include “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Sunrise Sunset,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” and “Tradition.”
The story depicts Tevye as a dairyman in early 1900s Russia, living in a traditional Jewish village among the backdrop of changing society. His relationship with his five daughters reflects the changes, and three of the girls are determined to choose their own husbands, against their father’s traditional right and wishes. The story ends with the Tsar evicting the village, and Tevye and his family setting out for America, leaving some of his now-married daughters behind in an emotional farewell.