Park Center High School's 1977 Production of
"Fiddler on the Roof"

Here's the text of a Thursday, November 24, 1977, review of Fiddler by Carol Braun, who was the Brooklyn Park Editor of The Brooklyn Park Post (the emphasis is in the original):

Park Center High School has done it again. Its recently-completed production of "Fiddler on the Roof" was outstanding and thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end.

I don't plan to make a habit of reviewing local shows, but this school musical was just too good to pass up without comment.

"Fiddler on the Roof" is a real favorite of mine. Most of the individual performances were very fine and the combined effect was a very entertaining show.

KEVIN SLATOR as Tevye, the lead role, did an outstanding job. His singing was strong and beautiful and his characterizations most convincing. Most astonishing was his increased maturity as a performer in the one year since he played the lead in "Oklahoma" as a junior. Lin Krippner was also very good as Tevye's wife, Golde.

Other principals who deserve mention for their performances are Linda Nault, Rachel Cederberg, Sheri O'Meara, Cheryl Dammar, Glen Stone, and Michael Lane. Jane Tyler and Marie Hubbard were delightful in the dream scene.

The large-cast numbers were well-choreographed. The examples of Russian folk dancing were particularly good. Well before intermission, the audience was cheering, whistling, and applauding in a way that is usually reserved for curtain calls.

The make-up was scarcely noticeable, and that's a real compliment. The characters looked very natural from the stage. High school students have a tendency to over-do it. Most remarkable were the beards required for nearly every male role in the play. Each was built on the faces of the actors fresh for each performance and looked for all the world as if they had grown there.

I UNDERSTAND THE actors who portrayed older men had to come in at 6:15 p.m. and those who played younger men at 6:30 p.m. to be ready for the 8 p.m. curtain call. The costumes and sets were also excellent.

The only significant weak portion of the production came in the second act when the performers clipped through several of the usually most emotional scenes in the play without reaching the level of feeling that should have been there. The prime example was the scene in which Tevye must decide whether or not her can accept a daughter who has married outside of their faith. Such incidences may have reflected the age and inexperience of the performers, but didn't diminish the over-all worth of the production.

Park Center has now done seven musicals and I've seen all but one, so I can safely say that some have been better than others, but "Fiddler on the Roof" was one of the finest. Excellent theatrical productions are a tradition that must be built, just as strong athletic teams. Park Center has certainly established itself in the area.

Possibly the greatest thing that can be said about "Fiddler on the Roof" is that according to the program, well over 100 students were involved in some aspect of the work that began two and a half months ago -- whether as actors, orchestra members or crew personnel. I believe worthwhile extra-curricular activities are nearly as important in a child's eduction as classroom learning. I'd be willing to bet most of those 100-plus students are in some way better people for this experience than they were the first week in September.

CONGRATULATIONS to directors Ed Anthony and Terry Nordberg and everyone involved [the remainder of the sentence is obscured in the photocopy].