| Tevye | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Actor John Stefano portraying Tevye inFiddler on the Roof | |
| First appearance |
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| Created by | Sholem Aleichem |
| Portrayed by | Evgeniy Knyazev Chaim Topol Zero Mostel Theodore Bikel Shmuel Rodensky Maurice Schwartz Luther Adler Herschel Bernardi Paul Lipson Alfred Molina Harvey Fierstein Henry Goodman Danny Burstein Yehezkel Lazarov Anthony Warlow Steven Skybell |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Milkman |
| Spouse | Golde |
| Children | 7 daughters, including Tzeitel, Chava, Hodel, Shprintze, Taybele and Bielke |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Nationality | Citizen of theRussian Empire |
Tevye the Dairyman, also translated asTevye the Milkman (Yiddish:טבֿיה דער מילכיקער,Tevye der milkhiker[1][2][ˈtɛvjəˌdɛrˈmilxikər]) is the fictional narrator and protagonist of a series of short stories bySholem Aleichem, and their various adaptations, the most famous being the musicalFiddler on the Roof, which premiered on Broadway in 1964, and its1971 film adaptation. Tevye is a piousJewishdairyman living in theRussian Empire, the patriarch of a family including several troublesome daughters.[a] The village of Boyberik, where the stories are set (renamed Anatevka inFiddler on the Roof), is based on the town ofBoyarka, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. Boyberik is a suburb ofYehupetz (based onKyiv), where most of Tevye's customers live.
The stories were written inYiddish and first published in 1894; they have been published asTevye and His Daughters,Tevye's Daughters,Tevye the Milkman, andTevye the Dairyman.
As Tevye "tells" Aleichem the tales of his family life, six of his seven daughters (Tzeitel, Chava, Hodel, Shprintze, Taybele, and Bielke) are named, and of these five play leading roles in Tevye's stories. The stories tell of his business dealings, the romantic dealings and marriages of several of his daughters, and the expulsion of the Jews from their village by the Russian government.
The Tevye stories have been adapted for stage and film several times. Sholem Aleichem's own Yiddish stage adaptation was not produced during his lifetime; its first production, by Maurice Schwartz, was in 1919. (Schwartz did a film based on the play twenty years later.) The Broadway musicalFiddler on the Roof was based on a play written byArnold Perl calledTevye and His Daughters.Tevye the Dairyman has had four film adaptations: in Yiddish (1939), Hebrew (1968), English (1971) and Russian (2017).
The nameTevye is theYiddish derivative of theHebrew name טוביה,Tuvya (i.e.,Tobias).[citation needed]. In Hebrew, the character is known as טוביה החולב,Tuvya ha-cholev,[ˈtuvja(h)aχoˈlev], 'Tobias the dairyman'.[citation needed]. Tevye's full name, with its Yiddish patronymic, is Tevye ben Shneur Zalman.[3]
Tevye the Dairyman comprises eight stories, with Tevye each time supposedly meeting Sholom Aleichem by chance and relating the latest tale of his trials and tribulations. They have been published in translation under the following titles:[4]
Not all the events of the stories are depicted inFiddler on the Roof, the best-known adaptation. For instance, by the time of the events ofLekh-Lekho, Tevye's wife Golde, his daughter Shprintze, and his son-in-law Motl have all died; also inLekh-Lekho, upon learning of the Jews' expulsion, Chava leaves herRussian Orthodox husband, wanting to return to her family and share their exile. Aleichem leaves it to the reader to decide whether or not Tevye forgives her and takes her back, saying:
Put yourself in Tevye's place and tell me honestly, in plain language, what you would have done…(Hillel Halkin translation).
and ending the story with "The old God of Israel still lives!"
A 2009 translation includes a final short story titledVachalaklokos that takes place afterLekh-Lekho.[5]
Other translations include:
The story "Tevye Strikes It Rich" was adapted for children by Gabriel Lisowski in 1976 and published under the titleHow Tevye Became a Milkman".[6]
The Tevye stories have been recorded and commercially released twice:
An audio production ofArnold Perl's playTevya and His Daughters was released byColumbia Masterworks in 1957 (OL 5225); the cast includedMike Kellin as Tevya, Anna Vita Berger as Golde/The Rich Woman,Joan Harvey as Tzeitl, Carroll Conroy as Hodl, andHoward Da Silva (who also directed the production) as Lazar Wolf/The Rich Merchant/The Rabbi.[7]
TheNPR/Yiddish Book Center 13-part mid-1990s radio seriesGreat Jewish Stories from Eastern Europe and Beyond, hosted byLeonard Nimoy,[8] broadcast a reading of the story "Chava" performed byWalter Matthau.
Zero Mostel andChaim Topol are the two actors most associated with the role of Tevye, althoughTheodore Bikel performed it many times on stage.[9] For the film version ofFiddler on the Roof, the part ultimately went to Topol, as producer-directorNorman Jewison felt that Mostel's portrayal was too unnecessarily comic. Topol was nominated for anAcademy Award for his performance in the film version ofFiddler. He also portrayed the character nearly 3,500 times on stage, retiring the role in 2009.
Other noteworthy musical Tevyes have includedLuther Adler,Herschel Bernardi,Paul Lipson (original Broadway run, over 2,000 performances),Leonard Nimoy (1971 touring company),Shmuel Rodensky (original Israeli, Yiddish and German productions),Alfred Molina andHarvey Fierstein (2004 Broadway revival),Henry Goodman (2007 London revival),Danny Burstein (2015 Broadway revival),Yehezkel Lazarov (2018 touring company) andSteven Skybell (2018 Off-Broadway revival in Yiddish).Paul Michael Glaser, who played Perchik in the 1971 film version, played Tevye in a 2013–14 touring production in the United Kingdom.[10]
Tevya is the name of a 1939 film adaptation of the story, performed entirely in Yiddish.[11] In this adaptation, Tevye, played byMaurice Schwartz, is portrayed as gruff with flashes of wit and humor.
Prior to the 1964 Broadway debut ofFiddler on the Roof, adaptations of the Tevye stories appeared on stage and screen, in America and beyond. The earliest screen version was an American silent film calledBroken Barriers, based on Aleichem's own theatrical treatment and released in 1919 (just a few years after Aleichem died). In 1962,Gerhard Klingenberg directed the television filmTevya und seine Töchter. AfterFiddler on the Roof became a Broadway sensation, an Israeli film calledTuvia Vesheva Benotav (Tevye and His Seven Daughters) starringShmuel Rodensky was released in 1968, as well as two Russian versions:Teve-molochnik (Tevye the Milkman) in 1985 andMyr vashomu domu! (Tevye's Daughters) in 2017.
In 2018, Jerusalem Ballet published a ballet adaptation based on bothTevye the Dairyman andFiddler on the Roof, by Russianballet dancer-choreographer Igor Menshikov.[12] Tevye has been portrayed by Israeli ballet dancer Meitar Basson.[13]
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