The Fiddler on the Roof has caused almost everybody involved to move out of their comfort zones and try new things, but some people have had to be a bit more ready for a break from their regular routine than others.
The organization of casting and auditions ended up with us having almost twice as many girls as we have boys, and so a few of the villagers in town have had to deepen their voices, widen their stance, and trade skinny jeans for baggy dress slacks.
I thought it would be fun to talk to these men/women about the very unique experience of swaggering around with toupees glued to their faces. One girl thought the costumes were one more nail in the coffin of chauvinism. Another kept calling me “bro” and talking about manly things like sports, beer, and really confusing kinds of misogyny.
(The captions under the photos were some of my favorite quotes from my intrepid backstage interviews. )
"I tried to kiss my boyfriend in it but he would not... have that... at all."
Probably the biggest change the actors had to go through though was the new patches of fur glued around the lips. Every actor who plays a Jewish man is given a “face wig” and they do the job.
I’ve heard people not recognize the girls who wear the beards, and it’s no surprise. For a net of real human hair from China, the stuff really looks authentic onstage.
"When I put the face wig on before I bind my long flowing locks up into a bun, I think I look like Jesus... which is kind of cool."
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Fiddler, it’s probably that nothing was quite so emasculating as realizing that my girlfriend has a bigger fake beard than I do.
She has a massive bushy brown beard that practically covers her entire face while I have to draw on sideburns with crayon. The worst part is putting on fake sideburns when I could just grow them myself.
Such is the cost of a fantastic production I suppose.
"It's like having an ugly Christmas sweater glued to your face. I mean, I wouldn't wear it every day, but I can rock a beard quite nicely."