Fiddler on the Roof is really an excellent musical. Seanie and I just saw a performance of it in downtown San Jose tonight, and seeing the show on stage really drove home how great it is.

So many of the songs are strong numbers. The show opens with "Tradition", which really sets the tone for the whole show. I can't think of another musical where the first song does this so effectively...well, maybe "Comedy Tonight" in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Anyway. Then there's "If I Were A Rich Man," which everyone knows the chorus to thanks to Gwen Stefani. "Do You Love Me?" is a cute old people couple song. "Far From the Home I Love" is a really beautiful song, too, although in the performance we saw it was sped up and butchered by the singer, alas.

Every time I see a performance of this musical, I think, "I should really read Sholem Alecheim's stories," but that's as far as I ever get. But I do have a translation of Tevye the Milkman somewhere; I should see if I can dig it up and finally get around to reading this.