[The Duchess of Mint]

Dear Fiddler on the Roof Fans,

If you have any disaster/ mistake/ prank stories which relate to your production of FotR, feel free to share those stories here.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[Mark Walton]

In an original Broadway cast rehearsal, Zero Mostel was rehearsing the pre-wedding scene with Joanna Merlin and Austin Pendleton (Tzeitel and Motel). At the point where he would normally ask a trembling Tzeitel and Motel, "Well children, when shall we make the wedding?", he said: "Well children...LUNCH!" and stalked out, probably leaving Joanna and Austin doubled over laughing.

[Charlotte_Lucyx]

Hehe, I havent got any yet, but we have only been rehearsing two weeks.

However in my audition for Chava, instead of singing "You bring the groom" I said "You bring the Broom" I dunno how i managed to stay on track after that

[ilovemusicals]

We've had a few funny things...The part in the wedding scene when the bar tender is giving the speech and he says " and may they live to gether in peace" he forgot the next part, which was supposed to be "amen" and instead said So There!!, and then the chorus automatically yelled back...SO THERE!! We started laughing so hard when we relized....on another night, when Lazar and tevye are fighting in the wedding scene, the Rabbi came up to say "i say...I say ...lets sit down.." but i guess he forgot his line and instead he same up and said "I say..I say...(he looks around frantically) AAAAAAMEN!! It was very funny.

[reedzee]

It's almost impossible to keep a straight face when Tevye says, "AND YOU CAN KEEP YOUR DISEASED CHICKEEEEEEENS!!!!" He purposely says it so ridiculously, it's so hard not to just burst out laughing.

[Buff Daddy]

In our production, the Russian soldiers also double as the Bottle Dancers at the wedding. The cast had given the soldiers names just for the fun of it, one of which was Boris.

When the Bottle dancers came out and did their thing we were told to cheer and encourage the dancers. Some of the younger members of the cast didn't click that the dancers and the soldiers were actually two separate characters so we calling out the the dancers "Go Boris!!"

Buff

[Cake_in_Song]

I tripped on my skirt and almost fell of my ladder while singing "TEVYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" It's not my fault my costume was impractical.

[BroadwayBeast]

Not really a disaster, but I was The Fish/Bagel Boy/Rumor soloist/Bottle Dancer in this show! And Right when i went out to say "Bagels Fresh Bagels" my nose bursted out bleeding! And it kept bleeding up until the Bottle Dance, So I went onstage with a huge piece of toilet paper sticking out of my nose, and with blood on my face...it was quite embarrising!

[tabbyabby]

i have two stuff ups one at a rehearsal and another on a performance

1. (rehearsal) near the end of the play Tevye was supposed to say "that Motel is a person" but instead said "that tzeitel's a man" the cast was cracking up and he had no idea what he did wrong.

2. during one of our performances when Avram, Mendal and the Innkeeper were pestering Tevye about their orders being late, the innkeeper's line was "may the authorities start itching in places that they can't reach" he forgot his line but knew it was something to do with the authorities so instead shouted "kill the authorities!!"

[Alonza0]

Yeah, we had a disaster. We were all suprised when this one boy tried out for Fiddler because he wasn't the type that would be into musicals. But he got cast as Fyedka because he actually can act when he tries. Well, he missed half of the practices and didn't learn his lines, but somehow managed not to get kicked out of the play.

And on our last performance, when the Russians crash the wedding, we had it so that Fyedka staged breaking a bottle over Perchik's head. But on our last night, the guy who played Fyedka actually did break the bottle over Perchik's head - it knocked the poor kid out and cracked his skull. Needless to say, the kid who played Fyedka was never allowed in one of our productions again.

[gdawg22]

During one of our schools performances our nachum's pants ripped at the begging of the wedding dance scene, it was hillarious. Another night; our rabbi left his "dark eyes" on during the wedding scene. explanation: Since the nightmare is right before the wedding the whole ensemble was given black tape to put under our eyes, so we could look "ghost-like"... well we all had to take it off for the next scene and our rabbi forgot! so he was "dead" during the wedding... it was the best.

[tabbyabby]

Another one I didn't mention before was during one of our performances Tevye's beard was coming off. During the "l'chaim" song it was blowing in and out of his mouth and by the end of the song he had swallowed it XD

[Beagle On Stage]

Our Fruma made her entrance through a huge cloud of smoke, which set off the fire alarms on opening night. No one noticed for a long time, because there were strobe lights and wild music going anyway. Finally, people realized and the audience and cast all had to evacuate the building. It was raining outside. After the fire department came and cleared the building, the show resumed - the conductor turned around and announced to the audience that we would be picking up from a section of the score appropriately titled "The Curse."

[PaperAnimator]

When I was in Fiddler (Chava) we had a very elderly man running our sound and lights. We had A LOT of problems for the first two weeks because he was actually falling asleep at the board or he would get really confused an press all of the buttons. Songs were fading in and out and sometimes the lights were so crazy it looked like a thunderstorm on stage.

The worst of these offenses was during the dream sequence. As we hid behind the bed waiting for the music to start we had a terrible realization, nothing was happening. The man at the board had fallen asleep and we had NO music. The actors decided to start the scene anyway, and we did the entire song to the sound of Fruma Sarah banging her cane so we could keep the correct tempo (luckily enough, she was also the music director).

[MeMyselfandI]

ccckc

[Mark Walton]

[aworthyboyishe]

Hmm..
Towards the end.. when they're packing.. Tevye said... "C'mon children, we have a plane to catch!"

Motel said "From now on... all of our clothes will be made by hand!" And Tzeitel deadpanned. "They will?"

When Motel drank the wine at the wedding.. he spilled it all down his shirt.

Our Fiddler fell off the roof. XD

Fruma Sara got stuck in the rafters.

[Ulla Dance Again!]

The night my friend (who had been in two different productions of Fiddler) came to see the show, our Fruma Sara almost hit her head on the lights because her bottom part (we had another actor hold her up) got confused about where he was going.

Then, there was an laundry issue during previews when the dryer decided not to work.

[Beagle On Stage]

[idTAPthat89]

[Ulla Dance Again!]

[Hodel1994]

I'm currently in FotR for my sixth time this year, and of all of the mess ups and goofs we've had.... I've compiled my favorites!

1. Two years ago when I played Chava, during the wedding scene Kathrine, who was playing Hodel, ripped her dress on the last performance... everyone got quiet, and just sort of stared for a moment... when the girl playing Hodel said very settle to the girl playing Tzeitel, "I'm glad you're marrying a tailor!" The audience burst into laughter.

2. Last year out fiddler fell off the roof as well.

3. Last year, during our last rehersal, the girl playing Chava expressed to us how Chava was jelous of Hodel and Tzeitel, and tried to explain how Fyedka was rather too borning. Got us all laughing!

4. My first year: I played Bielke. The person next to me went the wrong direction during "Tradition", acadentally pushing me off of the stage....

5. Golde sat in some spilled water in the dressing room. We tried to dry it off for her, but not all of it was dry, so she went on stage, and it looked like she had peed herself, so we decided that Chava would hover over her until the spot dried during "Do you Love Me?"

[MusicalGal1194]

[Beagle On Stage]

Our Fiddler was a violinist in the orchestra who had agreed to go on in the role. She didn't rehearse much because, in an effort to be considerate of her time as a professional musician who was kind enough to volunteer, everything was staged so she would just have to be in her spot when the lights hit her and play that pretty music. We hit a snag when, two rehearsals till opening, she got in costume and went on for the first time, and was terrified to find what she was actually going to be on the roof. She assumed it was just an expression (and in truth, I have seen it done a few times where the fiddler never actually got on the roof), while the directors assumed she must know perfectly well that the fiddler on the roof would naturally be on the roof. To her credit, she did get up there and pull it off though.

[Ulla Dance Again!]

That takes guts, good for her!

I had to do a photoshoot for the production I worked on. This was before they actually hired someone to pay the fiddler, so they needed a small person to climb on top of the roof and strike a "playing" pose while the two stars were below. It was incredibly scary climbing up on that roof, sitting on an angle, trying to hold a prop violin and make it look as though I were playing it. Sometimes they'd ask for me to move and I was too scared!

Sadly, I never got to see the pictures. I'm sure I appeared terrified.

[Beagle On Stage]

This was just a few months after I had my infamous "flying onstage" ordeal. They hoisted me up, I sang through the number as quickly as I could pressure the orchestra into following me for, and got the hell down from there as fast as I could, after experiencing the growing dread for the entire second act. I really, REALLY respected that woman sucking it up and going up there when she hadn't been prepared for it, because I know it can be freaking scary.

[lottielou22]

I love these threads. I am cracking up.

[Jennifer Lynn]

So some of you have had fiddlers fall off the roof, eh?

Before I met him, my college buddy Alan was in his high school production, doubling as the Fiddler and the Constable. Just as Tevye proclaimed, "Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof!"...Alan's balance shifted a little too much.

Within seconds, the show's title was changed to Fiddler On The Ground.

Teyve had the presence of mind to catch the fiddle as it plummeted. Alan had the presence of mind to stagger up to Tevye, groan, "My fiddle, Reb Tevye?" and stagger off.

Given the line where it occurred, he could have been injecting some unintentional symbolism! He could have claimed he did it on purpose to show that the way of life in Anatevka is about to change...

[dramadorkette]

omg so this is so funny but not @ the same time.... WE had 2 hoist Tzietel up in a chair for the wedding, me and 2 other girls...the one girl had diabetes and her blood sugar was low so she fainted! then we almost dropped the poor girl on the chair but didnt.....after the show, she was like, "guys i almost piddled myself when she fainted." We laughed so hard! Yes, the girl who fainted was fine. Another thing is, I was standing in front of the house which was not
3 dimensional, the door didnt lead anywhere, just behind it. and all of a sudden the guy comes with this stand for the fiddler to sit on for anatevka saying, im gonna miss my cue!!! the guy whizzes by and alost hits me so i jump back and fall through the door

[dramadorkette]

oh i was standing backstage btw

[nicolina]

So it was our very first rehearsal yesterday and we were doing a full blown read through (which took forever) but anyway we got to the seen where Tevye introduces Perchik to his family at Sabbath. the kid who is playing Perchik said his line "I'm a good teacher...a really good teacher" except he siad the last part in an accidental very creepy pervertish way and everyone couldn't stop laughing!! Even our director couldn't help it. Also the same kid went on to pronounce "Laban" as "LaBON". hilarious!