The Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company is ending their 2025–2026 season with a crowd pleaser: Fiddler on the Roof.
But this version of Fiddler is special because it’s all in Yiddish (with English and Russian subtitles). First premiering in 2018 in New York, the off-broadway show was a knock-out; garnering praise from Jewish and non-Jewish critics.
The revival will reunite many members of the same creative team that helmed the off-Broadway production. The show will be directed by Tony and Academy Award winner Joel Grey, and Broadway veteran and Tony nominee Steven Skybell will star as Tevye, leading an all Canadian cast. The show runs from May 25 to June 7 at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto.
I sat down with David Eisner, co-artistic director of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company to discuss the important legacy of the musical and why the Yiddish rendition will resonate with audience members.
There's so much anticipation for this Fiddler production. It’s beloved in the community. When coming up with the new season, why did you decide on having an all Yiddish version of Fiddler?
The answer to that starts probably about three or four years back when we heard it was happening in New York, and there was the possibility of a tour. Avery Saltzman (co-director of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company) and I pride ourselves in telling and sharing Jewish stories from different angles. To tell the story of Fiddler on the Roof in the authentic language of the characters we thought would be something special, and when we saw it in New York we were over the moon. My parents spoke Yiddish. And involuntarily, and this happens to many people, when you start hearing the violinist play and then the first words are said you get emotional because it's so authentic and real. Avery and I, and our general manager, Matt, went to see it and became convinced we wanted to do it.
How did it land all these years later in Toronto?
The tour fell apart because it was so expensive. And then we said, “you know what, why don't we try to put it on ourselves for our 18th season?” We would do the production with Steven Skybell who played Tevye, who’s reprised the role numerous times; it’s in his bones. We have the whole creative team from New York. Directed by the legendary Joel Gray, as well as the artistic director, Zalmen Mlotek, and others. They all came up to Canada to replicate the show but with a Canadian cast. We ended up with a remarkable cast. Approximately half are Jewish and half aren't.
Will this production tour Canada or is it only showing at the Elgin Theatre?
This will be the only production. It’ll be on for two weeks but we have over 20,000 seats that we can sell. So far, we’ve received and are getting groups from Buffalo, from London, Ontario, as well as the rest of Ontario and Western New York. We're excited.
Can you tell me the importance of having this all-Canadian cast?
Well, it's a little known secret, but Canadian performers are some of the best in the world. I mean, you go to New York and you see Broadway and we’re as good if not better. The creative team couldn’t believe the talent pool that we had to pick from here. We were thrilled that they were happy and that it will be an all-Canadian cast.
More generally, how do you decide what you’d like to have in a season?
Avery and I look at a few touch points to hit for every season. We want to do potentially a comedy, a drama. We like to add music. We want to incorporate an element of the Holocaust, not for the whole season, but for a show. Something where there’s an homage to the past and some new Canadian world premieres. That will make up a season. And our next season has all of that in spades. So we’re thrilled that people are coming to Fiddler. We hope people will stay on this journey and be enriched with Jewish stories and become subscribers.
That’s our goal because we were hit hard, like every theatre, during the pandemic. We had close to 2,500 subscribers. And then we were half of that, but we’ve been slowly growing. We’re taking a big swing with this production, but it’s an important show. It’s the biggest title in the canon of Jewish theatre. We wanted to do this for our 18th year.
What are you hoping audiences take away from this rendition of Fiddler?
In these times, there’s a pride in acknowledging the resilience of the characters in the play. The play’s central theme is tradition. When I think of being Jewish, it’s religion and culture. And the culture part, it’s important to energize the Jewish soul. We can do that by entertaining, educating, and bringing the fire to the Jewish soul with some of the work. But in general, I would love the audience to be wonderfully entertained and just enjoy something memorable that will stay with them for a long, long time.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
The Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company is ending their 2025–2026 season with a crowd pleaser: Fiddler on the Roof.
But this version of Fiddler is special because it’s all in Yiddish (with English and Russian subtitles). First premiering in 2018 in New York, the off-broadway show was a knock-out; garnering praise from Jewish and non-Jewish critics.
The revival will reunite many members of the same creative team that helmed the off-Broadway production. The show will be directed by Tony and Academy Award winner Joel Grey, and Broadway veteran and Tony nominee Steven Skybell will star as Tevye, leading an all Canadian cast. The show runs from May 25 to June 7 at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto.
I sat down with David Eisner, co-artistic director of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company to discuss the important legacy of the musical and why the Yiddish rendition will resonate with audience members.
There's so much anticipation for this Fiddler production. It’s beloved in the community. When coming up with the new season, why did you decide on having an all Yiddish version of Fiddler?
The answer to that starts probably about three or four years back when we heard it was happening in New York, and there was the possibility of a tour. Avery Saltzman (co-director of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company) and I pride ourselves in telling and sharing Jewish stories from different angles. To tell the story of Fiddler on the Roof in the authentic language of the characters we thought would be something special, and when we saw it in New York we were over the moon. My parents spoke Yiddish. And involuntarily, and this happens to many people, when you start hearing the violinist play and then the first words are said you get emotional because it's so authentic and real. Avery and I, and our general manager, Matt, went to see it and became convinced we wanted to do it.
How did it land all these years later in Toronto?
The tour fell apart because it was so expensive. And then we said, “you know what, why don't we try to put it on ourselves for our 18th season?” We would do the production with Steven Skybell who played Tevye, who’s reprised the role numerous times; it’s in his bones. We have the whole creative team from New York. Directed by the legendary Joel Gray, as well as the artistic director, Zalmen Mlotek, and others. They all came up to Canada to replicate the show but with a Canadian cast. We ended up with a remarkable cast. Approximately half are Jewish and half aren't.
Will this production tour Canada or is it only showing at the Elgin Theatre?
This will be the only production. It’ll be on for two weeks but we have over 20,000 seats that we can sell. So far, we’ve received and are getting groups from Buffalo, from London, Ontario, as well as the rest of Ontario and Western New York. We're excited.
Can you tell me the importance of having this all-Canadian cast?
Well, it's a little known secret, but Canadian performers are some of the best in the world. I mean, you go to New York and you see Broadway and we’re as good if not better. The creative team couldn’t believe the talent pool that we had to pick from here. We were thrilled that they were happy and that it will be an all-Canadian cast.
More generally, how do you decide what you’d like to have in a season?
Avery and I look at a few touch points to hit for every season. We want to do potentially a comedy, a drama. We like to add music. We want to incorporate an element of the Holocaust, not for the whole season, but for a show. Something where there’s an homage to the past and some new Canadian world premieres. That will make up a season. And our next season has all of that in spades. So we’re thrilled that people are coming to Fiddler. We hope people will stay on this journey and be enriched with Jewish stories and become subscribers.
That’s our goal because we were hit hard, like every theatre, during the pandemic. We had close to 2,500 subscribers. And then we were half of that, but we’ve been slowly growing. We’re taking a big swing with this production, but it’s an important show. It’s the biggest title in the canon of Jewish theatre. We wanted to do this for our 18th year.
What are you hoping audiences take away from this rendition of Fiddler?
In these times, there’s a pride in acknowledging the resilience of the characters in the play. The play’s central theme is tradition. When I think of being Jewish, it’s religion and culture. And the culture part, it’s important to energize the Jewish soul. We can do that by entertaining, educating, and bringing the fire to the Jewish soul with some of the work. But in general, I would love the audience to be wonderfully entertained and just enjoy something memorable that will stay with them for a long, long time.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.