Fiddler on the Roof opens Nov 16th!

With its upcoming production of Fiddler on the Roof, the first production of the club’s 50th Anniversary season, the Barnstable High School Drama Club continues a tradition of entertainment and community service as it joins forces with the Cape Cod Hospital Auxiliary to raise money for the Cape Cod Hospital’s Cardio Care Unit.

Longtime advisor John Sullivan explains the partnership as a logical extension of a key aspect of the Drama Club’s ethos. “The Drama Club actually has a long history of helping other non-profit groups. Over the years we have worked with the Big Brothers and Sisters of the Cape and Islands, the March of Dimes, Housing Assistance and many others. I just felt this was another good cause for us to support.”

Sullivan calls the co-production a “unique chance for supporters of each cause to help us both!”

“After all,” he states, “fifty percent of the ticket sales go to the Cardio Unit and the other fifty to the Drama Club. Except for the matinee on the 18th: on that day, 100% of the profits go to the Cardio Unit, and I think that’s great. I hope we can sell it out!”

Sullivan has been working with Tony Russeo and Van Northcross from the Cape Cod Hospital to make sure the play is well attended. “I think the Auxiliary started selling tickets before we even opened our season with the Haunted House!” says Sullivan.

“I’m sure that quite a few people know about the show already. Now the push will be to persuade them to come to one of the performances, “ he adds.

The play, one of the longest running in Broadway history, is the heartwarming story of the dairyman Tevye, his wife Tzeitel and their daughters in the village of Anatevka in Czarist Russia where faith and love inspire a generation in the face of poverty and oppression. Many of its songs have become standards, including such favorites songs as: "If I Were a Rich Man", "Matchmaker, Matchmaker", "Tradition" and "Sunrise Sunset".

The leads will be played by seniors and Drama Club veterans Matt Kohler (Tevye) and Siobhan Magnus (Tzeitel), both of Marstons Mills. The multi-talented Kohler adds Tevye to an impressive list of characterizations, ranging from the pirate with a heart of gold in The Lost Treasure of Blackbeard to the veddy proper Major-General in The Pirates of Penzance to the dynamic title role in Barnum. Magnus needs no introduction to any who have heard her sing; she has been a mainstay of Drama Club productions since she was in grade school. Her most recent notable roles include that lady Grace Farrell in Annie, Mabel in Pirates of Penzance and Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

If the past is truly prologue, the production may bode particularly well for Matt and Siobhan. In 2001, the last time Fiddler was presented by the BHS Drama Club, Jordan Ahnquist of West Barnstable and Amanda Catania of Marstons Mills played Tevye and Tzeitel. Both are now professional actors, plying their crafts in Chicago and New York respectively.