“Am I still capable of this?”
Jason Alexander has been asking himself this very query whereas getting ready to star in “Fiddler on the Roof” at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts — his first stage musical position in many years.
“I’m 65 years old, playing a character that, if you crunch the math, should be about 40,” he advised The Occasions of taking over Tevye, the present’s religious dairyman. “It’s exponentially harder for me now. I can’t dance the way I used to and my best scampering days may be behind me. I’ve had to assess whether or not I could realistically convey this character’s energy and vitality, and really do the role justice.”
Producers are relying on him to take action, and are pulling out all of the stops within the meantime. Operating by means of Dec. 1, the formidable southeast Los Angeles County manufacturing includes a wealthy three-dimensional set, a 34-actor solid performing re-creations of Jerome Robbins’ 1964 choreography and a 19-piece orchestra enjoying Don Walker’s authentic orchestrations. Already, it’s all paid off: Eleven days earlier than the primary efficiency, the present broke even, setting data for the theater’s season subscriptions and single-ticket gross sales — a uncommon return in at the moment’s regional theater panorama.
Jason Alexander stars as Tevye in a revival of “Fiddler on the Roof” at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts.
(Jason Niedle)
La Mirada Theatre’s “Fiddler” is already within the black partly, after all, due to Alexander’s star energy. Enjoying the protagonist of the beloved musical has been a lifelong dream for the actor, who’s spent his post-”Seinfeld” days directing and performing in stage exhibits. The closest he’d beforehand gotten to doing so had been the transient talks to interchange Danny Burstein within the fifth Broadway revival of the Joseph Stein/Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick musical, primarily based on Sholem Aleichem tales a few Jewish milkman’s household, religion and group.
“It’s like it was written for him, and he’s bringing all kinds of colors that I don’t think any other Tevye has ever brought to the piece,” mentioned director Lonny Worth of Alexander. The 2 first met as a part of the unique Broadway solid of “Merrily We Roll Along” in 1981. “People will expect him to be funny in this, which he is, and he’s always been a great singer and dancer. But I think the thing people will take away from this is his range, and his real skill as a dramatic actor. In this role, he’s as equally moving as he is funny.”
This “Fiddler” staging is a return to its authentic type at Alexander’s request, albeit a expensive one. “I love the piece so much, and I wanted the full flavor bouquet of what was intended, and I was concerned that anybody who said they wanted to do it was going to do it on the cheap,” he mentioned.
For instance, “It’s so hard these days with the economics of theater to get a large company of actors onstage, but I knew that if you tried to do this with less than, say, 30 people, you can’t fill out the stage enough to present a community. But our producers are wonderful, they’ve said yes to everything we’ve asked for.”
Whereas the manufacturing is without doubt one of the costliest exhibits ever staged at La Mirada Theatre, it is usually the quickest within the theater’s historical past to interrupt even and start turning a revenue. It boosted season subscriptions 22% to a brand new excessive, and set a brand new document for a single day’s ticket gross sales. Altogether, an estimated 29,000 folks will attend the manufacturing, with 21% of ticket consumers being first-time patrons.
However the manufacturing — and its income — are potential solely due to the theater’s distinctive enterprise mannequin: La Mirada Theatre is the uncommon regional theater that’s municipally owned and operated, with the town of La Mirada commissioning the preliminary transformation of an out of date film home and persevering with to pay its ongoing manufacturing prices, because of taxes, ticket gross sales and extra income streams like venue leases.
Jason Alexander, far proper, and the solid of “Fiddler on the Roof.”
(Jason Niedle)
“In addition to paying for the venue itself and the entire staff, the city also provides funding for everything in the theater — the actors, the royalties, the musicians in the pit, the props they’re carrying, the microphones on their heads, down to the flowers in the lobby and the ticket stock you’re holding,” defined producing creative director BT McNicholl.
“Of course, we do have people who donate, but that’s not the bulk of the support,” he continued. With no board of administrators to please or annual donor gala to host, it lets you actually deal with the patrons, McNicholl mentioned. “Ultimately, this is the city saying the arts is a public service, and it’s enriching not just the city of La Mirada and its residents but all those in the surrounding Southern California cities that we’re serving as well.”
McCoy Rigby Leisure — which repeatedly introduced Cathy Rigby and “Peter Pan” to Broadway and on the street, and is transferring a “Mystic Pizza” musical to New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse subsequent yr — has been employed to stage La Mirada Theatre’s seasons for 31 years and counting. “There’s no having to raise 50% or 60% of our nut through donations and corporate sponsorships,” mentioned govt producer Tom McCoy, “which, in the world of regional theater, is quite remarkable.”
“It’s such a gift to those of us who love the theater — my God, it’s the difference between life and death,” mentioned Alexander of the theater’s operations. His personal former theater firm, Reprise, operated on a subscriber mannequin, and the bottom of monetary assist to maintain it dried up, he mentioned. However at La Mirada Theatre, the group is keen to signal the deficit examine.
“They’re saying, ‘We don’t expect you to end the season in profit, just serve the community and make sure they feel like their tax dollars have gone to something worthwhile,’” Alexander mentioned. “I wish that communities everywhere had the benefit of this kind of a funding model. I’m sure it would pay benefits back to the community in triplicate, especially in the areas around the country that are generally underserved in the arts.”
Jason Alexander and Alanna J. Smith in “Fiddler on the Roof.”
(Jason Niedle)
This star-led “Fiddler” got here to be as a result of Alexander talked about his curiosity in Tevye in a 2022 interview — an article McNicholl shared with producers McCoy and Rigby, the latter of whom labored with him in a 2008 manufacturing of “Li’l Abner.” To be turning a revenue effectively earlier than opening evening “is encouraging,” mentioned Worth, “especially when you ask for something you need, you know that you’re not going to be hurting the theater to get it for you in order to put on the show you want their audiences to see.”
McCoy advised The Occasions that he’s requested manufacturing rights to “Fiddler” for a potential sixth Broadway revival. However that switch just isn’t essentially Alexander’s purpose. The truth is, he hopes his flip as Tevye is a reminder to different actors to prioritize productions past the Nice White Means, and even the quick metropolis of L.A.
“I will tell you: My manager was not excited about the idea of me doing this role in La Mirada,” he mentioned. “She went, ‘Why are you doing this in La Mirada?’ And I said, ‘Why wouldn’t I do it in La Mirada?’
“To be on Broadway and have a Broadway audience, that’s very exciting — as far as the commercial theater in America goes, that’s our heaven, that’s mecca,” he continued. “But there are audiences that can never get to New York; there are audiences that can’t get to Los Angeles. The idea that they are any less deserving than any other audience? An audience is an audience, and if there’s an audience who wants to see it, and there’s a theater that will invest in it and do it well, it’s worth doing.”
“Fiddler on the Roof” at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts.
(Jason Niedle)
‘Fiddler on the Roof’
The place: La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and eight p.m. Saturday, 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday; ends Dec. 1.
Tickets: $46 and up
Information: (562) 944-9801, lamiradatheatre.com
Operating time: 2 hours, 50 minutes (one intermission)