Fiddler On The Roof currently playing at the Royal Concert Hall Nottingham is highly deserving of five stars for its impeccable staging, direction, singing and choreography. This cast are top of their game and put their hearts and souls into delivering a fresh take on a very popular musical. The unique set design (Tom Scutt) is pretty impactful too.

For any readers out there who shudder at the words ‘fresh take’, fear not, the story and the songs are expressed just as one would expect. The ‘Tradition’ is not lost. The freshness comes from the remarkable production vision and Jordan Fenn’s direction. One is the application of the actors’ normal dialect and not pretend Jewish in speaking and singing. The change doesn’t harm but in a strange way adds to the believability of the piece and the character’s relationships with one another. It gives the atmospheres and already very believable and natural acting even more credibility.

Another is the dynamic use of the space for the choreography (Julia Cheng) which gets pretty wild at times and the scenes involving the community in Anatevka. The choreography for the famous and thrilling bottle dance is credited to Jerome Robbins.

The set is another of the fresh takes. Starting as a cornfield it transforms itself into a suspended raised area that gives the impression of a massive roof heavy with meaning. In my interpretation it represents safety, home, food like bread essential for life, living with nature, strong community roots and in the second act, feelings of cultural suffocation and release.

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The book by Joseph Stein is jam packed with familiar and well loved songs of joys and love and the need for tradition forming cultural solidarity. Sheldon Harnick’s powerful and often witty lyrics still have the power to move and amuse the souls of both the players and audiences. Aideen Malone’s lighting design and Nick Lidster’s sound add much to the whole Fiddler On The Roof experience as does the very expressive live band (Livi Van Warmelo musical director). Rachael Papo regularly haunts the stage with his incredible playing of the fiddle at key moments.

Matthew Woodyatt makes for a very likable Tevye, devoted father, husband to Golde (Jodie Jacobs) and exhausted milkman. Woodyat’s voice is very good on the ear. If I were a rich man I would happily pay to go and watch the show again for Woodyatt’s strong performance alone. Other talents are also available to be seen in this production.

But of course it is not just him and his unseen lame horse. His three main daughters – the ones who carry the stories in different directions – Chava (Hannah Bristow), Tzeitel (Natasha Jules Bernard), and Hodel (Georgia Bruce) give the impression of a tight family unit . Their acting/singing is joyful particularly when singing about the dotty Matchmaker Yente (Beverley Klein).

What is fascinating about this production is that whilst dramatic and theatrical in its story telling and singing none of the characters, including a terrific mixed ensemble and the males in the piece, seem overplayed and the whole energetic thing flows tremendously well. What’s that they say about art reflecting life? Many of the themes in this musical still have sad reference today including the persecution of religious communities and Russian interference causing mass exodus. And it is set in an area that is now in western Ukraine and formerly on the edge of Tzarist Russia.

Go and see this ingenious production that will engage with all your emotions in one evening. It’s infectious, moving and thrilling. “L’Chaim! To life!”