“Fiddler on the Roof” Veteran Star and Director Converge on New Circa Production in Rock Island
The hugely popular 1964 musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” always seems resonant and relevant, but a new production at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, Rock Island, feels especially urgent and timely.
Last done at Circa in 2014, and at Quad City Music Guild in August 2024, the new “Fiddler” opening Friday, May 1 stars Jacob Medich as Jewish milkman Tevye, with Circa veteran Sarah Hayes as his devoted wife Golde.
The story (set in 1905 Russia) story centers on Tevye in the fictional village of Anatevka, who attempts to maintain his Jewish traditions as outside influences encroach upon his family’s lives, according to a synopsis. He must cope with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters who want to marry for love; but their choices of husbands are successively less palatable for Tevye. An edict of the tsar eventually evicts the Jews from their village.
A scene from a new production of “Fiddler on the Roof” at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, Rock Island.
The musical captures the essential human longings for love, community, success, freedom, family and meaning, a Circa release says. Through its unforgettable score by composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick, audiences are treated to such iconic songs as the beautiful “Sunrise, Sunset,” the boisterous “If I Were a Rich Man,” the heartbreaking yet funny marital duet “Do You Love Me?”, the winsome “Matchmaker, Matchmaker” and the defiant opening standard, “Tradition.”
Medich is making his Circa ’21 debut, after recently completing a successful run as Old Deuteronomy in “Cats” and Tevye in “Fiddler” at the Broadway Palm in Ft. Myers, Fla. Other notable credits include Bill Sikes in “Oliver!,” Audrey II in “Little Shop of Horrors,” Claude Frollo in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” and Blackbeard the Pirate King in Dolly Parton’s “Pirate Voyage.”
A scene from a new production of “Fiddler on the Roof” at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, Rock Island.
Medich is becoming Tevye for the third time in the past year, after at Broadway Palm (in January–February 2026), and Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre (Lancaster, Penn., April–May 2025).
A review of the Broadway Palm production (at broadwayworld.com) said: “From the moment the curtain rises on the village of Anatevka, the cast commits fully to their roles. Jacob Medich’s Tevye is a standout: his rich voice and expressive physicality bring humor and vulnerability in equal measure to this iconic role, making familiar emotional beats feel fresh and lived-in.”
Another review from gulfcoastnewsnow.com called Medich’s portrayal of Tevye “among the very best I have ever seen. Medich pours every ounce of emotion into the role of the poor Jewish milkman desperately trying to hold onto tradition as the world around him rapidly changes. He is a master at guiding the audience through Tevye’s joys and heartbreaks, making you feel every laugh and every loss along the way.”
A scene from a new production of “Fiddler on the Roof” at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, Rock Island.
“The parent aspect really hits home for me. I’m a parent myself,” Medich (who has a 21-year-old son) said Wednesday. “He wants to be a family man, and he’s gonna have that big Tevye family, unlike me. You know, I wanted one to be done. He wants 30.”
Medich admires the strong pull of emotion in the classic show.
“As long as you’re honest with the words that are put there, it’ll come natural,” he said. “And then just knowing the history of the people, so deep, beautiful, and painful. You have to be a student even of history just to know everything that’s going on in the moment.”
This is his fourth time playing Tevye in a professional production and his seventh “Fiddler” altogether, since playing Mendel in his Indiana high school production, outside South Bend.
Of Circa, Medich said: “I’m loving it. People here are great – everybody’s been so warm and welcoming.”
Reuniting with Sarah Hayes
He and Hayes have actually performed together before, back in 2019, they were in “Mamma Mia” and “Hunchback of Notre Dame,” at Myers Dinner Theatre, Hillsboro, Ind.
“So it was nice. Like we already are comfortable with each other and already have friendships,” Hayes said, coming into the 11-day rehearsal period at Circa, where actors are expected to start with their part memorized. “It’s nice to already start at that point because then you can get further. It’s such a short rehearsal period that you already know someone and already have a relationship, you can have that head start.”
She is proud to have been a part of the Circa ’21 family since she started as a Bootlegger in 2012. Hayes’s credits include “Come From Away” (Beverley), “Lucky Stiff” (Rita), “The Addams Family” (Morticia), “White Christmas” (Martha) and “We Will Rock You” (Killer Queen). Her most memorable experience outside the QC was playing Velma Von Tussle in the national tour of “Hairspray” in 2023-2024.
Hayes was not in the 2014 Circa version of “Fiddler” — that Golde, Shelley Walljasper, is now playing matchmaker Yente.
“It’s a beautiful show. When the chance came up, I was like, oh yes, I’d love to be a part of that,” she said. “And I think it’s just such an important message right now.”
A scene from a new production of “Fiddler on the Roof” at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, Rock Island.
“It’s cool when I know someone and they come into the Circa world,” she added. “That’s just a neat worlds-colliding moment for me because Circa is sort of my home. But I love it when we get new people. You know, we’ve got a couple people making their Circa debut in this show.”
That includes the director, Georgette Kleier, with area favorites Ron May serving as music director and Ashley Becher as choreographer. Kleier was a relatively late replacement, after the cast was set. She has extensive experience directing at Derby Dinner Playhouse (outside Louisville, Ky.), where she led “Fiddler” in 1999, and she’s been on stage in three other productions of the musical (playing Chava and then Fruma Sarah twice, in the dream sequence).
Kleier has been connected to Derby (theater in the round) off and on 30 years.
“I am very excited to be here,” she said of Circa. “I’m so blessed. Everybody is perfect in their roles. I feel like I could see these people, work with these people again in a year and it’ll be like, bam. Like it feels like old friends already.”
Head start with veteran Tevye
The director’s job was made easier because of Medich’s expertise in the role.
“That’s a huge part of it because he could come in and sort of be a leader from day one,” Kleier said. “And the three of us met briefly before we started rehearsals. Just had coffee and talked about the show and both of them sort of leading the process. Yes, it was difficult and it was fast and it was fairly intense in terms of what you have to front load in your brain. But given all that, I’m really impressed that they have been able to now adapt to the space and put out some beautiful work.”
“Fiddler” – focusing on community, faith and family – always seems relevant, especially now, since the setting is near Kiev, Ukraine, which has been at war with Russia since 2022 (and has killed some 55,000 Ukrainian soldiers). And Kleier also noted today’s rising antisemitism worldwide, and anti-immigrant policies of the U.S.
A scene from a new production of “Fiddler on the Roof” at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, Rock Island.
“Just given that in and of itself is pretty resonant, with 2026,” she said. “And the rampant antisemitism happening. I mean, it couldn’t be more topical right now. So this is pre-Israel, you know, obviously, but just this idea that these people, this idea of them being forced away and coming to this country, our country. The immigrants’ experience, just those things, we’re going through it right now.”
Medich appreciates the layered depth of Tevye, and his struggles in keeping his daughters and his faith.
“It’s humor and sadness and then sometimes just malaise, even,” he said. “There’s nothing I’m going to be able to say or do to stop this. So it’s just going to happen and I’m going to go along for the ride, I guess. Here we go. But that’s the real beauty of the show is the family, because you get to see the microscopic view of what’s happening at the time.
“Not just the persecution, but also just the change of time where women are starting to get a little bit more vocal, starting to stand up for themselves or like demanding what they need and what they want,” Medich said. “And a father who grew up where women are supposed to be at home cooking, cleaning, taking care of the children. That’s it. It’s a big change for somebody like Tevye, but he tries his best because the only thing he does is love his family and he wants to make sure everybody’s happy. That’s his key goal.”
Medich tries to make Tevye immediate and real for audiences.
“When he says, ‘good Sabbath, children,’ it’s a big moment for him because he gets to spend this day, this night with his family,” he said. “He’s showing somebody how much he loves his family. So ‘Sabbath Prayer’ was the moment where I went, there’s so much love in this character that is trying to pour out, but he’s trying to contain it, because that’s what’s proper at this time.”
“You’ve got this turmoil, this tornado, cyclone going inside him at all times. But when he sees his family, it’s, I’m okay. Everything’s fine,” Medich said, noting his conflict with God in taking his daughters away from him in their new lives.
Jacob Medich — a veteran of this musical — plays Tevye in his Circa debut of a new “Fiddler on the Roof,” opening Friday, May 1.
“I’m gonna change the way you are thinking right now because I want to marry this guy who you don’t like,” he said of the daughters’ viewpoint. “You gotta find the little nuances with Tevye that I think, really draw the character and really make him a person and not just a character.”
“He’s trying to stay with the tradition of mamas and papas choose who the wives or the kids marry,” Medich said. “He’s being persecuted by the Russians, who he also has to be a friend to. Just to keep from them being worse than they already are. And he has so many conversations with God within the show. And there’s times where he’s questioning what God’s doing. Because as people, even we could be the most faithful people in the world. But there’s going to be a moment where you go, why are you doing this to me?”
“Especially too, at the end of act one, where it’s just, what did we do to make you allow this to happen?” he said. “Why didn’t you stop this? It really is a big moment because his whole world is crumbling around him. He’s trying to keep it together.”
Finding gold in Golde
While Hayes has played some flamboyant, colorful roles at Circa, she welcomes dialing it back for the matriarch Golde.
“She is closer to who I really am, and my comfort zone,” she said Wednesday. “But I love that Golde also still has the humor — she’s sharp and she’ll keep the kids in line, but there’s an underbelly of a laugh through it, and I love that. That’s the kind of household I grew up in. My dad was very much keeping us in line but making us laugh at the same time. My mom was the same way. So honestly, this is a nice change for me.”
“Fiddler” is a perfect Circa show, because the theater is a comforting second home for many regular patrons, and a family atmosphere.
“You have recurring people coming in to do roles and it also brings in a little bit more of that family,” Medich said. “So there’s going to be an instant connection for Sarah with a lot of the audience, which I think then will increase the stakes.”
“It’s been amazing for me because I started as a Bootlegger, if you don’t count my two very terrible months as a busser,” Hayes said. “It’s been very cool for me because I’ve gotten to know these audiences so well because I did wait on them for years. And then when I started getting cast in mainstage shows, I would still work the floor. And so I got to have that connection. And I’ve worked here since 2012, so it’s always great too, when I’ll leave and then come back. I just feel such a warm welcome and you know, it really is a family here, you know.”
Golde sympathetically struggles with Tevye, over their quarter-century of marriage, Hayes said.
“It’s holding on to tradition. And ten like we talked about day one, there’s that parental, always wanting more for your kids,” she said. “That isn’t just relevant in 1905, that’s relevant today. You know, you talk to any parent and they’re like, I want more. I want more for my child than I had.”
A scene from a new production of “Fiddler on the Roof” at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, Rock Island.
Noting one of the ballads in the show, Hayes said: “Then there’s this beautiful moment between Tevye and Golde where he says, ‘do you love me?’ And it’s the first time she’s ever thought about that question. And I think that song teaches her that, you know, what if my daughters have the same life I did? That’s a pretty great life. It’s filled with love. And then she can know that her daughters are starting from a place of love.”
Tevye and Golde were an arranged marriage, “and they still got to this point place where they love their life, they love their children,” she said. “I think that’s sort of her journey with accepting the changes in her life.”
These other additional talents complete the large “Fiddler” ensemble: Sofia Alleruzzo; Nathan Ancheta; Bobby Becher; Emmett Boedeker; Gracie Cross; Kyle DeFauw; Dan Embree; Abigail Goldman; Brad Hauskins; Sophia Kilburg; Wrigley Mancha; Charles Murphy; Gregory Naman; William Pearce; Sydney Richardson; Elena Skadal; Harold Truitt; Shelley Walljasper; Laura Whittenberger and Edith Young.
The show will be presented at Circa ’21 through June 27, with performances on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 5:30 p.m. and Wednesday matinées at 1:15 p.m. Preshow entertainment featuring the theatre’s wait staff The Bootleggers will also precede all performances. Ticket prices are $70 for the Friday – Sunday productions and $63 for the Wednesday productions.
Reservations are available through the Circa ’21 ticket office, 1828 3rd Ave., Rock Island, or by calling 309-786-7733 ext. 2. You may also make them online by going to circa21.com.
A scene from a new production of “Fiddler on the Roof” at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, Rock Island.
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