”Fiddler” veteran Harvey Fierstein will cochair the gala event.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick's classic Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof. The largest-ever reunion of original, revival, and film cast veterans will perform a benefit concert titled Raising the Roof this June for The National Yiddish Theatre — Folksbiene to commemorate the occasion.
The performance will be held on June 9 at Broadway's Town Hall. The roster of Fiddler veterans set to perform includes Topol (Oscar nominee and Golden Globe Award winner for the 1972 film); Tony winners Jerry Zaks, Andrea Martin, Randy Graff, and Peg Murray; Tony nominees Adrienne Barbeau, Liz Larsen, and Louis Zorich; Golden Globe winner Pia Zadora; and Emmy winner Fyvush Finkel.
Also performing will be Joanna Merlin, Rosalind Harris, Neva Small, and more than 40 Fiddler vets, including Sammy Dallas Bayes, Robert Berdeen, Duane Bodin, Joanne Borts, Mike Burstyn, Rachel Coloff, Tanya Everett, Michael J. Farina, Louis Genevrino, Lori Ada Jaroslow, Sandra Kazan, T. Doyle Leverett, Faye Menken Schneier, Carolyn Mignini, Joe Ponazecki, Larry Ross, Carol Sawyer, Roberta Senn, Harriet Slaughter, Cheryl Stern, Mimi Turque Marre, and Lori Wilner. Additional guests will be announced at a later date.
Original Fiddler producer Harold Prince, Harvey Fierstein (Casa Valentina), and veteran theater critic Frank Rich will serve as honorary cochairs of the gala event. Also set to appear at the celebration are Bel Kaufman — the 103-year-old granddaughter of famed Yiddish author and playwright Sholom Aleichem, who wrote Fiddler's source material, Tevye and His Daughters — and Alisa Solomon, author of the acclaimed book Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of "Fiddler on the Roof."