MAZELTOV!! TRADITION!!

Nineteen years ago in 1987 our older daughter Lee, who had just started high school, was bitten by the drama bug. My very good friend Mary Ellen had decided to put on a musical at the high school she taught at and although Lee was attending a different school at that time she gave her a role in Fiddler on the Roof.

                                                                              
                                                                              
Lee played the ghost of the butcher’s first wife who very conveniently appears to Tevje in a dream to prevent the marriage of his eldest daughter, Tzeitel, to the old and fat, but rich butcher, Lazar Wolf. Tzeitel was devastated when her father told her he had arranged a marriage for her with Lazar Wolf since she was in love with Motel, the poor tailor. The “dream” terrifies Tevje’s wife, Golde, so that she agrees it would be a mistake to go ahead with the marriage.  (It sounds a lot more complicated than it actually was.) Lee did a good job of terrifying her. The production was a smashing success and they were even asked to perform it in the theater in Lüneburg.

Lee enjoyed the experience so much that she changed schools the next year in order to be able to play the role of Nancy in Oliver! in 1988. For a short while she thought she would like to study drama and maybe become an actress, but much to our relief she changed her mind when the reality of rehearsals and weekend/late night performances got to her. It did change her direction in music though because she started voice lessons and eventually discontinued her violin lessons.

Mary Ellen has put on a whole list of very successful musicals over the years since then. It’s not always easy to find a good musical suitable for a student production but she has always managed extraordinarily well. This year she decided to repeat a musical for the first time. After all it had been so long not very many people had actually seen the first production. Certainly none of the students, who weren’t even alive way back then! So Fiddler on the Roof had its second premiere on February … and I was there to see it.

It’s very difficult to compare a play I saw almost two decades ago with the same play in the present, especially since I had such an emotional attachment to the older production. Not only did Lee play in it but Jenny also danced in it as one of the “bottle dancers”, and I knew quite a few of the other actors and actresses.



(Unfortunately, although a picture of Jenny in the play exists, I don’t have it.) This time I didn’t know anyone.

                                                                              
As a neutral observer (well, not really, but I can pretend) I can say that the second production was at least equal to the first. Mary Ellen’s experience showed in a lot of ways. I was especially impressed with the students’ pronunciation and their almost flawless delivery of their lines. And they had a lot of text to learn. The play lasted almost three hours!

As in the first production the dream scene was certainly a highlight.

                                                                              
                                  And of course the same can be said of the wedding.

                                                                              
The entire cast did a great job and once again they were a smashing success.

                                                                              
                                                                              
Which could be said about the whole weekend, because I had a great time. I took the train on Friday afternoon and it was an ICE from Frankfurt all the way through to Lüneburg.  (Unfortunately a very rare occurrence.)  Frank joined me on the train in Hannover, where he had a seminar on Friday and Werner picked us up at the train station.


When we arrived Almut had a delicious meal of soup and bread and cheese with wine waiting for us!  We had a very pleasant evening catching up and making plans.

                                                                              
The next morning after a leisurely breakfast we all went into town, Almut and I in her car, Frank and Werner on bikes (at Frank's suggestion - Werner is too nice for his own good as it was quite cold).  We all met for lunch in the Heidkrug where we had never eaten before but which was very good.  It's in a beautiful old 15th century house and they have an excellent kitchen.  The play, which Almut and I went to, was that evening.

Sunday morning after another wonderful breakfast we all drove into Lüneburg to have a look at the St. Michaelis Church where Bach was trained at the church's music school many years ago.  The inside had been renovated since we moved away, so we went to have a look. 

                                                                                                               
St. Michaelis is in the Lüneburg Old Town which has sunken several feet over the centuries because salt was mined out from under the town. 

                                                                              
The present church was built in the 14th and 15th centuries.

                                                                                                                        

Frank left Sunday evening because he had a seminar in Hannover on Monday morning and I stayed one more night because there was a concert that evening in Adendorf.  I enjoyed the music and saw a few old friends and acquaintances, including Lee's grade school teacher from the first through the fourth grade. 

It's always a lot of fun to visit our friends in the north and check up on what has happened in the meantime to our old haunts.