Filled with wit and drama, not to mention one of the most remarkable scores ever written, few musicals are as completely successful on every level as Fiddler on the Roof – the story of an amusingly philosophical Jewish milkman named Tevye who was “blessed” with five daughters who keep choosing love over age-old traditional forms of matchmaking, and thereby causing Tevye to try to keep up with the quickly changing times while not stumbling over generations of customs and his own beliefs, while in the background anti-Semitism and signs of the Russian revolution keep the tensions high.

With a score that includes Sunrise, Sunset, Matchmaker, If I Were a Rich Man, and Miracle of Miracles, it seems like every song is a classic in its own right, and fortunately Director Jeanette Thomas has cast a great group of singers to re-create them. Tevye’s three lovely eldest daughters, Tzeitel (Kelli Sides), Hodel (Erika Amato), and Chava (Adina Di Fede) get it going with their beautiful and humorous performance of Matchmaker. Erika Amato returns for a gorgeous solo in the affecting Far From the Home I Love when saying goodbye to her papa. Motel (Tom Andrew), no longer just a poor and timid tailor, becomes a man with his stirring Miracle of Miracles. And the entire cast put together several great ensemble pieces, from the opening of Tradition to the celebration in To Life which features the Russian Fyedka (Sam Cavanaugh) giving a sublime toast to Tevye and Lazar Wolf (Michael Grant Hall), to the charming and poignant Sunrise, Sunset in the wedding scene that closes the first act.

But this show really depends on the performance of Tevye the poor milkman who is at the center of the humor and the drama throughout. And Stephen Reynolds delivers like an absolutely brilliant performance, filling the role with hilarious comedy through perfect timing and classic facial expressions, not to mention powerful emotions as when he rejects his daughter Chava (Adina Di Fede) in a heartbreakingly done scene. Stephen simply becomes Tevye in every sense and in every scene. Unfortunately the planes buzzing the bowl, which for some reason were unusually excessive on Friday night, did not have such impeccable timing – all except for when he raised his hand and warned that when he “gets angry [pause for loud passing plane] even flies don’t dare to fly!” he finished, looking up at the departing plane and earning the biggest of many laughs.

He is joined by Cathy Gene Greenwood who delivers an equally perfect Golde, Tevye’s cantankerous and amusingly superstitious wife who isn’t quite so quick to embrace the new traditions that Tevye is blazing. But her love for her daughters comes shining through – especially at the end when their daughter Chava breaks an unbreakable law. Cathy and Stephen’s touching and adorable Do You Love Me? features Tevye nervously but hopefully trying to get Golde to admit that, after twenty-five years in an arranged marriage, they have grown to love each other.