Fiddler on the Roof [30th Anniversary Edition] in Bloomington, MN

Originally released as a double-LP set and now on one CD, the gold-selling soundtrack album for the screen adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical
Fiddler on the Roof
, which became the top-grossing film of 1971, stretched out
Jerry Bock
and
Sheldon Harnick
's song score with musical adaptations by conductor
John Williams
, who used a giant orchestra and chorus that sounded like it was far bigger than the population of the little village of Anatevka. (
Williams
won the Academy Award for musical adaptation for his trouble.) There was plenty of screen dialogue, too. But the appeal of the work continued to be the wonderful songs
"Tradition,"
"Matchmaker,"
"If I Were a Rich Man,"
"To Life,"
"Sunrise, Sunset,"
"Do You Love Me."
Topol
, who repeated his starring performance as
Tevye
from the London stage version, wasn't as funny as
Zero Mostel
, who created the part on Broadway, but gave it more gravity. Occasionally on the soundtrack he sounded so tired, though, that he barely got his lines out. Happily, he nailed
which is
's real showcase number. The soundtrack also includes one song,
"Chavaleh,"
here called
"Chava Ballet Sequence,"
that was cut from the stage show, though a song that was in the show,
"Now I Have Everything,"
has been dropped. Still, the
album to buy is the original Broadway cast recording. The 2001 CD reissue is even more the creature of
than of
Bock
Harnick
, adding several short
instrumental
orchestral pieces. But it also adds a good previously unheard song,
"Any Day Now,"
sung by
Paul Michael Glaser
, who played
Perchik
, and probably intended to replace
although it, too, was left on the cutting room floor of a film that already ran three hours. ~ William Ruhlmann