“Who plays the title role in the new Broadway revival of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’?” writes Michael Cooper in Monday’s (1/4) New York Times. “There are really two artists who can lay claim to the title role: [dancer/actor] Jesse Kovarsky … and Kelly Hall-Tompkins, the versatile violinist who makes the music come alive in the orchestra pit. ‘Kelly is the Fiddler on Broadway!’ read an email she sent to friends after landing the gig as the orchestra’s concertmaster,” her first time playing on Broadway. “She has played with leading orchestras and was a member of the New Jersey Symphony; she played a different kind of fiddle music with the violinist Mark O’Connor; she is a member of the Ritz Chamber Players, a respected chamber orchestra of African-American musicians; and she is the founder of Music Kitchen, which for a decade has assembled artists to play chamber music in soup kitchens and shelters.” Hall-Tompkins and Kovarsky said they “enjoyed their symbiotic relationship as they shared the audio and visual aspects of the title role. ‘That’s the real opportunity here—not to mimic violin playing so much, but to embody the idea, the impression, the stylized, mythical side…’ Ms. Hall-Tompkins said.”
Posted January 5, 2016
