美国国家公共电台 NPR How 'Fiddler On The Roof' (And Writing Its Sequel) Helped An Actress Find Closure

 

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "FIDDLER ON THE ROOF")

UNIDENTIFIED ENSEMBLE¹: (Singing) Tradition. Tradition.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

If you know any musicals at all, then you probably know the beloved "Fiddler On The Roof," the story of Tevye, the dairyman, and his family, set in the town of Anatevka during Czarist Russia. Now, you might remember that right as the musical ends, second-eldest daughter Hodel makes the bold decision to leave her family and everything she knows to find her fiance Perchik, who's been sent to a labor² camp in Siberia. As she boards the train, Hodel says to her father...

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "FIDDLER ON THE ROOF")

ALEXANDRA SILBER: (As Hodel) God alone knows when we shall see each other again.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As Tevye) Then we leave it in his hands.

MARTIN: And that is how you had to leave it until now. Alexandra Silber, who you just heard playing Hodel in London's West End, decided³ she could not leave it at that. And she decided to write a sequel to "Fiddler On The Roof" called "After Anatevka." And she joins us now from our studios in New York City. Alexandra Silber, thank you so much for being here.

SILBER: Thank you so much for having me, Michel.

MARTIN: Now, I want to mention that in addition to Hodel, you've also played Hodel's older sister...

SILBER: Yes.

MARTIN: ...Tzeitel...

SILBER: Yes.

MARTIN: ..On Broadway. So you know this musical as well as anyone. What I was wondering is if you grew up loving it? I mean, I can't think of an elementary school recital⁴ where...

SILBER: I know.

MARTIN: ...Somebody was not singing something from "Fiddler On The Roof." I mean, it just seems to be - it's like the sun and the moon. You can't remember a time when it didn't exist. So I just wondered, did you always love it?

SILBER: Yeah. In fact, my journey with "Fiddler" began as a sophomore⁵ in high school when I gave the world my Golde, who's the mother of the family. So I've always, always loved this story. And, of course, I'm a Jewish woman myself, descended⁶ from people from the Pale of Settlement. So it's always been a very personal story but also a very universal one.

MARTIN: The musical is based on stories from the 1800s by the famous Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem. Tell me how this project came to take root in your mind and...

SILBER: Yeah.

MARTIN: ...That you thought you could actually do this.

SILBER: It actually was a very, very personal project that I never really had an intention of sharing with the wider world. For me, the process of being with Hodel in that London production really happened over the course of two and a half years. And when it was over, I felt like a very, very close friend of mine suddenly stopped calling me. And I was bereft⁷ without her.

It's this 18-year-old girl that boldly goes off toward adventure and danger, and we, as an audience, don't know what happens to her. And I think, for me, I needed to see it through. I needed to know. And so I very privately⁸ started writing this story for myself, not telling anybody about it, as a very personal project.

MARTIN: When did you decide that this could actually be a book, like, you could actually take it beyond a personal project? I do want to mention, in fact, the forward, which is written by the lyricist for...

SILBER: Yeah.

MARTIN: ..."Fiddler On The Roof," Sheldon Harnick, he says that actors often write a pre-story for themselves. They kind of settle for themselves what has happened up to the point that they step on stage but that's for them. That's a...

SILBER: Yeah.

MARTIN: ...Very private exercise. When did you say to yourself, you know what, this is actually something I can share?

SILBER: I think when I started to recognize that the specificity of Hodel's journey was illuminating⁹ something that was universal, something that could resonate with all people, not just women, not just Jews, not just people that love "Fiddler" or love history and, you know, recognizing that oppressed people everywhere and courageous¹⁰ and tenacious¹¹ people everywhere needed a new heroine.

MARTIN: Now, let's go to the story. And as we said, in the musical, when we last see Hodel, she's at a train station leaving her father to go try to find the love of her life. The book opens - I have to say it's a brutal¹² experience. I mean, she's being abused by guards - by prison guards in Siberia.

What made you decide to open the book this way? It's a jolt¹³. I mean, for those who think of "Fiddler On The Roof" as a very kind of a pleasant experience to take your, you know, elementary school kids, this comes as a bit of a shock.

SILBER: Yeah. I think one of the things that's sort of surprising about "Fiddler On The Roof" itself is that it is - it's incredibly human, an incredible sort of aperture¹⁴ into history and surprising that it's a musical. But this is one of the most brutal and tumultuous periods in European history. And I wanted to show the reality of what it was like to be processed in a Siberian work camp.

MARTIN: Well, to that end, I understand that you did quite a bit of research.

SILBER: It's interesting. I realized, at a certain point in my writing of this, that one needs to actually make a physical journey to replicate¹⁵ a journey that's happening within you. And for me, that really was about sort of making a pilgrimage, if you will, to Siberia itself and immersing myself in the culture and, you know, really digging my fingernails into the soil.

MARTIN: Do you mind if I note that you lost your own dad...

SILBER: Yeah.

MARTIN: ...To cancer when you were 18?

SILBER: Yes.

MARTIN: And I do find myself wondering when I found that out whether that did inform the way you played Hodel, knowing that she was a teenager...

SILBER: Of course.

MARTIN: ...And she had to say goodbye to her dad for different reasons. But I just wondered, was that a part of the story for you? Yeah.

SILBER: So my father passed away of a very long battle with cancer when I was just 18. And it's a very odd time to lose a parent. And I felt like I was presented with a decision that is not dissimilar to Hodel's. Sort of option one was, all right, well, I can curl up and die too. And I don't think anyone would have blamed me. And option 2 was OK, in the face of this tragedy, I could really, really live. I could go on a great adventure. And I think losing someone you love is the thing we all fear the most. And I faced it, and I survived. So what could ever possibly be difficult again?

And I responded to that by getting on a plane and moving to Scotland. It's sort of crazy now. And you sort of go, oh, how brave. But just like Hodel, it didn't feel brave. It felt necessary. And only now, as an adult, do I see that there is a direct parallel to a woman at 18, a young woman who says goodbye to her father and gets on a plane to Scotland and - pardon me for my emotion - but an 18-year-old woman who says goodbye to her father and gets on a train to Siberia, both of whom are then to fulfill¹⁶ their destinies.

And for me, the reason it's so personal is I didn't realize that in finishing Hodel's story and making sure that she was all right, I was taking care of myself. And so I feel like "After Anatevka" has really given me an opportunity to see something through that is more deeply personal than anything I've ever created or offered the world. And I just, you know, I hope other people can say me too to it.

MARTIN: That's Alexandra Silber. She is the author of "After Anatevka," which will be published on July Fourth. It is a novel inspired by "Fiddler On The Roof." Alexandra Silber, thank you so much for speaking with us.

SILBER: Thank you for having me.

1 ensemble   

n.合奏(唱)组；全套服装；整体，总效果

参考例句：

• We should consider the buildings as an ensemble.我们应把那些建筑物视作一个整体。
• It is ensemble music for up to about ten players,with one player to a part.它是最多十人演奏的合奏音乐，每人担任一部分。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 recital   

n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会

参考例句：

• She is going to give a piano recital.她即将举行钢琴独奏会。
• I had their total attention during the thirty-five minutes that my recital took.在我叙述的35分钟内，他们完全被我吸引了。

5 sophomore   

n.大学二年级生；adj.第二年的

参考例句：

• He is in his sophomore year.他在读二年级。
• I'm a college sophomore majoring in English.我是一名英语专业的大二学生。

6 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

7 bereft   

adj.被剥夺的

参考例句：

• The place seemed to be utterly bereft of human life.这个地方似乎根本没有人烟。
• She was bereft of happiness.她失去了幸福。

8 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

9 illuminating   

a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的

参考例句：

• We didn't find the examples he used particularly illuminating. 我们觉得他采用的那些例证启发性不是特别大。
• I found his talk most illuminating. 我觉得他的话很有启发性。

10 courageous   

adj.勇敢的，有胆量的

参考例句：

• We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
• He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。

11 tenacious   

adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的

参考例句：

• We must learn from the tenacious fighting spirit of Lu Xun.我们要学习鲁迅先生韧性的战斗精神。
• We should be tenacious of our rights.我们应坚决维护我们的权利。

12 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

13 jolt   

v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸

参考例句：

• We were worried that one tiny jolt could worsen her injuries.我们担心稍微颠簸一下就可能会使她的伤势恶化。
• They were working frantically in the fear that an aftershock would jolt the house again.他们拼命地干着，担心余震可能会使房子再次受到震动。

14 aperture   

n.孔，隙，窄的缺口

参考例句：

• The only light came through a narrow aperture.仅有的光亮来自一个小孔。
• We saw light through a small aperture in the wall.我们透过墙上的小孔看到了亮光。

15 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

16 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。