The director of Hamilton has been brought in to lead a new musical film adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof.
Thomas Kail, who helmed the Broadway and Off-Broadway stagings of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton and In The Heights, will direct the movie written by Dear Evan Hanson book-writer Steven Levenson for MGM.
Kail reunites with Levenson following their collaboration on television series Fosse/Verdon, to adapt Joseph Stein’s 1964 musical, featuring Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s music and lyrics. The original stage show won nine Tony’s and has previously been adapted into a movie directed by Norman Jewison, which won three of the eight Oscars for which it was nominated.
The story follows a poor Jewish family living in a Tsarist Russian village, where the father attempts to hold onto tradition while his daughters wish to make their own choices. It features songs such as If I Were A Rich Man, To Life and Matchmaker, Matchmaker.
Fiddler on the Roof ran for more than 3,000 performances on Broadway, and has been revived multiple times, including Trevor Nunn’s Menier Chocolate Factory production in 2018.
Kail is responsible for directing the filmed version of Hamilton that was acquired by Disney in a whopping $75 million deal, now due to be released on July 3 on Disney+.
