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1883

Yiddish author Sholem Rabinowitz, living in the Russian Empire, begins to write under the pen name Sholem Aleichem.

1894

Sholem Aleichem writes the first of the Tevye stories, "Tevye Strikes It Rich"

1899

Sholem Aleichem writes the second and third Tevye stories, "Tevye Blows a Small Fortune" and "Today's Children", which contains the story of Motl and Tzaytl 

1904

Sholem Aleichem writes the fourth Tevye story, "Hodl"

1906

Sholem Aleichem writes the fifth Tevye story, "Khave"

Oct. 20, 1906

Sholem Aleichem and some of his family arrive in NYC 

Feb. 8, 1907

Two of Sholem Aleichem’s plays, Stempenyu and Shmuel Pasternak oder Der Oysvurf premiere on the same night in NYC. Both close within a few weeks. 

Spring 1907

Disheartened, Sholem Aleichem moves back to Europe and writes the sixth and most tragic Tevye story, "Shprintze"

1909

Sholem Aleichem writes "Tevye Leaves for the Land of Israel", which he intended to be the final story of the series 

1911

Sholem Aleichem publishes Tevye der Milkhiker, which includes all of the Tevye stories in one volume 

March 1911

After a Ukrainian boy is found murdered, the Russian right-wing movement casts blame on the Jewish community, saying that the boy was murdered by Jewish people as a ritual sacrifice. Local Jewish clerk Menachem Mendel Beilis is accused and arrested as a scapegoat. 

Fall of 1913

Beilis’s trial occurs and both the Jewish and Gentile community speak out against the injustice. Sholem Aleichem follows the case obsessively, writing as a response the novel The Bloody Hoax, in which a Gentile man posing as a Jewish man is accused of blood libel.  Beilis is at last acquitted. 

End of 1913

Responding directly to edicts after the Beilis trial, Sholem Aleichem decides to write a new ending in which Tevye and his family are kicked out of their home. He publishes “Lekh Lekho” (“Get Thee Out”) 

November 19, 1914

Sholem Aleichem and his family flee to America as war breaks out in Europe. 

May 13, 1916

Sholem Aleichem dies at age 57. 

1919

New York premiere of a play version of Tevye der Milkhiker by Maurice Schwartz, based on an original script by Sholem Aleichem and supervised by Aleichem’s son-in-law. The play becomes a smash hit. 

1939

Maurice Schwartz creates a film version of the Tevye der Milkhiker play. 

1943

As WWII rages, Maurice Samuel publishes The World of Sholem Aleichem, which is a translation, commentary, and biography all in one.

1946

Frances and Julius Butwin publish the English translation of the first major volume of Sholem Aleichem’s work, called The Old Country 

January 1949

Frances Butwin translates and published Tevye’s Daughters, which becomes extremely popular 

February 1949

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II secure the rights to make a musical from Tevye’s Daughters 

Summer 1950

Distracted by their work on The King and I, Rodgers and Hammerstein release the rights to Tevye’s Daughters 

August 13, 1950

Dancer and choreographer Sophie Maslow performs "The Village I Knew", a suite of dances based on Sholem Aleichem’s work 

1950s

Irving Elman works on a play based on Tevye’s Daughters, but it is never produced 

May 5, 1953

Jerome (Jerry) Robbins, who would later direct Fiddler on the Roof, gives names to the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) under threat of being revealed as gay. This would cause extreme tension with Zero Mostel in the future. 

May 1953

Blacklisted and out-of-work, writer Arnold Perl and actor Howard Da Silva team up to write the play The World of Sholem Aleichem, premiering it at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel. It is praised by Eleanor Roosevelt, and tours through America the next few years. 

Sept. 1957

Perl and Da Silva premiere their play Tevya and His Daughters at Carnegie Hall Playhouse. It breaks ticket sale records, but is harshly reviewed by critics, who say all the tension and conflict of Tevye’s character has been removed. The play closes after six weeks. 

December 14, 1957

Da Silva and Perls’ The World of Sholem Aleichem is performed on the TV program Play of the Week, bringing back many Jewish artists previously blacklisted 

1958

Bock and Harnick become partners after the success of Fiorello!, creating a musical The Body Beautiful with librettist Joseph Stein. While the musical is not successful, the men decide to stay a team. 

1960

Stein suggests looking at Sholem Aleichem's short stories as inspiration for a new musical. The English translations of the Tevye short stories are out of print by this point, but Stein manages to find an old Butwin edition of Tevye’s Daughters at a bookshop.  

March 1961

Bock, Harnick, and Stein meet formally to discuss staging the Tevye stories, choosing five to focus on ("Today's Children", "Hodl", "Chava", "Shprintze", "Lekh Lekho/Get Thee Out"). They end up dropping Shprintze, as they feel it is too dark for their show.

Mid-October 1961

Stein completes a draft of Act 1 of Tevye, but Bock and Harnick are not fans. 

January 1962

Stein rewrites the script and Bock and Harnick begin on the score. 

July 1962

After several months of haggling with Arnold Perl, the current owner of Sholem Alecheim material, Bock, Harnick, and Stein at last secure the rights to Sholem Aleichem’s work

1962

Bock, Harnick, and Stein struggle to find a producer for Tevye – they are consistently rejected by people who feel the work is “too Jewish” to succeed on Broadway. Hal Prince offers to produce, but only if they get Jerome Robbins (director of West Side Story) to direct. Robbins is too busy, and disheartened, Bock, Harnick, and Stein begin work on other projects.  

April 1963

Bock and Harnick premiere She Loves Me 

August 15, 1963

Bock and Harnick visit Robbins and play him the score for Tevye. Robbins decides to back out of the project he is currently working on with Richard Rodgers in order to pursue Tevye, writing to him that the Tevye material "is something I feel deeply related to. Maybe it’s my heritage. I’m aware of the fact that a lot of people have considered this material and gave it up as impossible. But I want to try and have decided to.” He officially becomes the director and brings on Ruth Mitchell as his stage manager. 

September 4, 1963

Robbins asks artist Marc Chagall to design the décor and costumes for Tevye, but Chagall is too busy. Scenic designer Boris Aronson, a close friend of Chagall, signs on instead. He had previously worked on The Crucible and The Diary of Anne Frank.  

October 1963

Hal Prince joins Fred Coe as a producer. 

November 1963

Jean Rosenthal is hired as lighting designer and Patricia Zipprodt as costume designer. 

March 1964

Hal Prince chooses the title Fiddler on the Roof, based on a Marc Chagall painting, from a long list of possible names.

June 1, 1964

Fiddler on the Roof begins rehearsal 

July – August 1964

Fiddler on the Roof tryouts at Fisher Theatre in Detroit. The script is constantly changing based on audience responses, exhausting the cast, and there is clear hostility between Jerome Robbins and Zero Mostel. 

End of August 1964

Fiddler on the Roof tryouts at the National Theatre in Washington 

September 22, 1964

Fiddler on the Roof opens on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre 

June, 1965

Fiddler sweeps the Tony Awards, winning Best Musical among many others 

October, 1965

Fiddler opens in Tel Aviv, produced by Giora Godik – he later would produce the first Yiddish version, translated by Shraga Friedman 

February 16, 1967

Fiddler opens on the West End, starring Chaim Topol as Tevye 

November 3, 1971

Release of the film version of Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Norman Jewison and starring Chaim Topol as Tevye. It is the highest-grossing film of 1971 and wins several Academy Awards and Golden Globes. 

June 17, 1972

At its 3,225th performance, Fiddler breaks the record for the longest-running Broadway show in history 

Dec. 28, 1976

The first revival of Fiddler opens at Winter Garden Theatre with Zero Mostel reprising his role as Tevye 

Nov. 18, 1990

Opening of second Broadway revival at the Gershwin Theater with Chaim Topol as Tevye 

Feb. 26, 2004

Third Broadway revival opens with Alfred Molina as Tevye, Laura Michelle Kelly as Hodel, and Lea Michele as Shprintze. Replaced the song “The Rumor” with a song for Yente called “Topsy Turvy”. 

December 20, 2015

Fourth Broadway revival opens, directed by Bartlett Sher and starring Danny Burstein as Tevye. Includes new choreography, becoming one of the first versions to not stick solely to Jerome Robbins’ original choreography.’ 

July 15, 2018

A Yiddish translation, Fidler Afn Dakh, presented by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and based on Shraga Friedman’s 1965 translation, opens at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. 

February 21, 2019

Fiddler in Yiddish transfers to Stage 42 with Steven Skybell as Tevye. 

November 21, 2022

 Fiddler in Yiddish reopens post-COVID-19 at New World Stages