.... FUN FIDDLER FACTS CONTINUED!
16. Bea Arthur auditioned multiple times for the role of Yente, but Robbins thought she was too contemporary for the role. She eventually got the part, but many of her lines were cut. In her 2002 Broadway show, Just Between Friends, Arthur says Robbins was only director who ever made her cry, and called him “a really dreadful human being.”
17. When Fiddler on the Roof premiered in Poland in 1985, the show's authors donated their royalties to preserving the country's Jewish monuments.
18. Joanna Merlin, who originated the role of Tzeitel, was cast in the show on November 22, 1963. She came out of the theater to learn that President John F. Kennedy had been shot.
19. Bert Convy, who originated the role of the revolutionary Perchik, went on to be a famous host of TV game shows, including Win, Lose or Draw and Super
Password.
20. According to Pendelton, Robbins finally staged "Tradition" in the middle of the final week before they were set to leave for their Detroit tryout. It only took him an hour and a half to stage it.
21. Fiddler was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and won nine (all but Best Set Design).
source: http://www.broadway.com/buzz/177572/lchaim-50-facts-about-fiddler-on-the-roof-on-the-musicals-50th-anniversary/
