Fiddler on the Roof is a
musical with music by
Jerry Bock,
lyrics by
Sheldon Harnick, and book by
Joseph Stein, set in
tzarist
Russia in 1905.
Fiddler on the Roof was originally entitled
Tevye. It is based on
Tevye and his Daughters (or
Tevye the Milkman) and other tales by
Sholem Aleichem which he wrote in
Yiddish and published in 1894.
[Information from the MTI website] The story centers on
Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his family and religious traditions while outside influences encroach upon their lives. He must cope with both the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters—each daughter's choice of husband moves progressively further away from established customs—and with the edict of the
Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village.