IN the years since I last saw Fiddler on the Roof – which was the memorable Chichester Festival production with Omid Djalili as Tevya and Tracy-Ann Oberman as Golde – the world has been turned upside down. That poignant but funny show, with its barn-storming central performance, seemed to end on a note of hope, even though the Jewish population of Anatevka had been forced to leave their home of so many generations.

References to Kiev in the show remind us that Anatevka is in what we now know to be Ukraine and the subject of the terrible Russian invasion and war, while Jerusalem, to which some of the refugees go, is both the capital of their longed-for Jewish homeland and the centre of the nation that is at the heart of a new and dangerous Middle Eastern war.

Perhaps it was just me – many in the audience around me whooped and cheered (quite rightly) the terrific performances – but there seemed to be a different tension in this story of a very traditional Jewish community. At its heart is Tevye (Luke Whitchurch), the Papa, the upholder of all those traditions – particularly the one that says the Papa (guided by the Mama and managed by the Matchmaker) decides who his daughters will marry.

Change is in the air almost from the start, as it becomes clear that daughter Tzeitel (Amy McIntosh) wants to marry the poor tailor Motel (Charlie Lawson), not the wealthy butcher selected by matchmaker Yente (Charlie Wanklin) and approved by her mother Golde (Naomi Lawton).

Her sisters Hodel (Rosie Horsey) and Chava (Amelie Rendell-Graham) soon follow, one choosing a revolutionary student Perchik (Nick Toop) and the other, even more shockingly, a Gentile, Fyedka (Josh Levey).

All the while, the non-Jewish residents of Anatevka are becoming more aggressive and news from other villages across Russia shows the growing threat to these isolated, insular Jewish communities.

Tevye’s world is crashing around him, but his warmth and optimism, and the pragmatic loving support of Golde, will see them and their remaining daughters across Europe and the Atlantic to a new life in America.

That buoyant spirit, that courage in the face of insurmountable troubles, that unbreakable commitment to their faith, is brought out with brilliant performances, led by Luke Whitchurch as the funny, kind, irrepressible Tevye, with his misquotes from the Good Book and his “on the other hand” way of coming round to a position that is diametrically opposed to where he thought he was.

Director Jeremy Tustin, who is also responsible for the wonderful choreography, has created a real community with his large company, with a simple set on the notoriously difficult wide plains of the Westlands stage. The movement of the chorus and the direction of the big scenes – particularly Tzeitel’s wedding – are beautifully judged.

Musically the show is a triumph, with musical director Lucy Singleton and her excellent musicians bringing out all the klezmer rhythms, poignancy, energy and melodies of Jerry Bock’s great score.

Fiddler on the Roof (with Loki Collins and fiddle, on the roof), runs to 21st March at Westlands.

FAC