Fiddler on the Roof is a
musical with music by
Jerry Bock,
lyrics by
Sheldon Harnick, and
book by
Joseph Stein, set in the
Pale of Settlement of
Imperial Russia in 1905. It is based on
Tevye and his Daughters (or
Tevye the Dairyman) and other tales by
Sholem Aleichem. The story centers on
Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his
Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon the family's lives. He must cope both with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters, who wish to marry for love – each one's choice of a husband moves further away from the customs of his faith – and with the edict of the
Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village.