On this day in 1964, the beloved stage musical Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway, launching a landmark run of 3,242 performances and forever etching its soulful music into the hearts of generations.

Based on the bittersweet stories of Jewish writer Sholom Aleichem (1859–1916), the musical follows Tevye the Milkman, a poor but wise father trying to hold on to tradition in the face of upheaval. Set in the small village of Anatevka, it is a story stitched with love: for family, for language, for home, and for the complicated, enduring faith that keeps us going.

“The world is a terrible place,” Aleichem once wrote, “and if you ask about my good nature, my humor, that is the reason. To spite Them, there is going to be laughter.”

The play is filled with that laughter—honest and healing. Tevye’s heartfelt conversations with God form the emotional spine of the story, revealing the doubts, dreams, and daily grit of a man trying to keep his heart open while his world shifts around him. At one point he pleads, “I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can’t You choose someone else?”

With music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, the show gave the world unforgettable songs like If I Were a Rich Man, Matchmaker, Sunrise, Sunset, and Tradition. Each carries echoes of joy, longing, and the fierce tenderness of holding on while letting go.

Named after a Marc Chagall painting, Fiddler on the Roof became a timeless symbol of what it means to live with heart—balancing hope and heartbreak atop the roof of life. The Fiddler plays on, in each of us, wherever love meets struggle… and we keep dancing anyway.