Introduction to Act 2 of the musical Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof opened at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway on 22 September 1964 and ran for 3,242 performances, then a record; Jerry Bock wrote the music, Sheldon Harnick the lyrics and Joseph Stein the book, after the Tevye stories of Sholem Aleichem. The number that opens the second act is an entr'acte rather than a song — an orchestral reprise built from the show's principal tunes, played while the audience settles and the shtetl of Anatevka is put back on stage. Jerome Robbins directed and choreographed the original production.