BOB KELLY (Director) Fiddler marks Bob’s 9th version of this brilliant show, seven as a director and two as Perchik. Past directorial efforts include Lend Me a Tenor, Brigadoon, Boeing Boeing, Camelot, Chicago, Guys and Dolls, Man of La Mancha, A Chorus Line, Fiddler on the Roof, Driving Miss Daisy, The Producers, Sweeney Todd, The Secret Garden, Cabaret, as well as Christmas by Candlelight (2012, 2013). Bob also wrote the adaptation for It’s a Wonderful Life seen here in 2024. As an actor, Bob has performed locally at the Arden, Walnut Street Theatre, Eagle Theatre, People’s Light, the Arts Bank, and the Annenberg Center. He is fast approaching 200 stage productions as an actor/director, which speaks more to his age than anything else. TV credits include Hack (with David Morse), Homicide: Life on the Street (with Andre Braugher), America’s Most Wanted, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Danny DeVito), Unsolved Mysteries, Political Animals (Sigourney Weaver), and the mini-series George Washington (Barry Bostwick, Patty Duke). Film credits include Jesus’ Son (with Billy Crudup), The Mighty Macs (Ellen Burstyn, Carla Gugino), Diary of a City Priest (David Morse), Blair Witch 2, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), and Split (Betty Buckley).

BETSY JANE CONNER (Music Director) is delighted to visit Anatevka once again, especially with Bob Kelly and Jody Anderson.  Other Candlelight shows include The Secret Garden, The Producers, Christmas by Candlelight (2013), and Brigadoon. She was stage manager on the national tour of Fiddler (with Topol and Harvey Fierstein) and company manager for the national tours of The Scarlet Pimpernel, Jesus Christ Superstar, BLAST, Peter Pan, and On Golden Pond.  In addition to Candlelight responsibilities, she is a vocal teacher/coach at Delaware Arts Conservatory. Upcoming: Titanic at WDL. Heartfelt thanks to this cast and staff! Joyfully remembering all my Fiddler families.  In memory of my parents and the Tevyes I’ve worked with – Allan Van, Al Parker, Sheldon Zeff, John Preece, Theodore Bikel, and Topol. May we soon live in a world where this heartbreaking history has outgrown its relevance.

JODY ANDERSON (Choreography/Costumes) is thrilled to return to Candlelight and Anatevka! She is currently the Artistic Manager and Wardrobe Assistant at The Rock School for Dance in Philadelphia. A former principal dancer with the Kansas City Ballet for 16 years, Jody has performed and choreographed across the country. She served as Associate Choreographer for Starlight Theatre and toured nationally with several musical productions. At Candlelight, she most recently directed and choreographed The Producers and is excited to helm and choreograph Scrooge! which will open in November. Jody would like to thank you, our audience, for keeping live performance ALIVE!  She also sends her love out to her beautiful daughter, Julia (you might be seeing her as Chava in tonight’s performance), and as always, Ping!

JEFF REIM (Scenic Designer/Scenic Artist) Jeff’s work has been seen in numerous shows including Young Frankenstein, The Producers, Ragtime, Escape to Margaritaville, Bright Star, Something Rotten!, Holiday Inn, 9 to 5, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Hello, Dolly!, It’s a Wonderful Life, Into the Woods, The Sound of Music, Sister Act and many more. Jeff has also served as Director for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Sound of Music, Nunsense, and The Music Man and as Music Director for A Chorus Line, Bye Bye Birdie, Seussical the Musical, and Grease to name a few. Jeff has also been seen on stage in such roles as Sancho in Man of La Mancha and Lumiere in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.  His full-time performing arts career also includes work as a composer/lyricist and commercial film/voice-over actor, among other things. Jeff is a lifelong New Jersey resident where he lives with his wife Barbara and dog, Penny.

DAVID MARSHALL (Co-Lighting Designer) is wicked excited to be Co-Lighting Designer for Fiddler.  Originally from Monmouth, Maine, he graduated from Merrimack College with a degree in Theatre Arts. Previous work at Candlelight: Lighting Designer for Escape to Margaritaville, Hello, Dolly!, The Sound of Music and White Christmas; Co-Lighting Designer for The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Big Fish, I Love You, You’re Perfect… He’d like to thank the entire Candlelight family for all of the love and support they give. Stay hydrated!

MAX REDMAN (Co-Lighting Designer) is excited to be co-lighting designing with David Marshall for a second time, following their Candlelight Barny Award–winning design for Big Fish in 2022. Max also did the lighting design for Boeing Boeing in 2018 garnering him another Barny Award for that design. 

CLAYTON STACEY (Hair/Wig/Makeup Designer) has been a makeup and hair designer or assistant for many Candlelight shows; most recently Arsenic and Old Lace, Young Frankenstein, The Producers, Ragtime, Escape to Margaritaville, Bright Star, and Something Rotten!. He has also designed for Wilmington Drama League, City Theatre, Milburn Stone, DAST, and Sanford School. Performing credits include Grease (Doody), Fiddler on the Roof (2004 and 2014), Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar, and the Barrymore Award–nominated Chicago at Candlelight; Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party at WDL; and the title role in Neil Bartlett’s play Stella for the New Jersey Fringe Festival and at Bootless Stageworks in Wilmington. 

ANTHONY CONNELL (Props Master) is a graduate of DeSales University where he obtained a BA in Acting, Directing, and Musical Theatre. A proud member of the Candlelight family for over 12 years, his favorite roles include Chris (Miss Saigon), Leo Bloom (The Producers), Frederick Frankenstein (Young Frankenstein), Dickon (The Secret Garden), and Wadsworth (Clue). In addition to acting, Anthony is an accomplished visual artist — mainly as a painter, sculptor, and miniaturist. One of his paintings, entitled “Opening Night at Candlelight”, hangs in the theater’s lobby today. And have you seen his Prop Room? I hear it’s breathtaking. You can see more of his artwork on Instagram: @Ant7ConArt

MAX REDMAN (Production Stage Manager)  has been the PSM at Candlelight for many shows including: Young Frankenstein, Escape to Margaritaville, Holiday Inn, The Fantasticks, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Sound of Music, The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, White Christmas, Clue, Big Fish: The Musical, The Best of Candlelight, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Beehive, Guys and Dolls, Do Black Patent Leather Shoes…, Boeing Boeing, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Beauty and the Beast, Barefoot in the Park, Christmas by Candlelight (2016 and 2019), The Music Man, and Sweeney Todd. Max sends his love to his family, but most importantly to his wife Tori and their pups Daisy and Ruby.

JERRY BOCK (Music) was born in New Haven, Connecticut on November 23rd, 1928. That was his first out-of-town tryout. Thirty years later, he and Sheldon Harnick gave birth to The Body Beautiful in Philadelphia. That was his fourth out-of-town tryout. In between was Catch a Star, a fleeting revue that, according to critic Walter Kerr, posed the question, “What do you call something between a flop and a smash?” Kerr’s answer? “A flash”. Next, Jule Styne and Tommy Valano midwifed Bock, Larry Holofcener and George Weiss into birthing Mr. Wonderful starring Sammy Davis Jr. The title song and “Too Close for Comfort” are still active off springs. Bock and Harnick’s celebrated collaboration yielded five scores in seven years: The Body Beautiful; Fiorello! (winner of Broadway’s triple crown: The Tony Award, The New York Critics’ Circle Award and The Pulitzer Prize in drama, the fourth musical to do so); Tenderloin; She Loves Me  (winner of Variety’s poll of critics as best musical, citing Bock and Harnick as best composer and lyricist); Fiddler on the Roof (nine Tonys, notably the citation for best musical of the year). These were followed by The Apple Tree and The Rothschilds. In addition to the 1989 silver anniversary production of Fiddler (from which a major excerpt was featured in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway), a highly esteemed revival of The Rothschlds enjoyed a successful run off-Broadway the following year. Since then, Bock and Harnick were triply honored by being inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame, receiving the Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Spirit of American Creativity Award from the Foundation for a Creative America. But the “award” that Bock held near and dear was the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Wisconsin. It was there that he met his wife Patti, and it was there that he decided to be a composer. Mr. Bock was a member of a number of professional guilds and associations, among which the BMI Foundation, Inc. was a membership he relished. As for Patti, his wife, George, their son and Portia, their daughter, Bock confessed they were his longest running hit. Jerry Bock passed away in 2010.

SHELDON HARNICK (Lyrics) career began in the 1950s with songs in revues (e.g., “The Boston Beguine,” “The Merry Little Minuet”). With Jerry Bock he created a number of memorable musicals, including Fiorello! (Tony Award, Pulitzer Prize), Tenderloin, She Loves Me (Grammy), Fiddler on the Roof (Tony), The Apple Tree, and The Rothschilds (subsequently revised as Rothschild & Sons). Other collaborations: Rex (Richard Rodgers), A Christmas Carol (Michel Legrand), A Wonderful Life (Joe Raposo), The Phantom Tollbooth (Arnold Black, Norton Juster), and The Audition (Marvin Hamlisch). He wrote three musicals himself: Dragons, A Doctor in Spite of Himself, and Malpractice Makes Perfect.

JOSEPH STEIN (Book) won the Tony Award and Drama Critics Circle Award for Fiddler on the Roof. His other musicals include Zorba (Tony nomination, Drama Critics Circle Award); Rags (Tony nomination); The Baker’s Wife (Olivier Award nomination, London); Take Me Along (Tony nomination); Juno; Irene (starring Debbie Reynolds); The King of Hearts; All About Us; and Enter Laughing: The Musical (Lucille Lortel nomination, outstanding revival). He also co-authored, with Alan Jay Lerner, Carmelina; and with Will Glickman, Mr. Wonderful (starring Sammy Davis, Jr.), The Body Beautiful, and Plain and Fancy. His plays are Enter Laughing, Before the Dawn, and Mrs. Gibbons’ Boys. Stein grew up in the Bronx and first became a social worker while pursuing writing on the side. He began his career in TV and radio, writing for “The Sid Caesar Show,” “Your Show of Shows,” “Henry Morgan Show,” and many others, and for personalities including Tallulah Bankhead, Phil Silvers, Jackie Gleason and Zero Mostel. On Broadway he made his debut contributing to the theatrical revues Lend an Ear (featuring Carol Channing) and Alive and Kicking. He wrote the screenplays of Enter Laughing and Fiddler on the Roof, for which he won the Screen Writers Guild Award. In 2008, he was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.

MUSIC THEATRE INTERNATIONAL (MTI) is one of the world’s leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting theatres from around the world the rights to perform the greatest selection of musicals from Broadway and beyond. Founded in 1952 by composer Frank Loesser and orchestrator Don Walker, MTI is a driving force in advancing musical theatre as a vibrant and engaging art form. 

MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these musicals to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to over 100,000 professional, community and school theatres in the US and in over 150 countries worldwide. 

MTI is particularly dedicated to educational theatre and has created special collections to meet the needs of various types of performers and audiences. MTI’s Broadway Junior® shows are 30- and 60-minute musicals for performance by elementary and middle school-aged performers, while MTI’s School Editions are musicals annotated for performance by high school students.