A Chaperone, A Zero, and A Jo

 Fiddler On The Roof,

with Zero Mostel, opened on Broadway in 1964,

a Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick smasheroo.

It became the longest running musical...3000 performances

a 6 year run(!),

and held that record for 10 years

(when Grease, of all shows, came along and stole its crown).

Above, "To Life!"

 Above and below,

the cast album recording session.

Above, Zero and his 'stache...and below

is Maria Karnilova (left) who played Golde, Tevye's wife,

and in the center (looking a lot like a young Julia Child!) is

Bea Arthur, back when she was known as Beatrice,

in the role of Yente, the Matchmaker. 

 A wonderful Hirschfeld drawing of the show,

which used to be a "thing" back in the day... 

any show worth its salt was immortalized in The Times

with a Hirschfeld drawing.

And btw how many Ninas can you find? 

(If I'm reading the fine print at the bottom correctly,

there should be only 2?)

 The ticket line for Fiddler the day after the opening.

Looks like they felt the need to feed them.

 Replacement "daughters"

Adrienne Barbeau (on the left) and Bette Midler (at center)!

On the right, the original Chava, Tanya Everett.

 The Drowsy Chaperone

opened in 2006...

one of those madcap parody musicals,

recalling those 1920s shows.

Sutton Foster starred as Janet De Graff

(high kicking above and Charleston-ing below)

along with Georgia Engel, who played Mrs. Tottendale

 (front and center below)

and Jennifer Smith (blue dress!).

 Those pastry chefs are really gangsters

(brothers Jason and Garth Kravits),

pretending with Jennifer Smith, as Kitty.

Don't be fooled!

And below, Sutton with her "drowsy" (tipsy)

chaperone, 

played by Tony Award Winner Beth Leavel.

LIttle Women, which opened in 2005,

had the music of  Jason Howland and lyrics, Mindi Dickstein.

It too starred Sutton, as Jo March (on the right, in pants of course!)

and Maureen McGovern as Marmee.

Reviews weren't great,

but a couple of wonderful songs, and the cast members were called

"potential rescuers", especially Ms. Foster.

Below, more high kicks, this time

with Laurie, played by  Danny Duncan.

 One reviewer wrote,

"The slim and supple Ms. Foster 

has a lot to carry on those twitchy shoulders. 

If 'Little Women' does develop the following 

of young girls and their mothers the producers have targeted,

 it will be largely Ms. Foster's doing."

The show closed after 137 performances.