Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

NNSL (Apr 23/99) - An empty retail space on Franklin Avenue has been the site of frenzied theatrical activity for many weeks.

Giant letters in the windows scream F-I-D-D-L-E-R! Inside the space, a cast of thousands has been piecing together one of the most demanding musicals ever written.

"The whole scope of it is just overwhelming ... if you let it be," says director Christopher Foreman, looking around at all the bits and pieces that create a show.

Just inside the door, an open lounging area for actors who await their turn is littered with the odds and ends that collect when you spend most of your waking hours in a rehearsal space.

Further, NACC's stage is taped out to scale. Set pieces have slowly made their way, incorporated into rehearsal.

"They're Tracy Riley originals," say Foreman. "They're just so rustic, they fit perfectly in the show."

Foreman gives me the grand tour of this extravagant space -- rented to Ptarmigan Ptheatrics by Bromley and Son -- with a liberal dose of infectious enthusiasm.

"They may as well have donated the space," says Foreman.

When it's spring musical time, everybody kicks in with what they can. In this case, Bromley and Son charged only a nominal fee.

Foreman shows me the wardrobe area, a separate room, walls lined with costume after costume. Circular racks occupy the floor space with even more costumes. "A fabulous group of women" are responsible for fulfilling Foreman's need to have every character dressed just so for each scene.

In another large room, sets are in process. Half- painted backdrops tower above wee little me.

It's just the two of us here this afternoon, but 60 actors have been trooping in and out these past weeks. And trooping to the basement where Anna Tesar, Fiddler's choreographer, has them all dancing.

"She's done a whiz-bang job of whipping us into to shape," says Foreman.

Sue Cross, choral director, once a leading lady in many a Yk musical production, has flown in and out of Edmonton. Leanne Ostrander picks up where Cross leaves off.

Bill Gilday is overall musical director.

"To get him on his sabbatical year is just phenomenal," Foreman says.

And so Fiddler -- the story of Tevye, a dairyman, his wife Golda, and their five daughters living in the small Jewish town of Anatevka under Tsarist rule -- is just about ready for opening night next Thursday.

Ray Bethke, who a few years ago only sang in the shower, tackles the role of Tevye.

"He's doing such a bang-up job," says Foreman, adding that Leslie Robbins, a Jewish storyteller and teacher who "knows all the skinny on the Jewish culture," plays Tevye's wife Golda.

Brie O'Keefe, Myranda Bolstad and Tess Alain play three of the daughters, who, rather than finding their husbands through the matchmaker (Heather Ross in her first musical foray), fall in love.

But the political backdrop of the story echoes the horror of recent world news: Kosovo. The Anatevkans must leave their homes because the don't "belong."

"Talk about relevance," says Foreman. "It's about this fear of that which is different than what we know."

Fiddler plays April 29 and 30, May 1 and 5-8 at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre. Showtime is 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale at the Birchwood Gallery -- $15 and $13 for seniors, students and NACC members.