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50 free Fiddler on the Roof trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Fiddler on the Roof opened in 1964 with investors fretting that it was 'too Jewish', then became the first Broadway musical to pass 3,000 performances and one of the most staged shows on earth. This Fiddler on the Roof trivia quiz covers the stage musical and the 1971 film: Tevye, Golde and their five daughters, the matches that break tradition one by one, the dream with Fruma-Sarah in it, the wedding, the pogrom and the exodus from Anatevka. It also digs into the history: Sholem Aleichem's Tevye stories, Jerome Robbins's feud with Zero Mostel, the Chagall-inspired title and sets, Bette Midler and Pia Zadora in the original run, Topol's decades as Tevye, Norman Jewison's Yugoslavia shoot with marble-dust snow, John Williams's Oscar for the score, and later revivals from Alfred Molina to the Yiddish Fidler Afn Dakh. Questions range from easy for anyone who has seen the show to expert-level trivia for the true Anatevka obsessive. Every answer was checked against theatre references and encyclopaedic sources before publishing, and each question carries a citation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is Tevye's occupation?
Milkman
He is the village milkman, delivering his dairy from a cart he pulls himself because his horse has gone lame.
Q 02What is the name of the fictional village where the musical is set?
Anatevka
Anatevka is a shtetl in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in 1905, and its name is the title of the villagers' lament when they are expelled.
Q 03Whose Yiddish short stories inspired the musical?
Sholem Aleichem
Sholem Aleichem, pen name of Solomon Rabinovich, wrote the stories in Yiddish from 1894; his own stage version was performed in Yiddish in 1919, after his death in 1916.
Q 04Who wrote the music for Fiddler on the Roof?
Jerry Bock
Sheldon Harnick wrote the lyrics and Joseph Stein the book. Bock and Harnick's other shows include Fiorello! and She Loves Me.
Q 05How many daughters do Tevye and Golde have?
Five
The couple have five daughters: Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze and Bielke, of whom Tzeitel, Hodel and Chava carry the marriage plots.
Q 06Which wealthy widower does Yente the matchmaker propose as a husband for Tzeitel?
Lazar Wolf, the butcher
Lazar Wolf, the butcher, is a wealthy widower; when the two men meet at the inn, the girl's father assumes Lazar wants to buy his milk cow.
Q 07What is Motel saving up to buy before he dares ask for Tzeitel's hand?
A sewing machine
Motel is saving for a sewing machine; by the second act he has bought a used one, and he and Tzeitel have a baby.
Q 08Perchik, the radical student who tutors Tevye's daughters, studied at the university in which city?
Kyiv
Perchik introduces himself as a student from the university in Kyiv; he later returns there to work for the revolution, is arrested and exiled to Siberia, where Hodel joins him.
Q 09In 'Tevye's Dream', which two dead women rise from the grave?
Grandma Tzeitel and Fruma-Sarah
Tevye fakes the nightmare so the superstitious Golde will insist Tzeitel marry Motel instead of Lazar Wolf, whose late wife Fruma-Sarah threatens revenge.
Q 10What tradition does Perchik break at Tzeitel's wedding?
He crosses the barrier to dance with a woman
His dance with Hodel ends the argument between Tevye and Lazar Wolf. Earlier he had danced with Hodel in private to prove the world was changing.
Q 11What euphemism does the Constable use to warn Tevye about the coming pogrom?
A 'little unofficial demonstration'
The Constable warns of 'a little unofficial demonstration'; it comes during Tzeitel's wedding celebration, where the Russians smash the gifts and wound Perchik.
Q 12Which daughter's marriage does Tevye refuse to accept, telling the family to consider her dead?
Chava, who elopes with the Christian Fyedka
Marriage outside the faith is the line he will not cross. As the family leaves, he prompts Tzeitel to add 'God be with you'.
Q 13How many days does the Constable give the villagers to pack up and leave?
Q 21Which future superstar took over the role of Tzeitel during the original Broadway run?
Bette Midler
Rosalind Harris was Midler's understudy and went on to play Tzeitel in the 1971 film. Pia Zadora played the youngest daughter, Bielke.
Q 22How many performances did the original Broadway production run for?
3,242
The original ran for 3,242 performances from September 1964 to July 1972, the first musical to pass 3,000, and held the Broadway long-run record for almost a decade.
Q 23Which musical eventually broke Fiddler's record as the longest-running Broadway show?
Grease
Grease overtook Fiddler in December 1979 on its way to 3,388 performances, then lost the record to A Chorus Line in September 1983.
Three
The Constable gives them three days; Chava and Fyedka head for Kraków, Motel and Tzeitel for Warsaw, and the fiddler follows the family out of the village.
Q 14In 'Do You Love Me?', how many years does Golde say she and Tevye have been married?
25
Golde answers that for 25 years she has washed his clothes, cooked his meals and milked his cow; the question comes after Hodel and Perchik declare their love is 'the new style'.
Q 15Where does the family plan to go at the end of the musical, unlike in Aleichem's stories?
America
Aleichem's stories end with Tevye alone, his wife dead and daughters scattered; the musical keeps most of the family together.
Q 16Which painter's work suggested the musical's title and inspired the original set design?
Marc Chagall
Paintings such as Green Violinist and The Fiddler were the inspiration, though no single painting is referenced. Chagall reportedly did not like the musical.
Q 17What title did the writers consider before settling on Fiddler on the Roof?
Tevye
The working title was simply Tevye; the painterly Fiddler on the Roof won out before the September 1964 Broadway opening.
Q 18Who directed and choreographed the original 1964 Broadway production, his last original staging?
Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins directed and choreographed the 1964 original, which producer Harold Prince brought him to; he took the Tonys for direction and choreography and never staged another new musical.
Q 19Why did original star Zero Mostel hold the show's director in contempt?
He had cooperated with HUAC
Mostel had been blacklisted after his own defiant testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee, while Robbins had cooperated and hidden his Jewish heritage.
Q 20Which future Golden Girls star played Yente the matchmaker in the original Broadway cast?
Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice Arthur created Yente on Broadway in 1964; Austin Pendleton was the original Motel and Bert Convy the original Perchik.
Q 24How many Tony Awards did the original production win?
Nine
The original took nine Tonys from ten nominations in 1965, including Best Musical, score, book, direction, choreography and Best Actor for Zero Mostel.
Q 25How much did the original production earn for every dollar invested?
$1,574
The original production returned $1,574 for every dollar invested over its 1964–72 run; backers had worried it might be 'too Jewish' for mainstream audiences.
Q 26Which actor, Mostel's understudy, went on to play Tevye in more than 2,000 performances?
Paul Lipson
Paul Lipson, Mostel's understudy, went on to play the role more than 2,000 times on Broadway and on tour; Leonard Nimoy also played the part on stage.
Q 27Who starred as Tevye in the original 1967 London production and then in the 1971 film?
Topol
Chaim Topol had already played the role in Hebrew in Tel Aviv before London in 1967; he kept playing the part for four decades, ending with a 2009 farewell tour.
Q 28Who directed the 1971 film adaptation?
Norman Jewison
Norman Jewison, a Canadian and not Jewish despite his surname, directed the 1971 film, which was the highest-grossing release of that year.
Q 29Who played Yente the matchmaker in the 1971 film?
Molly Picon
Molly Picon, a star of Yiddish stage and film for half a century, played Yente in the 1971 film; Norma Crane was its Golde.
Q 30Where were most of the film's exterior scenes shot?
Croatia, then part of Yugoslavia
Most exteriors were shot in Lekenik and Mala Gorica, villages in Croatia, then part of Yugoslavia; the area was chosen partly for its winter snow, which failed to arrive during filming.