We enjoyed the final production of West Albany’s “Fiddler on the Roof” on Saturday night. I’ve seen all seven spring musicals at West since 2005, and I think this was the best. It was polished performance.
Afterward, I snapped the photo above of two senior leads, James Crawford, who was brilliant as Tevye, and Mikaila Smith, who was terrific as his strong-willed wife, Golde. I immediately emailed the photo to my daughter Anna, who played Doris McAfee, the wife of Crawford’s bombastic character, Harry McAfee, in “Bye Bye Birdie” two years ago.
I’ve known Mik
aila since she was born. She has grown up in our church, but I was surprised to see her at church this morning considering she was just coming off this big performance. Then I learned that today was a rare Sunday in which both of our ministers were out of town, and Mikaila had agreed to give the sermon.
I asked her later how she managed to do a major role in a musical twice on Saturday, followed by a Sunday morning sermon.
“The pressure of deadline,” she said. After going to a post-play party at Pop’s Branding Iron, Mikaila went home and started writing her sermon at 2 this morning. She finished at 4.
In her folksy style, she gave a brief, creative sermon on putting trust in God and having faith. It was similar to the message espoused by Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof.” Both were delivered well.