VOORHEESVILLE — The Voorheesville Dionysians will tread the boards this weekend, bringing “Fiddler on the Roof” to life at the Lydia C. Tobler Performing Arts Center.

“We’re trying to do some things a little different,” said Director Matthew Robinson of the well-known show. “It’s familiar enough that people like it. It’s been done a lot, but it hasn’t been done great enough.”

Robinson said that the cast is young, and share a more serious nature than students from previous years when the school produced comedies.

“Fiddler” “fit the cast that we had,” he said. “We were due for a serious show. It’s a serious show with some humorous moments.”

“We looked at the possibility of which students might audition, and chose a show that might fit those students,” said Portia Hubert, the musical’s producer.

“We have some very talented men and women, and ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ has really good roles for women, as well as for men,” she said. “The under roles are very strong roles.”

“I am very, very proud of this cast,” said music director and Voorheesville chorus teacher Mary Abba-Gleason. “This is not easy music to learn.” Abba-Gleason said that the music — written for a show set in a Jewish community in Russia at the turn of the previous century — has tonalities and language that are challenging for the students.

“I’m really excited to see what they will produce,” she said. “They sound great — vocally, very strong. I’m happy. I’m excited.”

The cast found an acting coach in teacher assistant Matt MacArevey.

“I used to be an actor before I started working in the district,” he said. “I worked in London for two years.”

MacArevey coached students in basic acting principles and helped them develop their characters, he said.

“This show is a little heavier than other shows,” he said. “The audience can expect a very technically sound show. The kids know their marks. It’s a very crisp show for the acting.”

MacArevey praised Robinson’s direction of the famous “Fiddler on the Roof.”

“He’s done a very good job distinguishing it on its own,” MacArevey said of Robinson. “No one is up there imitating someone else.”

Student strengths

Brianna Beck, a freshman, plays a villager in the show.

“The dreams are good,” she said, describing scenes the audience should watch for. Beck is in her first high school show, after three years of acting in middle school.

Max Kent, the returning stage manager, is a sophomore.

“I’m the boss. It’s my fault if something doesn’t go right,” Kent said.

“We all have to work together for this,” said senior Jasmine Wiest, who is part of the stage crew.

Senior Eileen Thompson is working her fourth year on stage crew.

“I acted and did stage crew freshman year,” she said. “Being onstage really wasn’t my thing. I love working with everybody. We’re like a family.”

The students shared camaraderie while suiting up in costume and waiting to rehearse last week. Freshman Aaron Saia, wearing a stage beard, walked past a group.

“He says it’s itchy,” Wiest said.

“Yes. It’s awful,” Saia said. He plays a villager, and a constable.

“I get to yell,” he said. “My character is anti-semitic.”

Asked if that characterization was difficult to play and hear, Saia said, “Sometimes.”

“Yes,” answered his peers.

Freshman Sarah Bracken gestured to the set and said, “I’m stage crew, left. I’m in charge of moving that house. Isn’t it beautiful?”

Bracken was one of several set designers who painted the show’s sets. She will be glad for the show to be over, she said, so she can get back to other activities she chooses. Her mother made her join the crew, Bracken said. She prefers mock trial, the science Olympiad, and Key Club, she said.

“We’re making toys for the animal shelter,” she said of her clubs. Most of the cast, however, is enjoying the show, she said.

Bracken, who attends a temple in Albany, said that she is one of the few Jewish students in Voorheesville. Some of the actors mispronounce the words in the play, she said.

“You must roll the –‘ch’-es,” she said. The actors pronounce “L’chaim” with a soft H sound, she said giving an example, rather than a more proper lightly guttural –ch sound.

Student choreographer Stefanie DeFronzo, a junior, has done “Fiddler” twice before with other groups, she said.

 “I’m really proud of the boys in the show,” DeFronzo said. The show is heavy on male dancing roles. DeFronzo said that she hopes to major in theater, and maybe also science.

“I don’t think I will ever become tired of this show,” DeFronzo said of the musical. “It’s one of my favorites.”

Speaking of DeFronzo, director Robinson said, “It’s like working with an adult.”

“The kids have put in a lot of effort in this show,” he said.

“It’s a hard show,” Robinson concluded. “I think it’s going to be powerful.”