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 pulls his own cart because his horse is lame, and asks God who it would hurt if he were a rich man.
Q 02What is the name of the fictional village where the musical is set?
Anatevka
It sits in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. Yehupetz is the author's fictional name for Kyiv.
Q 03Whose short stories about 'Tevye the Dairyman' inspired the musical?
Sholem Aleichem
He wrote them in Yiddish between 1894 and 1914. His own dramatisation was staged in Yiddish in 1919, after his death.
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
Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze and Bielke. Only the three eldest have marriage plots.
Q 06Which wealthy widower does Yente the matchmaker propose as a husband for Tzeitel?
Lazar Wolf, the butcher
He is older than Tevye. Tevye first thinks he wants to buy his cow.
Q 07What is Motel saving up to buy before he dares ask for Tzeitel's hand?
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
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 Russians break up Tzeitel's wedding celebration and wound Perchik. Critics noted the show made the Constable far more sympathetic than Aleichem had.
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
It was the first musical to pass 3,000 performances and held the long-run record for almost a decade.
Q 23Which musical eventually broke Fiddler's record as the longest-running Broadway show?
Grease
Fiddler had held the record for almost ten years.
Three
Chava and Fyedka head for Kraków and Motel and Tzeitel to Poland, and the fiddler follows Tevye's family out of the village.
Q 14In 'Do You Love Me?', how many years does Golde say she and Tevye have been married?
25
Their own marriage was arranged; Tevye asks because Hodel and Perchik have just declared that 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 Chagall-inspired title won out. Off-Broadway had already seen a musical called Tevye and his Daughters in the late 1950s.
Q 18Who directed and choreographed the original 1964 Broadway production, his last original staging?
Jerome Robbins
Producer Harold Prince brought him in. He reportedly 'abused the cast, drove the designers crazy and strained the good nature of Hal Prince'.
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
Florence Stanley took over nine months in. Austin Pendleton was the original Motel and Bert Convy the original Perchik.
Q 24How many Tony Awards did the original production win?
Nine
From ten nominations, including Best Musical, score, book, direction, choreography and acting awards for Mostel and Maria Karnilova.
Q 25How much did the original production earn for every dollar invested?
$1,574
Investors 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
He held the record until Topol passed him. Leonard Nimoy also played Tevye on stage.
Q 27Who starred as Tevye in the original 1967 London production and then in the 1971 film?
Topol
He had already played the part in Tel Aviv, and kept playing it in revivals for four decades, including a 2009 'farewell tour'.
Q 28Who directed the 1971 film adaptation?
Norman Jewison
Despite his surname, Jewison was not Jewish. The film was the highest-grossing of 1971, taking $83.3 million on a $9 million budget.
Q 29Which three actors were considered for Tevye in the film before Topol was cast?
Orson Welles, Anthony Quinn and Marlon Brando
Jewison feared Mostel's larger-than-life personality would make audiences see Mostel rather than Tevye.
Q 30Where were most of the film's exterior scenes shot?
Croatia, then part of Yugoslavia
Scouts had chosen the area for its heavy snow in 1969; when filming came in 1970 there was none at all.