Theodore Bikel

Between matinee and evening performances of "Fiddler on the Roof" the other day, Theodore Bikel finally got a phone call in his dressing room in Charlotte, N.C. It took 15 minutes of phone tag, with the full modern panoply of pre-recorded menu and submenu instructions, and then having to rouse the house manager on a live emergency line to reach him. Bikel, who stars as Tevye, wasn't even trying to get away.

'Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in Darkness' Unrated Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes Playing: At Laemmle's Royal, West Los Angeles; Town Center 5, Encino; weekend mornings only at Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Claremont 5, Claremont. Theodore Bikel introduces Friday's 7 p.m. screening at the Royal and director Joseph Dorman speaks afterward.

"Some actors are what they are no matter what name you give them," Theodore Bikel says. "Clark Gable looked, walked and talked exactly the same in every picture. I like to change shape, accent and gait. That way I never get stale." While Bikel's approach to work may be more challenging than Gable's, it has one major drawback: lack of recognition. Almost everyone can conjure up a clear image of Gable, even though he has been dead for 27 years. Bikel's image proves to be much more elusive.

Stage and screen veteran Theodore Bikel will appear in concert Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Wadsworth Theatre as a benefit for the B'nai Tikvah, Kehillat Ma'arav and Mishkon Tephilo synagogues. Presented by Three-Shuls-in-Concert, Bikel will perform songs by Jacques Brel and Kurt Weill, as well as selections from "Zorba," "The Sound of Music" and "Fiddler on the Roof." The theater is at 11301 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Tickets are $36, $72 and $150 (with reception). Information: (213) 365-3500.

According to actor and folk singer Theodore Bikel, the Prince of Wales was circumcised at birth in a proper Jewish ceremony performed by a physician who is also a mohel, an accredited expert in Jewish ritual circumcision. "All kings are presumed to be descendants of King David," Bikel observes. "Hence the insistence on observing a ritually correct bris ." The tale of the prince and mohel is told in "Theo," an engaging memoir by Bikel.

Theodore Bikel accepted a bouquet and briefly addressed the audience after his 1,200th performance as Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof" at the Pantages Theatre Wednesday. Yet the evening was also a first. Strange but true: This was opening night of Bikel's first Tevye within the city of Los Angeles. He did the role for a week in Pasadena last year, and he maintains a home here. But somehow his Tevye had skipped over L.A. It was L.A.'s loss.

From Broadway to San Bernardino, Theodore Bikel has portrayed Tevye, the poor, pious Jewish laborer from "Fiddler on the Roof," more than 1,000 times since 1967. And at 68, he is finally old enough to bring a perspective to the role that he couldn't in middle age. "I always modeled the role after my grandfather," said Bikel, "and when I knew him, he was in his 60s. He was quite poor, and went back and forth between rebelling against his Jewish traditions and taking them up again.

'Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in Darkness' Unrated Running time: 1 hour, 34 minutes Playing: At Laemmle's Royal, West Los Angeles; Town Center 5, Encino; weekend mornings only at Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Claremont 5, Claremont. Theodore Bikel introduces Friday's 7 p.m. screening at the Royal and director Joseph Dorman speaks afterward.

Stage and screen veteran Theodore Bikel will appear in concert Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Wadsworth Theatre as a benefit for the B'nai Tikvah, Kehillat Ma'arav and Mishkon Tephilo synagogues. Presented by Three-Shuls-in-Concert, Bikel will perform songs by Jacques Brel and Kurt Weill, as well as selections from "Zorba," "The Sound of Music" and "Fiddler on the Roof." The theater is at 11301 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Tickets are $36, $72 and $150 (with reception). Information: (213) 365-3500.

Early on in his program at the University of Judaism's Gindi Auditorium Sunday, Theodore Bikel joked, "I hope that all of you went to adult Yiddish classes before coming here." Not to worry. Even though the multilingual Bikel sings in a pastiche of languages, including Yiddish, his universally humanistic message requires no translation. Now in his early 70s, Bikel remains a strikingly fit and vigorous man, with a magnificent baritone untouched by time.

Expectant applause greets the first, familiar strains of "Tradition." Many in the audience know the song by heart, as well as Tevye the milkman's coming pronouncement: "Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof." Few songs speak quite so directly to humankind's yearning for stability, so the song's return, in a show that is itself a tradition, is particularly welcome in these troubled times.

Listening to "Shadows on the Hudson," Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel about Jewish refugees, is like eavesdropping on a literary salon taking place within a soap opera, and one hates to hear it end. (Dove Audio, unabridged, four volumes of four cassettes each; each volume lasts six hours and costs $25. Available as a complete set for $79.95. Read by Theodore Bikel, Julie Harris and John Rubinstein; translated by Joseph Sherman.

Early on in his program at the University of Judaism's Gindi Auditorium Sunday, Theodore Bikel joked, "I hope that all of you went to adult Yiddish classes before coming here." Not to worry. Even though the multilingual Bikel sings in a pastiche of languages, including Yiddish, his universally humanistic message requires no translation. Now in his early 70s, Bikel remains a strikingly fit and vigorous man, with a magnificent baritone untouched by time.

Between matinee and evening performances of "Fiddler on the Roof" the other day, Theodore Bikel finally got a phone call in his dressing room in Charlotte, N.C. It took 15 minutes of phone tag, with the full modern panoply of pre-recorded menu and submenu instructions, and then having to rouse the house manager on a live emergency line to reach him. Bikel, who stars as Tevye, wasn't even trying to get away.

Theodore Bikel accepted a bouquet and briefly addressed the audience after his 1,200th performance as Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof" at the Pantages Theatre Wednesday. Yet the evening was also a first. Strange but true: This was opening night of Bikel's first Tevye within the city of Los Angeles. He did the role for a week in Pasadena last year, and he maintains a home here. But somehow his Tevye had skipped over L.A. It was L.A.'s loss.

Theodore Bikel admits his one-man show of folk songs and show tunes isn't the usual casino fare. But Bikel said Tuesday that the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino was enterprising enough to search out entertainers such as himself. "I sing in 21 languages," he said. "I have a wealth of material and I mix it up with more modern tunes. I do some stuff that Sting writes."

According to actor and folk singer Theodore Bikel, the Prince of Wales was circumcised at birth in a proper Jewish ceremony performed by a physician who is also a mohel, an accredited expert in Jewish ritual circumcision. "All kings are presumed to be descendants of King David," Bikel observes. "Hence the insistence on observing a ritually correct bris ." The tale of the prince and mohel is told in "Theo," an engaging memoir by Bikel.

From Broadway to San Bernardino, Theodore Bikel has portrayed Tevye, the poor, pious Jewish laborer from "Fiddler on the Roof," more than 1,000 times since 1967. And at 68, he is finally old enough to bring a perspective to the role that he couldn't in middle age. "I always modeled the role after my grandfather," said Bikel, "and when I knew him, he was in his 60s. He was quite poor, and went back and forth between rebelling against his Jewish traditions and taking them up again.