My best friend, Haley, and I have known each other since we were three years old, and we have had the best of luck to not have been separated the past in 17 years. She attends college at Dallas Baptist University, so we are able to spend time together quite frequently, much to our pleasure. Not much longer than a day has gone by when Haley and I are not swapping stories or pictures or texts. One of the greater aspects of our relationship is that we share the same sense of humor. Almost everything that I find amusing also makes her laugh and vice versa. Though I am a biology major and she is majoring in songwriting, our similar sense of humor always brings us together.
This past weekend I journeyed to Dallas to see DBU's rendition of Fiddler on the Roof with Haley. DBU has a fantastic music program, and I had never seen Fiddler, so I was excited. However, all I knew about the musical was that it centered around a village of traditional Jewish culture in Russia during the early 1900s. To me, it sounded like a drama. To me, it sounded serious. To me, it sounded, well, boring. I knew, obviously, that it was a highly acclaimed, long-running Broadway musical, but I did not know why. How entertaining can the story be? All I can say is that I'm glad I was wrong.
Fiddler made me laugh. A lot. A couple times I even had to suppress my ensuing giggle fits to retain my reputation as a courteous audience member. The humor we encountered was not usually physical and was not the main focus of the play, though. Most everything humorous that happened stemmed from the protagonist's character, who has the ability to make light of all kinds of serious, sad, and infuriating situations. The Jewish people pray often, and the protagonist would make us laugh during his conversation with God. His village was forced out of their homes by the Russian army, and he would give us a witty one-liner ("Maybe this is why we always wear our hats"). His wife would argue with him, and he would make us laugh at his exaggeration of her nagging.
I found it interesting how much the play made me laugh. I certainly didn't expect it at all, and maybe that was why it was so amusing. This ties into the Incongruity theory of humor that we have been discussing so much in class. Nothing goes in favor of the Jewish people in this story, so one does not expect any part of the situation to be funny. Then, when the mood is suddenly lifted, one laughs easily. There were many cognitive shifts to produce laughter in the play as well. One of my favorite was when a crowd is gathered around a newlywed couple exclaiming, "They have a new arrival!" When the crowd disperses, there is new sewing machine on the table. Thirty seconds later, someone asks offhandedly, "How's the baby?"
I think the humor used by the protagonist was his defense mechanism against the many troubles of his people. "Humor helps people with difficult situations..." wrote Morreall. (Ch. 3, page 66) His consistent ability to make the audience laugh provides a sharp contrast with the seriousness of the problems that come his way. He even has an entire song dedicated to fantasies of wealth and riches, all the while waving his arms in the air in a traditional Jewish dance. (Well, an incredibly silly version of it, in this case.)
Fiddler was awesome, entertaining, and quite funny. I highly recommend it for everyone.
Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum.
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