Grand Rapids Reporter

The Grand Rapids Symphony is currently scheduled to perform the first live concert of John Williams' arrangement of "Fiddler on the Roof," which premiered more than 50 years ago.

The production will debut in Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan, then travel to Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, where it will be performed three times by The Philadelphia Orchestra as part of an artistic collaboration with the University of Michigan's Universal Musical Society (UMS), the society said on their site.

"The story is never going to be old, it's as basic and human as any story can ever be," Williams said in a promotional video for the concert. "This is a story of a migrant people going into another country, maybe not being welcomed by the indigenous population and yearning for their own place, their own life, which is everybody's dream."

Andy Einhorn, the production's music director and conductor, said that the concert will be a unique experience.

"I think that this show speaks to everybody and the idea of how we're born into traditions and how we push forward as a society," Einhorn said in another UMS promotional video. "So, when we see the struggles of this one particular family, it's really an extension of everybody."

A modern perspective will be applied to the musical and its theme of "Tradition!" UMS said.

"We're looking at all of these traditional musicals through a new lens," Michael Mcelroy, chair of the University of Michigan's musical theater department, said in the video. "How do we explore our history, which is steeped with a lot of baggage, and find the things about traditional music theater that are worth celebrating."

Professional Broadway vocalists Chuck Cooper and Loretta Ables Sayre will also perform with the school's musical theater students during the show, UMS said.

The concert is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 18, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 20, at 4 p.m. at Hill Auditorium.