<P> Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock , lyrics by Sheldon Harnick , and book by Joseph Stein , set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in 1905 . It is based on Tevye and his Daughters ( or Tevye the Dairyman ) and other tales by Sholem Aleichem . The story centers on Tevye , the father of five daughters , and his attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon the family 's lives . He must cope both with the strong - willed actions of his three older daughters , who wish to marry for love -- each one 's choice of a husband moves further away from the customs of his faith -- and with the edict of the Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village . </P>
<P> Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock , lyrics by Sheldon Harnick , and book by Joseph Stein , set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in 1905 . It is based on Tevye and his Daughters ( or Tevye the Dairyman ) and other tales by Sholem Aleichem . The story centers on Tevye , the father of five daughters , and his attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon the family 's lives . He must cope both with the strong - willed actions of his three older daughters , who wish to marry for love -- each one 's choice of a husband moves further away from the customs of his faith -- and with the edict of the Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village . </P>
father 's name in fiddler on the roof
father 's name in fiddler on the roof
Tevye
Tevye