THEATER REVIEW; A Cozy Little McShtetl

THE most animated presence in the prim, pretty new production of ''Fiddler on the Roof,'' which opened last night at the Minskoff Theater, may well be its title character. No, not the fiddler. The roof.

For David Leveaux's handsomely mounted, antiseptically acted revival of this beloved folk musical, which stars a heartbreakingly uneasy Alfred Molina, the designer Tom Pye has created what looks like a free-floating roof to hover over the set. An attractively weather-worn piece of architecture, this roof moves in mysterious ways, ascending and descending throughout the evening, sometimes to distinguish between interior and exterior scenes, sometimes for no obvious reason. It has a willful personality all its own.

That's more than can be said for the show's performers, a good-looking, lithe-bodied and generally anonymous lot. Portraying Jewish villagers (and a few Cossacks) in a Russian village in 1905, the ensemble members go through their paces of song, dance and Yiddish humor with a bland, dutiful cheer that rarely turns into anything more robust. Should the entertainment enterpreneurs of Branson, Mo., ever come up with a pavilion called Shtetl Land, this is what it would be like.

Even before it opened, this revival of ''Fiddler,'' the show that launched a thousand theater parties when it was first produced on Broadway in 1964, was generating public debate. In an essay in The Los Angeles Times on Feb. 15, when the show was still in previews, the novelist Thane Rosenbaum wrote that Mr. Leveaux's production was marked by ''an absence of Jewish soul.'' By that time a nickname for the revival had already started circulating among theater insiders: ''Goyim on the Roof.'' Being a goy myself, I won't try to assess the Jewish authenticity of this ''Fiddler.'' The theater lover in me, however, is baffled by the production's lack of gusto, earthiness, warmth and -- to use Mr. Rosenbaum's word -- soul of any kind. An aura of enervation starts at the top of the cast, with Mr. Molina's apologetic performance as Tevye the milkman, and penetrates like a paralyzing fog into even the smallest roles.

From watching the show at the Minskoff, it is still possible to understand why ''Fiddler'' became the mammoth hit that it did, racking up 3,242 performances in its original run (starring the inimitable Zero Mostel). It also triumphed as a hit movie musical (starring the Israeli actor Topol), a rarity in the 1970's. The show has been given two full-scale New York revivals, while living on and on in touring and community theater productions the world over.

Under the musical direction of Kevin Stites (with Don Walker's original orchestrations supplemented by Larry Hochman), Jerry Bock's score still registers as a tasty, sticky pudding of corn, syrup, Eastern European inflections and Broadway razzmatazz, with homespun, clunky lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. (Anyone who hears ''If I Were a Rich Man'' or ''Sunrise, Sunset'' is fated to live with these songs in his head until he dies.) And the onstage orchestra sounds swell.

You can also sense the craftsmanship behind Joseph Stein's smartly structured book, adapted from stories by Sholom Aleichem, which depicts the changing world of Tevye; his wife, Golde (Randy Graff); and their daughters in the era of pogroms in pre-revolutionary Russia. The plot combines the domestic appeal of the matchmaking machinations of a Yiddish-style ''Pride and Prejudice'' with an elegy to a picturesque way of life on the edge of extinction.

But as even the big famous set pieces -- first choreographed by Jerome Robbins (also the original director of ''Fiddler'') and re-envisioned here by Jonathan Butterell -- parade before you, they never ignite. Everyone's in the right places, making the right movements. And thanks to Mr. Pye (sets), Vicki Mortimer (costumes) and Brian MacDevitt (lighting), everything looks gorgeous, right down to those covetable lanterns that hang overhead and the autumn-leaves-strewn stage, which suddenly tilts forward for a lavish ''Midsummer Night's Dream''-style fantasy sequence.

What's lacking is the human passion and idiosyncrasy that would set fire to all this theatrical tinder. Mr. Leveaux, who scored a hit last season with his Tony-winning revival of ''Nine,'' is an elegant contrarian. Give him a cool, cerebral play by Tom Stoppard (''The Real Thing,'' the Broadway-bound revival of ''Jumpers''), and he finds the warmth, joy and pain at its center. Give him a warm, joy and pain-filled musical like ''Fiddler,'' and he transforms it into something perversely cool.

He has achieved this metamorphosis in large part through dogged miscasting. Mr. Molina is the terrific actor who played Diego Rivera in the movie ''Frida'' and was the best thing about the Broadway production of Yasmina Reza's ''Art.'' But none of his natural charisma or combustibility comes across here. Whether chatting with God, bickering with his wife or dancing at his daughter's wedding, this Tevye does nothing wholeheartedly.

There's a wary restraint about this performance, as if Mr. Molina were afraid he might embarrass himself if he ever cut loose in selling a song or a joke. But then nearly all the cast members deliver their lines and songs as they might have in a cold reading, delivered by seasoned professionals who had yet to add the shading and tics that define original character.

Only John Cariani, as the young schlemiel of a tailor, tries for boldly individual portraiture. But his frantic gestures and stylized slump have a mechanical quality that jolts in this production. As the three eldest of Tevye's daughters, each of whom falls rebelliously in love with an unsuitable man, Sally Murphy, Laura Michelle Kelly and Tricia Paoluccio have lovely interchangeable faces and lovely voices. Any of them would be perfect in a more conventional ingénue role, say Liesl in ''The Sound of Music.''

Their suitors are portrayed by the dashing Robert Petkoff, as a revolutionary, and the GQ cover-worthy David Ayers, as a renegade gentile, as well as by the manic Mr. Cariani. Nancy Opel, a last-minute replacement for Barbara Barrie, is an oddly youthful and well-dressed Yente the Matchmaker (a role created by Beatrice Arthur).

Ms. Graff, a popular stalwart of New York theater, has never looked more attractive than she does as the hard-working, scolding, fretting Golde. With her head scarf bringing out her fine bone structure, she suggests a fashion editor who has discovered peasant chic and she sings with sweetness and clarity. A Jewish earth mother, however, she definitely is not.

It's hard to figure out exactly what Mr. Leveaux thought he was up to with this subdued interpretation. Maybe he was just trying to avoid the usual stereotypes and give ''Fiddler'' a more universal appeal. But to make its characters, starting with Tevye, genteel (never mind gentile) folk who avoid self-dramatization is to deprive the show of the zest that makes it spin. In this ''Fiddler,'' when Tevye and his friends break out with the drinking song ''To Life,'' you can only wonder at the absence of the life force they raise their glasses to.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

Based on the Sholom Aleichem stories by special permission of Arnold Perl. Book by Joseph Stein; music by Jerry Bock; lyrics by Sheldon Harnick; directed by David Leveaux; choreography by and original New York Stage production directed by Jerome Robbins; sets by Tom Pye; costumes by Vicki Mortimer; lighting by Brian MacDevitt; sound design by Acme Sound Partners; hair and wig design by David Brian Brown; orchestrations by Don Walker; additional orchestrations by Larry Hochman; musical contractor, Michael Keller; general manager, 101 Productions Ltd.; production manager, Gene O'Donovan; flying sequences by ZFX Inc.; production stage manager, David John O'Brien; music director, Kevin Stites; musical staging by Jonathan Butterell. Presented by James L. Nederlander, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley, Harbor Entertainment, Terry Allen Kramer, Bob Boyett/Lawrence Horowitz and Clear Channel Entertainment. At the Minskoff Theater, 200 West 45th Street, Manhattan.

WITH: Alfred Molina (Tevye), Randy Graff (Golde), Nancy Opel (Yente), Stephen Lee Anderson (Constable), David Ayers (Fyedka), Yusef Bulos (Rabbi), John Cariani (Motel), Laura Michelle Kelly (Hodel), Sally Murphy (Tzeitel), Tricia Paoluccio (Chava), Robert Petkoff (Perchik), Molly Ephraim (Bielke) and Lea Michele (Shprintze).