« The script problem was only a minor skirmish compared to the major battle over Fiddler's costumes. The producers were almost paranoid in their fear of what Parisian audiences would accept or reject as appropriate costuming. I didn't know until I arrived that they had received permission not to use Pat Zipprodt's original designs. "Paris audiences will never accept the dreary, depressing costumes you used in New York and London," I was told.

« Donald Cardwell, an American designer living in Paris, created the wardrobe for the production. He presented his sketches to me just before rehearsals were under way. In the beginning, the actors would all be dressed in various shades of yellow and pale green (because it was spring then, I believe) - which would change to blue tones in the wedding scene, because, according to Cardwell, we needed a visual progression from the play's lighter moments to its darker ones. Tevye's daughters were to wear delicate fabrics and cute puffed sleeves that exposed bare arms. The dream sequence was to be performed entirely in the dark - with iridescent fabrics that suggested nothing more to me than the Halloween show at Radio City Music Hall.

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« The answer I received was what I might have expected: "Richard, you must understand that Parisian audiences are like no others in the world. They're used to elegance and beauty; they would be disgusted and revolted by shabbiness." »