At Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, 16-year-old Andrii Padkovskyi and his 21-year-old brother, Yurii, greet each other in Ukrainian before a rehearsal of “Fiddler on the Roof.”
For decades before the war with Russia, Sarasota County has been a hub for Ukrainians. With help from a family friend, Andrii and his mother moved to Venice three years ago. Yurii followed soon after.
But the one thing they could not leave behind was their instruments. Andrii plays the violin, and Yurii the clarinet.
Before joining the show, the brothers knew little about “Fiddler on the Roof,” which centers on Tevye, a poor milkman and his family living in Czarist Russia…