MARTIN Lay will play the first ever male Fruma Sarah on the York stage when New Earswick company NEMusicals present Fiddler On The Roof at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre next month.

Rehearsals are in full swing under director Ann McCreadie and musical director John Atkin for the November 9 to 12 run of Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick and Joseph Stein's musical set in Tsarist Russia in 1905.

Taking a prominent role is blossoming principal player Martin Lay, who moved to York just over a year ago to start his working life in the city after graduating from Newcastle University He picked out NEMusicals as his company of choice to join.

"I’ve always been a fan of the traditional musical and NEMusicals perform a lot of the classics that some of the other societies around York seem to stray away from," he says. "The awesome atmosphere and brilliant people were an added bonus. People did tell me how friendly it was and it's great fun.

"I sadly arrived on the scene too late to join their York debut production of Sunset Boulevard last November, but I caught them for Meet Me In St Louis in March to play John Truitt, the boy next door."

Martin has previous history with Fiddler. "I played one of the Russians in a production at secondary school, so I've jumped at the chance to revisit this amazing show in one of the more major leads. Little did I know I’d end up playing two," he says.

How come Martin is appearing as both Motel and Fruma Sarah? "I was planning on auditioning for Motel from the start and went in to the audition feeling well prepared. I wasn’t, however, prepared to be asked if I fancied singing the Fruma Sarah audition as well, but I’d obviously been noticed singing in Fruma Sarah’s lines alongside the female chorus in rehearsals," he says.

"It’s not often you get asked to show off your falsetto out of the blue in an audition, so I thought 'why not' and obviously scared them in to casting me!"

As he contemplates taking to the stage as Fruma Sarah, Martin notes: "There are very few female roles where you can get away with casting a man so it’s likely to be unique experience for me.

"I’ve been giving it my all in rehearsals and I’m having a ball of a time. Hopefully my enthusiasm will come across on stage and the audience will love my new take on the part. I'm looking forward to my quick change as I have only three minutes to change from Motel to Fruma Sarah."

Martin is particularly enthusiastic about performing with NEMusuicals stalwart Steve Tearle, who will be taking the lead role of Tevye, the dairyman. "There’s good reason why Tevye is so well known and the one-liners he comes out with are a credit to the writers. I’m really looking forward to the completely contrasting interactions of my two characters with Tevye and to working with Steve," he says.

As for Martin's favourite song in Fiddler, it comes very early in the show. "The prologue, Tradition, is just amazing. From the instantly recognisable fiddle introduction, the song shows the audience round town and promptly welcomes them into the community. Again it’s a testament to the writing and composition of the musical and sets the show off on an immediate high," he reasons.

Tickets for NEMusicals' 7.30pm evening shows and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at jrtheatre.co.uk or on 01904 501935.