Joseph Stein, best known for his book for the Broadway musicals Fiddler on the Roof (1964) and Zorba (1968), died on Oct. 24. He was 98.
The Bronx-born Stein also wrote the screenplay for Norman Jewison’s Oscar-nominated 1971 film adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof and for the Carl Reiner-directed 1967 comedy Enter Laughing, based on Stein’s own play.
“There are no limitations to the subject for a musical,” Stein once said, “just as there are no limitations to the subject for a play or a novel. The only limitation that I can see is that it has to have an honesty about the relationship of people to each other.”
Stein quote: The Guardian.
Photo: Patrick A. Burns/The New York Times