It took about a year of planning and logistical analysis before the Asolo Repertory Theatre’s much buzzed-about production of “Fiddler on the Roof” took the stage with most of the cast members playing instruments as well as playing characters, singing and dancing.

Every production requires a lot of forethought as directors and designers create the concepts for the kind of show they show they want to stage, but director Peter Rothstein said “Fiddler” provided significant challenges that were almost like puzzles that needed to be solved along the way.

Among them were being true to the orchestrations provided; being genuine to the story of a small community of Orthodox Jews in early 20th century Russia; and figuring out which actors would play which instruments.

The classic 1964 musical is based on the stories of Sholem Aleichem about Tevye, a religiously devout Jewish milkman, his wife, Golde, and their five daughters, who try to get around the tradition of using a matchmaker to find their husbands, testing their parents’ faith in all that they know.

In Orthodox Jewish communities, men and women don’t generally mix or socialize, which limits how Rothstein could have women appear with instruments on stage during a religious ceremony or a gathering in a tavern. There are scenes where an instrument might be needed for accompaniment, but the character playing that instrument shouldn’t be seen for dramatic purposes.

Rothstein, the theater’s producing artistic director, is no novice to actor/musician shows, having directed them for more than 20 years. That includes a production of “Gypsy” in 2006, around the time that director John Doyle brought a similar approach to Broadway with productions of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” and “Sweeney Todd.”

We talked to him about how his “Fiddler” was conceived and cast, and how, when it came down to it, he was able to find actors to pay key roles who also played the right instruments.

Q. How did you start off planning the casting process and figuring out what kinds of performers or musicians you needed? Did you assign instruments to certain characters or figure out what actors could play different instruments you needed?

When we began casting it, we tried to have doubles of all the key instruments, those we felt were central to the score, like the violin, cello, clarinet, guitar, mandolin and accordion. Those were the instruments (music director) Matthew R. Meckes and I thought provided the spine of the orchestrations. Then we started to strategize what we needed and who would play what. The casting office really wanted us to dictate that this character needs to play this instrument, but we refused to do this. We wanted to be sure we got the best actor for the role and most of the time, as long we were covered, it didn’t matter to me who played what. I wasn’t going to say that Avram needs to play the mandolin. I didn’t care if he payed the mandolin or the upright bass. It was just a puzzle.

As you selected cast members, you must have gotten to a point where you actually did need to find specific performers who played one of the required instruments.

We cast it in stages so we were sure we were covered, and it did get narrowed down a bit, but we didn’t dictate who played what. I liked the visual of Yente playing the accordion and I had the idea at the end of “The Rumor” that the accordion is kind of a funny number, but we were really trying to find the best actor/singer/instrumentalist as we moved forward.

I understand that you cast the show months in advance and then had to make some changes.

We had an actor who had a conflict and had to leave after the first week of rehearsal. That’s much trickier. Now we need to find a trombone player and we had to find a solid trombonist who could also play the Constable. We found Christian (T. Douglas). I didn’t realize that Christian was a graduate of the (FSU Asolo) Conservatory. That was before my time here. I had seen his work in “Cabaret” and I didn’t know he was such a great trombone player. Within 48 hours one actor was gone and Christian was in rehearsals.

Jeremy Radin, who plays Tevye, is the only performer who doesn’t play an instrument. Why is that?

Tevye has a lot of direct address, talking to God. But he’s the only character who has that. He’s the only one who breaks the fourth wall in that way. We decided that Tevye will not play an instrument because we already set up a new set of rules. Starting with “Tradition,” with the characters singing about their position, the mamas, the pappas, it felt right from the beginning that we have an agreement with the audience that I am both a character and a musician. If there was going to be a hurdle, we wanted to get over that hurdle right out of the gate.

You don’t always have a full orchestra visible on stage during every song. How did that come about?

We came up with three dramaturgical concepts for how we see the musicians, those scenes where musicians would logically be present. In “Tevye’s Dream,” he says there are “relatives and musicians” there too, but I never saw a production where musicians were present. Or, at the wedding, they reference the musicians several times. We have a logical presence in the inn for “To Life.” There, most of the number was done with just the male ensemble, a smaller ensemble, but when it built to this extensive dance break, we added the women to have the music build. We built the spaces so there was a logic to when the musicians were in the scene or supporting the scene. Like in Tevye’s yard, where a lot of the musical takes place. We had a clothesline. We’re not hiding the musicians but the (characters) are not part of the scene.

In “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” when Tevye’s three oldest daughters sing about who Yente the matchmaker is going to find for them to marry, they don’t play instruments.

We didn’t want the daughters to have to play. We wanted them to focus on their characters, and so scene by scene, song by song, down to the underscoring of transition music, we created charts upon charts, even within a song, of when does the trombone enter the music making and do they have time to leave as this character and re-enter with the trombone. We worked closely with the choreographer (Daniel Pelzig) and Matthew. And then for “The Rumor” in Act Two, it screams musical comedy in the middle of an act that doesn’t have much comedy. It’s kind of an anomaly and we thought we’d rather see them with their instruments as they all are going to the well for their daily supply of water.

Some instruments are easily carried and even hidden a bit, but some, like the bass, are harder to disguise or move around.

The bass is a big instrument, and the cellists, they can stand for some of it, but they also need to sit, and we had to figure out how do I seat the cellist. Then you have the whole backstage drama of folks handing off their instruments into a quick change and returning with their instruments. It’s a challenge to go from backstage when you have a temperature and humidity difference from the stage hall and keeping the instruments in tune. 

What do you think it adds to have the actors also playing instruments? How does it enhance the storytelling or the appreciation for the audience?

The power of this story is the power of community and this community is completely self-sufficient. They didn’t have the privilege of a larger government structure to provide social services. They build their own homes, make their own clothes, grow their own food and they make their own music. For me, the actor musician thing has to be rooted in story. The first time I did it was in 2006 in “Gypsy.” It’s a family trying to make it in show biz. They don’t have the luxury of a symphony orchestra accompanying their lives. And they’re scrappy. For me, it worked with “Fiddler.” That doesn’t mean I’m now going to say let’s do it with “Oklahoma!”

“Fiddler on the Roof’ continues through May 24 at Asolo Repertory Theatre, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets are $37-$97. asolorep.org; 941-351-8000