Spending the Day with Topol

For those that don't know, Topol's kind of a big deal. After much stage success, he starred in 1971's Fiddler on the Roof (which some of you may not know, featured an Academy Award-winning John Williams score). So the film's become a staple in the Barton household.

Between Dad dancing like Tevye's "wealthy man" and watching the parentals cry during "Sunrise, Sunset," you could say the film has become somewhat of a tradition over the years.

For Father's Day, Em and I bought tickets for the four of us (Mom, Dad, Em, myself) to go to Hollywood's Pantages Theater for Topol's farewell tour of Fiddler on the Roof.

Consider this, Topol -- a 74 year old man -- has performed as Tevye some 2,500 times. Plain and simple, this guy has this character nailed. And 38 years after the film, Topol was as brilliant as ever. Truly an amazing sight to behold.

Perhaps even more impressive than Topol's performance is the art deco Pantages. Em and I had seen shows (Wicked and The Lion King) at the Pantages a few years earlier, but it was great to see Dad marvel at the 30's era architecture of the theater. It went through a $10 million restoration in 2000, and now, the theater looks fantastic.

Now that we've been married for an entire year, Emma and I still have no grasp on what it means to be parents. But listening to the words of some of the songs today gave us a hint of the emotional roller coaster we're in for.

And somehow, there was more passion, more emotion, more tangibility behind today's performance than you can feel in the film.

And I desperately tried to take a few photos of the performance, but every time I turned on the camera, I nice, little Pantages employee would run up behind me, tap me on the shoulder and tell me I wasn't allowed to record the performance.

So instead of my shots -- here are a few Pantages shots.

After the show, we headed north a bit for dinner at Porto's -- a Cuban-style bakery and cafe. So if you're in Southern California -- make sure you hit the Glendale or Burbank Porto's locations -- great food, better desserts.