Joe Vincent embodies the rough-hewn wisdom, profound spirituality and indomitable spirit of Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof," which opened the 23rd annual Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (PSF) where the musical continues through June 29, Main Stage Theatre, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, Center Valley.

Vincent, a veteran of 33 of Shakespeare's 37 plays, couldn't be better cast as the dairyman of Anatevka in the 50th anniversary production of "Fiddler on the Roof" at PSF.

Vincent's career includes a combined 32 years at the Oregon, California, Old Globe, Alabama, Utah, Orlando and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festivals. He was artistic director for two years of the California Shakespeare Festival.

Vincent made his Broadway debut in 2008 in Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll," directed by Trevor Nunn.

PSF Associate Artistic Director Dennis Razze, who directs "Fiddler," knew Vincent could play Tevye when he saw him portray Big Daddy in the 2012 PSF production of "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof," where Vincent made his PSF debut in repertory with "Much Ado About Nothing."

"Dennis Razze was very wonderfully insistent in trying to recreate some of the best things he's seen in 'Fiddlers' and, of course, 'Fiddler' is 50-years-old," Vincent says in a recent phone interview.

"We held steady to Jerome Robbins' original choreography and recreated every step of it.

"We are true to the original spirit of this play when it was written in 1964. This play can be done on a bare stage. We've given it a very beautiful representation of the Jewish shtetl in 1905.

"Having done Tevye three times before, it's always in a different circumstance. I know where all of the fun stuff is and I know where all the emotional stuff is. And being a classical actor, I tend to gravitate toward the emotional stuff, rather than just musical comedy," Vincent says.

Vincent played Tevye 20 years ago for three weeks at the 2,700-seat American Musical Theatre, San Jose, Calif.

He was also Tevye in a weekend production with 28 opera singers at Chautauqua Institution in southwestern New York.

Vincent played the role of Tevye for three weeks in 2000 at a 700-seat theater in Concord, Calif.

"In this [PSF] production, we have fantastic dancers and great actors. I just think it's the best one ['Fiddler'] I've been in," says Vincent. "The quality of the theater here is fantastic."

"I know how enjoyable it is for audiences for they take a journey with the cast, especially Tevye.

"There's something about storytelling that I have just learned. This is a character that they want to hear every syllable from," Vincent says of Tevye.

"No two performances are alike. It's not anything like Shakespeare. That is somewhat Biblical. Whereas we don't change the words, I feel somewhat of a license with this character.

"His humanity is so huge. This very stuff that is happening in the shtetl is happening all over the world, but especially in the Middle East and in Africa. That's why the play will survive 200 years and I think it will remain important."