When “Fiddler on the Roof” opened on Broadway on September 22, 1964, it wasn’t expected to last. Even its creators, Joseph Stein, Sheldon Harnick, and Jerry Bock, weren’t sure Sholom Aleichem’s story of Russian shtetl life would appeal to a wide audience.

But the next day 300 ticket-seekers were lined up outside the Imperial Theater, clogging the sidewalk for hours. “Fiddler” took off, running on Broadway for eight years – a significant stretch of time for that era.

“Fiddler” reopened on Broadway last February and the revival is reliving history. Widely criticized as lifeless, too dark, not Jewish enough, the show has nonetheless seen the critical darlings “Assassins” and “Caroline, or Change” come and go (not to mention “Dracula” and “Bombay Dreams”). Last week, devoted fans packed the nine shows, giving the Minskoff Theater its highest weekly take ever: $1,145,912 – more than Tony-winners “Rent” and “Avenue Q” made last week.

“Fiddler” has been revived three times previously, but always more or less in its original staging. The current revival, directed by David Leveaux, was an experiment. Would faithful audiences accept a new interpretation, an actor known for drama, a re-envisioned set?

Critics said no. “An aura of enervation starts at the top of the cast, with Mr. [Alfred] Molina’s apologetic performance as Tevye the milkman, and penetrates like a paralyzing fog into even the smallest roles,” wrote Ben Brantley in a February 27 New York Times review.

Musicals always tend to withstand bad reviews better than straight plays do, according to Playbill.com editor Robert Simonson, but “Fiddler” is a special case. “Among the classic musicals, ‘Fiddler’ does seem to have a Teflon quality,” he said. “When producers produce ‘Fiddler,’ they know they can count on Jewish audiences to come out and bring their kids and grandkids,” he said.

Indeed, if the “Fiddler” revival is part of any trend, it’s that of producers striving to create shows that have built-in audiences. With Broadway revenues increasingly dependent on tourists, the best play doesn’t always win at the box office. “Wicked,” which garnered mixed reviews, is one of Broadway’s top sellers, successfully recouping its $14 million production costs in under 14 months.

“Non-English-speaking tourists can go to ‘The Lion King’ and have a wonderful time,” said the theater historian and author of “A Must See! Brilliant Broadway Artwork,” Steven Suskin.

Revivals have actually proved tough sells in the current economic environment, said a Variety reporter, Robert Hofler. He pointed out that only three – “La Cage aux Folles,” “Pacific Overtures,” and “Sweet Charity” – are set to open this season. (“Fiddler” was one of just three last season.) “The whole musical revival market is down,” he said. “They have not been money-returners.”

“Fiddler’s” producers, who sunk $8-10 million into the project, hope he’s wrong. At least one of them, Nick Scandalios, executive vice president of Nederlander Producing Company, acknowledges it’s a gamble. “When you take on something as luminary as ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ the challenge is what was done in the past,” he said. “The risk you run is, can you find a fresh way of doing things?”

Harvey Fierstein replaced Alfred Molina in the role of Tevye this week. He’s an unusual choice, and such casting is part of that fresh approach. “It’s audacious,” said Mr. Hofler. “Otherwise it would have closed.”

Having grown up with the musical, Mr. Fierstein doesn’t think it needs his help. “The score is gorgeous, the story is inescapably heartfelt,” he said in his signature croak. “Who doesn’t understand what it is to come from a family with problems?”

“If you ask anybody about where they grew up, everybody says it was a place where everyone knew each other,” he said. “That’s Anatevka [where “Fiddler” is set]. This brings you back to that innocence.”

Times critic Jesse McKinley hinted in an interview that Mr. Fierstein, who just came off a stint as Edna Turnblad in “Hairspray,” might be “too gay” to play Tevye, the ultimate patriarch. Apparently, the audiences don’t think so. “They like him even better than Molina,” reported a bathroom attendant at the Minskoff, Thelma Cayetano. “They love him.”

Outside the theater on Wednesday night, two giggling musical-theater students waited for Mr. Fierstein’s autograph. They had never seen the show before and were impressed. “I cried six or seven times,” said Patti Azzara, 22. “And I never do that.”

For many, the show’s familiarity is its main appeal. “I saw it in high school and thought it was hysterical,” said Matt Dix, a 28-year-old tourist from Newport Beach, Calif., who was waiting on the TKTS line at Times Square.

Mr. Dix hadn’t read any reviews of the show, nor did he plan to. “From one production to another, I would presume it wouldn’t be that different,” he said. “As long as it’s the same songs, I’ll probably enjoy it.”