Armand Paganelli is a large man who enjoys performing in community theater.

So it might come as a surprise that, despite decades of work on local stages, he has yet to tackle one of the plums in what is considered the “big man” repertory created by Zero Mostel: Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof.”

“I’ve turned it down seven or eight times, waiting to feel ready for it in my life,” he says.

“Most of that was age – I wasn’t ready – but a big part of it was wanting to feel ready to play that father. And after four kids and 18 years of being a father, in the last two years, I’ve been waiting for it to come along.”

That wait is over, as “Fiddler” kicks off Actors Conservatory Theatre’s 33rd season tonight with Paganelli as Tevye. Performances are this weekend and next at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Hall in Yonkers.

Sholem Aleichem’s simple folk stories – including “Tevye and His Daughters,” about Tevye the pious milkman in a house full of women – were published more than 100 years ago, but Paganelli sees parallels to our time, and to his life.

“What’s cool is that the basis of Tevye is where I come from – very traditional. Although mine’s Italian and Christian and his is Jewish, it’s so much the same: It’s all about family, all about faith, all about honor. These were the messages of my parents and grandparents, so strong,” he says.

Paganelli, who grew up in Rye and has lived in Ossining for 21 years, is keeping his family close, even during performances. There are Paganellis all over the place at Bryn Mawr Hall: Daughter, Olivia, 13, and sons Nicholas, 15, and Christopher, 10, are in the cast. His wife, Janice, is choreographer.

And Arlene Wendt, ACT’s founder and “Fiddler” director, is his mother-in-law.

The eldest Paganelli child, Jillian, is in her first semester at Muhlenberg College, studying psychology and dance, hoping to put the two together in a study of dance-therapy.

Having sent one daughter off to college, Paganelli feels he’s ready to pull on Tevye’s boots. And his onstage family is making him feel like the papa he plays.

“The first time I got hit the hardest was a simple moment during the Sabbath prayer,” he says.

“Last night, we were rehearsing it and Tevye has a line ‘May he send you husbands who will care for you.’ And I just turned over my shoulder and caught all five of my daughters’ faces at once, and my eyes just welled. That’s three seconds of music, but all of them were in my face as I turned and looked.”

It’s what Paganelli calls “a theater experience,” a moment onstage that grabbed him and one he won’t ever forget.

“We had never rehearsed it together and sung it through, so it was first-time fresh,” he says.

“But a moment like that, even though it’s only a few seconds, is enough to propel you through the entire piece,” he says. “When you get a feeling like that, that’s it.”

For this Tevye, at this point in his life, it has become a family memory.

“Tevye has so many moments,” Wendt says. ”’Anatevka,’ the song near the end of the show, rips his heart out, the thought of leaving his home. I cry every time.”

Paganelli clearly respects Wendt’s knowledge of the material.

“She has studied it from top to bottom, inside and out and is so prepared and so ready to teach everybody about the finer nuances and the greater meanings of it.

“She has everybody reading Sholem Aleichem’s stories to become more acquainted and romanticized with the characters,” he says.

This is Wendt’s fourth time directing “Fiddler.”

“I did it when it was still on Broadway, with the St. Mary’s Players in Yonkers in 1973,” Wendt says. “We were the first company to do it.” That same year, Wendt directed the show for the IBM Drama Club.

The next year, she founded Actors Conservatory Theater. In 1981, she revisited Tevye and his daughters, this time for ACT.

A few years later, she met Paganelli.

“When I first met Armand 24 years ago,” Wendt recalls, “I asked him what his dream role was. He said ‘Tevye.’ I told him, ‘You’re too young. You’ll play many roles before that.”

Now, here he is, ready, willing and able to breathe life into a Russian milkman in the throes of parenthood.

“My wife and I have four kids and the first one just went off to college and you face the challenge: How much do you let go?” Paganelli says. “How much do you say, ‘You know what? I just gotta let it happen.’?

“Hopefully we’ve taught her well and she’ll make the right decisions.”

Fiddler on the Roof”

Where: Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Hall, 20 Buckingham Road, Yonkers.
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 25, 26, 27, Nov. 1, 2 and 3; 2 p.m. Oct. 28 and Nov. 4.
Tickets: $20, $18 for seniors, $15 for children 12 and under. On Oct 25 and Nov. 1, all seats are $16, general admission.
Call: 914-391-6558.
With: Armand Paganelli, Susan Mondaruli Siegel, Liza Warner, Gina Cantelmo, Rachel Schulte, Maggie Lloyd, Justina Spadafora, Joel Karpoff, Frank Battaglia, Joseph Marciona, Joshua Judin, Mary Ann Penzero, Ellen Katz, Dolores Stilo, Maryann Mallozzi, Linda Fitzgerald, Daniel Basiletti, Robert Mark, Anthony Cuozzo, Aramis Solar, Eric Scanga, Nick Paganelli, Mickey Melillo, Chris Paganelli, Jaime Olaya, Jennifer Gizzo, Rebecca Alfano, Olivia Paganelli, Jennifer Langford, John Coppola, Ray Frye, Dominick Ranieri, Jeff Ellenberger, Tom Kreiser, Bob Lisanti, Nessa Wolf-Baum.

Another ‘Fiddler’
Bedford Community Theatre also is mounting a production of “Fiddler.”
Where: Bedford Hills Community House, 74 Main St., Bedford Hills.
When: Nov. 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18. Fridays at 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Sundays at 3 p.m.
Tickets: $15, reserved seating.
Call: 914-244-0474, ext. 22.
Web: www.bedfordcommunitytheatre.org

 (Photo by Dave Kennedy)