The title is from the song "If I Were A Rich Man" from the musical "Fiddler on the Roof" with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein. The Broadway stage production of "Fiddler on the Roof" opened at the Imperial Theater in New York on September 22, 1964 and ran for 3,242 performances, setting a record for the longest running show on Broadway passing "Life With Father" that held the record for 25 years.