BWW Interviews: Producer and Creator Virginia Criste Talks Inspiration for New Musical SIGNS OF LIFE

Virginia Criste has done what few can say: She took an idea she had and turned it into something real. When Criste, a practicing lawyer, was struck with an idea for a musical, her inspiration was so great that she soon also became a theatre producer. Chicago audiences now get to reap the benefits of Criste's efforts when the musical drama "Signs of Life" runs at the Zacek McVay Theater at the Victory Gardens Theater for six weeks, beginning September 18th.

The seed of the idea for this musical was planted in Criste's head in the early 90's when she traveled to the Czech ghetto Theresienstadt, or Terezin, to explore her family history.

"When I think back on it I'm not exactly sure what caused me to then decide to clear off that part my life. Maybe it was how old I was or that I felt ready to deal with it, because I always knew that my father lost his family but it was never discussed," Criste recalls. What she did know was Terezin was the last place her Grandparents had been. So when the Berlin Wall came down, she seized the opportunity to go.

What she was surprised to discover was that Terezin did not fulfill the traditional image associated with Nazi death camps.

Criste describes looking at book of artifacts, saying, "You would read 'Artifact Number 114: The curtain on the window in Hamburg barracks' or 'Number 83: Album of dorm life' and then 'Number 78: cabaret tickets.'" She then was able to choose the artifacts she would like to see. "And then I realized that something amazing had happened here."

It was in Terezin, in fact, that Hitler had placed notable Jewish artists and intellects in an effort to make the world believe he had built a place for the Jews to protect them from the war. A film was made to show Terezin as an ideal world, despite the fact that it was from it.

"I'm holding hand-drawn posters of shows. And diagrams of soccer fields and I'm not getting it exactly," Christe says. "I just got more and more emotionally absorbed by the items that I was picking up."

But it was at a stop in London on the way back from Eastern Europe where the idea for a musical highlighting the Jews' life at Terezin first formed.

"I saw one of the early versions of 'Miss Saigon' and they had pictures of the Bui-Doi all over the lobby and I remember vividly looking at those and saying, 'Think what I just saw. Boy, do I have something I could put on these lobby walls.'"

She did not immediately hit the ground running with this idea, though.

"It was an idea that I never acted on for probably three years. Then I was going through a divorce and I said, 'I'm gonna do something. I'm gonna make this a positive thing and I'm gonna do something I always wanted to and never did.' And that's when I decided to do this."

Criste had no previous theatre experience other than being an avid attendee. Her son's involvement in musical theatre inspired her and her daughter to start seeing a large amount of musical theatre. "If we went to London we'd see six or seven shows," she says, but never before had she been involved in the industry.

"In the end, if I could write, I would have written it. And I didn't write." So she began her search, first, with a book writer. She made several attempts before ending up with the script and creatives of the "Signs of Life" that will be playing in Chicago. One of the attempts began after reading an article in Variety about Anne Hamburger who, at the time, was running En Garde Arts, which had a cross cultural exchange with Czechoslovakia. They were currently doing a piece based off of a diary written in Terezin. Criste contacted Hamburger and they began working on the piece together. Ultimately, that project fell through due to rights of the diary not being cleared and Hamburger moved on to other work, but recommended Peter Ullian to Criste. Criste commissioned Ullian to write the book with the idea of making it a musical.

When Ullian finished the book, they began their search for a composer, auditioning multiple people. Criste explains, "We would show the composers our script and say, 'Pick any part of this and just write a little piece of music.'"

They settled on Joel Derfner, through a recommendation of Lucy Simon (best known for composing the score for "The Secret Garden"). Derfner then recommended Len Schiff as a lyricist, having known him from graduating from Tisch, where Derfner is a teacher in the master's program. Thus, the creative team for "Signs of Life" was set.

"I hear it was very different," Criste says of how the team was formed. "I hear that it was a little bit like how it used to be, there used to be creative producers. But, nowadays I think this is rare and most producers are just producers."

However, though Criste had the original idea for the musical and ultimately chose the creative team, she "learned early on that you kind of have to let go." What she did do to help in forming the actual story was compile for the writers a list of facts and stories from her research on Terezin that she thought were interesting and might work onstage. "Not all of my suggestions got used by any means," she laughs. "And so at some point I kind of learned that I had to give it up. We laugh about them now, but I did not get listened to about everything."

Because the show features characters inspired by real people and stories of Terezin, Criste says that at the start of runs "we always have a certain amount of push-pull" regarding audience resistance to a musical about the Holocaust. "I've seen a big change, but I think there's always been a certain amount of resistance to pairing the material with a particular kind of art form," she says. "Maybe it was going to be too trivial. Mel Brooks gave us the epitome of bad taste with 'Springtime for Hitler.'"

Criste is confident, though, in the work onstage and has found that most people, despite any initial resistance, are won over by the end, saying, "Every performance I happened to see in New York there was a standing ovation, so there's something that is empowering people to their feet."

What has also been rewarding is the response from Holocaust survivors who have attended the show, perhaps with the most trepidation of all audience members.

"They have almost, universally, been hugely positive and we've had several that have said, 'You put my life onstage.' That's pretty wonderful when you get that: that you got it right."

And, Criste is even more confident about the newly revised version of "Signs of Life" that will be playing in Chicago. "There's an electricity about this performance that we've never had before."

Among the changes are a new opening, more effective movement, and a trimmed down script.

"There's something about the way it's trimmed down," Criste says, "Feeling like we maybe don't have to teach everything there is to teach and maybe we shouldn't be teaching at all. We have a couple of beautiful songs that are on the cutting room floor. But, maybe it wasn't moving the story the way it should have been moving the story. And, you can only ask people to stay with it for so long and you want people to be with it and go through it. And, not in a totally painful way by any means."

The Chicago run has also had the benefit of the addition of Paul Bogaev, conductor and orchestral and vocal arranger who has worked on many Broadway musicals, including "Sunset Boulevard" and "Aida," as well as the movie version of the musical "Nine." Originally coming into "Signs of Life" as a consultant, Criste says, "He has never left!"

The result, she relays, is a richer sound quality to the music. "There's a drama and a sound to the very same songs that's just richer and more impelling. He's done all the vocal coaching for the leads, so there's a quality to the music that's just that much richer."

Esteemed director Lisa Portes, along with a stellar cast, are also in tow for the "Signs of Life" Chicago premiere. And, Criste is hoping that people of all ethnic and religious backgrounds will be in the audience.

"I would like it if the audience of any ethnic background could come away and feel how it might have felt and get some insight into the difficult choice you have to make when you are captured and ponder those," Criste says. "If it gives you more of a natural intuition for those people in the world right now that are suffering with those circumstances, I think that's the most valuable lesson."

While Criste is unsure about her future of producing more shows ("I don't like the financial side of it," she says), she counts herself lucky. "I'm really proud of myself, truth be known. I learned the industry by doing this. And I made wonderful, wonderful acquaintances and friends. I consider myself fortunate because now I feel like I know the best of them."

As for the future of "Signs of Life" after the Chicago run, Criste is hoping to take it on what she calls the "Educational Road." She explains, "I want to take it to Universities, I want to take it to specialized venues, I want to take it back to Europe, so I would be thrilled if it was a work that became in demand at Universities and specialized settings."

She adds, "Sometimes we all think we want twenty-zillion Tony's, but every product probably has a different plan for it and I think the extent to which you try to fit them together the better chance you have of just not losing the piece all together."

But, for now, she is excited for what the run in Chicago will bring. After an idea in the lobby of a theatre bloomed into a full-fledged musical, Criste's happy anticipation for the run of "Signs of Life" in Chicago is evident.

"I think we're going to achieve in Chicago what we have never achieved before. I have a feeling about Chicago that I never had."

"Signs of Life" runs at the Zacek McVay Theater at Victory Gardens Theatre September 18th - October 27th, 2013. Tickets available at www.victorygardens.org or by calling the box office at (773) 871-3000. Tickets range from $45 -$65, with senior, student, and survivor discounts available. For more information on "Signs of Life," visit www.signsoflifethemusical.com.

Photo Credits: Joan Marcus and Signs of Life the Musical