Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...So it goes throughout: some moments work very nicely, some lay there awkwardly, often felled by the clunky book. This was no easy assignment for Portes and her cast: it's an epic story to tell with just nine actors, two of which have to play the forces of darkness. One alternative might have been a more progressive, metaphoric, fast-paced staging that somehow got past the triteness of the prose and focused on the strengths of this piece: honest actors playing courageous, intensely empathetic characters, singing of their pain, confusion and determination to smuggle out the truth."
Chicago Sun Times - Somewhat Recommended
"...Yet for all its good intentions and earnestness, this musical is simplistic and cliched to a painful degree. Mel Brooks could get away with dancing Nazis in the big “Springtime for Hitler” number in “The Producers” because he meant it to be outrageous and offensive. Here, the Nazis don’t dance, although one has a song to suggest how fervent, if sick, his beliefs are. But the whole enterprise feels like a teaching tool for a clueless teenage audience rather than for sophisticated adults."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Ullian's script relies on overfamiliar tropes, and the characters-save for a morally ambiguous cabaret singer-lack individuality. What power the show has derives from Derfner's stirring score and the cast's sensitive, openhearted performances."
Centerstage - Recommended
"...Peter Ullian based his book for this musical on facts. It often works, especially the second act. In fact, sometimes it seems as if this piece might work even better simply as a play. But then Joel Derfner's beautiful score shines through the darkness. With lyrics by Len Schiff, this suite of songs, sometimes mournful, often uplifting, becomes the real strength and emotional through-line of this piece. "Home Again Soon," the beautiful "Seder" and the gorgeous "I Will Forget" stir the emotions and elevate the story to another level. The only piece that should be reconsidered, or perhaps just removed, is a repulsive, reflective song near the end of the show called "Good," (well-sung by Doug Pawlik as Nazi Officer Heinde). Otherwise, there is much to appreciate and admire here."
Time Out Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...Yet the overladen plot comes with too many contrivances and ever-shifting stakes. (Pity the fine actor Doug Pawlik, who portrays the more strident and sadistic of the play's two Nazi officers but is saddled, late in the second act, with selling a plaintive ballad of 11th-hour doubt.) That a cultural life survived in Terezin could absolutely be the basis for an inspiring musical; the treacly, inconsistent Signs of Life isn't it."
ShowBizChicago - Recommended
"...What Signs of Life proves is that there are still people who are creating original an important works. This is a piece that must been seen and it must be recognized. It has been almost fifty years since Cabaret bowed on Broadway and these two pieces can almost stand as bookends in historical musical theatre relevancy. It is a heartfelt testament to those who perished and those who survived."
ChicagoCritic - Highly Recommended
"...aken as a whole, Signs of Life (sans the song “Good”) is a moving, tasteful and besutiful dedication to the suffering of the Jews as well as a tribute to their subtle defiance. The spirit of humanity and the message of hope for the survivors is wonderfully presented. This is an important art piece that begs to be witnessed."
Around The Town Chicago - Somewhat Recommended
"...It is not often that one sees a play in development that is not ready for “prime time” , but the new show, now on the tage at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, “Signs of Life” needs some major landscaping if it is to become a story telling device that will help educate our future about some of the events of The Holocaust. Based on fact, the book by Peter Ullian, tells us about the Czech ghetto Theresienstadt, where artists and academic Jews of Europe were sent to deceive the Red Cross- The Nazis plan was to show the world that they were in fact creating a Jewish city. This is a story that I myself had never heard about and now will do more research on, but the adding of music (lyrics by Len Schiff and music by Joel Derfner), in many ways detracted from the story telling as the lyrics were almost insulting to not only Jews, but to theater audiences in general."
