Signature Forges Ahead!

Eric Schaeffer, the artistic director of the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, says receiving the call that his 20-year-old institution was the winner of this year’s Regional Theatre Tony Award was “like hearing from an angel coming out of the sky. It was just the most fantastic news,” he says. “It’s not only that it validates all the risks and chances we take every year, but it will bring recognition to Washington D.C. as a great theater town. Arena Stage was the last area theater to win this award, way back in 1976, so if the Tony brings the spotlight on all of us who are doing wonderful things here, then that’s even better.”

For the past two decades, Schaeffer has stayed true to his mission of producing — and often directing — adventurous works, particularly musicals like The Witches of Eastwick, John Kander and Fred Ebb’s The Visit (which Schaeffer still hopes will get a New York production), or its newly commissioned work Sycamore Trees, an autobiographical musical written by Ricky Ian Gordon, to be directed by Tina Landau to debut in 2010. “I think composers feel safe here because they can try anything and even fail,” he says. “We think of Signature as this creative hothouse where it’s about getting the work done in the most creative environment possible and not about anyone’s egos. I am passionate about these writers and want them to come back again and again.”

As Schaeffer points out, Signature audiences know not to expect just an ordinary night in the theater whenever they come. That was certainly the case earlier this season with Schaeffer’s reworking of the mammoth Les Miserables, which earned rave reviews. “I was thrilled with that production. And the original producer, Cameron Macintosh was thrilled with it, and co-author Alain Boublil came down to see it and he really loved it. He told me he felt it was so fresh,” says Schaeffer.

But Schaeffer has more on his mind than impressing his colleagues. “What’s just as important as their praise is that I was able to show other regional theaters how something like this can be done,” he says. “That’s also one of the reasons I am going to do this chamber version of Show Boat next season. It’s going to have a much smaller cast than usual, we’ve got Jonathan Tunick doing these new orchestrations, and it’s going to have a very abstract set. Actually, not only won’t there be a show boat on stage, none of it is even going to take place on a boat. But only six productions of the show were done anywhere in the U.S. last year, and I’d like to see that change.”

A perfect example of Schaeffer’s commitment to musical theater is Signature’s current attraction, Michael John LaChiusa’s epic musical Giant, based on the novel by Edna Ferber about life (and oil) in Texas. “Who else in their right mind, which isn’t me obviously, would do a four-hour musical in the middle of a recession and allow the cast and creative team to have seven weeks of rehearsal instead of the usual four, even though I had to go raise a lot of extra money to make that happen,” Schaeffer says with a laugh. “But so far, audiences are really responding to the show. We get emails from people every day who are telling me how much they enjoy the show. I was particularly touched to get one just the other day from some guy from Texas who told me we had really captured the world he knew.”

If Signature has one particularly enduring legacy, however, it’s the relationship between Schaeffer and composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who just received the theater’s first annual Stephen Sondheim Award. “We’ve done 19 productions of his shows, starting with Sweeney Todd in 1991,” he notes. “The first year I was artistic director, I didn’t direct anything. And then the next year, I decided to direct, so I chose to do Sweeney — and then we got permission to do Assassins and then people just began asking for a Sondheim show every year. Now if we don’t do a Sondheim piece, our subscribers are upset; in fact, people were upset when we just did Anyone Can Whistle in concert rather than a full production.”

This coming season, Schaeffer is returning to Sweeney (which was also produced in 2000), but don’t expect the same-old, same-old. “It’s going to be darker and grittier than I’ve ever done it — much more like a horror film,” he notes. “Edward Gero and Sherri Edelen, who are two of D.C.’s finest actors, are going to play Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett, and I think they’re going to be just great. Ed hadn’t sung in 15 years when he came in to audition, but he was great. I love the idea of having someone who’s approaching the role more as an actor than a singer.”

So where will Signature display its coveted Tony Award? “I am sure we’re going to put it some place in the lobby where everyone can see it. People are so excited, two of our subscribers made us a Tony cake, and one of our local restaurants is hosting a party on June 7 for all of our staff and supporters who can’t come to New York,” he says. “All of this just proves that we have to just keep doing what we’ve been doing.”