Michael John LaChiusa

LaChiusa grew up in Chautauqua, New York, the eldest of three boys in an Italian Catholic family. His parents had a "[v]ery mentally abusive" relationship; Michael was not close to his father, but was encouraged by his mother to pursue his interest in music.[3] He taught himself to play piano at the age of seven and had little formal music training. LaChiusa was influenced early on by the music of "modern American composers" such as John Corigliano, John Adams, and Philip Glass, as well as the musical theatre composers George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, and Stephen Sondheim.[4][5] LaChiusa graduated high school early and enrolled in a television journalism program, but he dropped out after a semester.[3][4]

In 1980, LaChiusa moved to New York City, where he took jobs as a music director and accompanist while trying to find songwriting work. In the mid-1980s, he joined the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, where he was strongly influenced by a series of mentors and where he segued from writing "camp" songs to more serious work.[2] In 1993, The Public Theater's producer George C. Wolfe presented LaChiusa's First Lady Suite. A year later, Lincoln Center produced his musical Hello Again Off Broadway. A series of interconnected stories about love based on Arthur Schnitzler's play La Ronde, Hello Again was nominated for ten Drama Desk Awards, including three (Outstanding Book of a Musical, Outstanding Music, and Outstanding Lyrics) for LaChiusa.[6]

In 1995, LaChiusa wrote additional book material for the Broadway musical Chronicle of a Death Foretold (an adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez's 1981 novella of the same name.) For the book, written with Graciela Daniele and Jim Lewis, LaChiusa received a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical.

During the 1999–2000 season, two of LaChiusa's large-scale musicals premiered on Broadway: Marie Christine and The Wild Party. Marie Christine, a retelling of the Medea myth set in 19th-century Louisiana, starred Audra McDonald and attracted controversy due to its grim subject matter and demanding score—The New York Times reported that "even the formidable and classically trained McDonald could sing it only six times a week, rather than the standard eight."[3] Marie Christine closed after 42 performances; LaChiusa later said that the show "in my mind should have been performed for three performances.... Only three. It's huge, and it's intensely difficult".[2] The Wild Party was based on the 1928 poem of the same name by Joseph Moncure March and starred Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin, and Eartha Kitt. The Wild Party struggled commercially; after receiving seven Tony nominations but failing to win a single one, producers closed the show.[7] For both Marie Christine and The Wild Party, LaChiusa received Tony nominations for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score.

In 2003, Little Fish, an uncharacteristically cheerful one-act musical for LaChiusa, based on two short stories by Deborah Eisenberg, premiered Off-Broadway. The show's failure sent LaChiusa into a funk; he recalled, "I went, 'My God, they don't want the hard stuff and more challenging material here in this city from me. They don't want something nice and fun, either. What am I supposed to do?'"[2]

In August 2005, LaChiusa published an article in Opera News that disparaged several successful, upbeat Broadway musicals of the 2000s, among them The Producers and Hairspray, which LaChiusa dubbed a "faux-musical".[1] He continued, "Instead of choreography, there is dancing. Instead of crafted songwriting, there is tune-positioning. Faux-musicals are mechanical; they have to be. For expectations to be met, there can be no room for risk, derring-do or innovation."[1] The article caused a great deal of controversy and provoked shocked responses from several of LaChiusa's colleagues, who saw it as an attack.[1]

In October 2005, LaChiusa's musical See What I Wanna See, based on the stories "In a Grove," "The Dragon," and "Kesa and Morito" by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, opened Off-Broadway at the Public Theater and closed on December 4, 2005.[8][3] LaChiusa was nominated for Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics.

In September 2008, he was quoted in Opera News Online as working on an adaptation of Bizet's opera Carmen with Tony winner Audra McDonald in mind.[9]

In April 2009, the Signature Theatre, Arlington, Virginia, premiered Giant, a musical adaptation of Edna Ferber's 1952 novel of the same name with music and lyrics by LaChiusa and book by Sybille Pearson, who wrote the book for the 1983 musical Baby.[10]

Queen of the Mist is a musical adaption of the story of Annie Edson Taylor, the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Commissioned by Off-Broadway theatre company the Transport Group Queen of the Mist received a developmental lab in fall 2010, and opened in November 2011 at The Gym at Judson. With direction by Jack Cummings III and choreography by Scott Rink, the musical stars Mary Testa and Julia Murney.[11]

LaChiusa's work, Nine Fathers of Ariel, is "a dance musical which centers on a mother's effort to provide her son with good fathering in the face of a war-obsessed world".[12] It had a 29-hour private industry reading on April 5, 2014. It was a co-collaboration with Ellen Fitzhugh, with Graciela Daniele directing and musical direction by Mary Mitchell Campbell. The cast included Tonya Pinkins, Marc Kudisch, Malcolm Gets, Telly Leung, Bryce Ryness, Darius de Haas, Stanley Bahorek, Sydney James Harcourt, Ashley Robinson, Casey Robinson, and Hayley Feinstein.[12]

LaChiusa's musical First Daughter Suite premiered Off-Broadway at the Public Theater on October 6, 2015 (previews), and was directed by Kirsten Sanderson. He stated about the work: "While he didn't want to fully imitate First Lady Suite, LaChiusa felt that the new piece could be an extension of the earlier piece. It would not, however, be a sequel." The musical looks at the women in the lives of Presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.[13] The women are: Patricia Nixon, played by Barbara Walsh and daughters Tricia played by Betsy Morgan and Julie played by Cassie Levy; Rosalynn Carter, played by Rachel Bay Jones and Amy Carter played by Carly Tamer; Betty Ford played by Alison Fraser and Susan Ford played by Betsy Morgan; Patti Davis played by Cassie Levy and mother Nancy Reagan, played by Alison Fraser; and Barbara Bush played by Mary Testa and daughter-in-law Laura played by Rachel Bay Jones.[14][15]

The world premiere of LaChiusa's musical Rain (book by Sybille Pearson, based on the short story "Rain" by Somerset Maugham), runs March 24-May 1, 2016 at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre. It is directed by Barry Edelstein, and stars Eden Espinosa as Sadie Thompson.[16][17][18]

LaChiusa won a 2008 Emmy Award for his work on the TV series "WonderPets." [19]

Teaching

Michael John LaChiusa speaks to students after a performance of his musical Bernarda Alba (musical) at Columbia College.

LaChiusa is an adjunct professor at the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.

• Mordden, Ethan (2004). The Happiest Corpse I've Ever Seen. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-23954-8.

• Michael John LaChiusa at the Internet Broadway Database
• Michael John LaChiusa papers, 1970s-2015, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
• Internet Off-Broadway Database listing
• Michael John LaChiusa - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org
• Composers and their stage works (Michael John LaChiusa)