Composer/playwright Michael John LaChiusa is uncomfortable with labels. "Envelope-pushing," "non-traditional," "opera vs. musical theatre" are among categorizations that don't sit well with him. Yet taking a glimpse at the diverse subject matter and myriad styles found in his musicals serves to demonstrate that this artist is anything but status quo in his creative inspirations. Drawn to diverse subjects that move him deeply, his oeuvre is dominated by challenging themes and music that's more intent on serving a show's texture and thematic context than providing ditties we can hum on the way home.
The Easterner was in town recently to consult with director Daniel Henning and the cast of the Blank Theatre Company's West Coast premiere of his musical The First Lady Suite, which opens Mar. 9. Henning's theatre organization presented the stunning 1998 local unveiling of LaChiusa's La Ronde-inspired musical Hello Again. Back Stage West recently sat in during a First Lady music rehearsal and spoke to LaChiusa afterwards to get a sense of what makes this prolific and acclaimed artist tick.
LaChiusa was raised in a working-class household in Chautauqua, N.Y. "It's an arts community," he said. "I was lucky to have a lot of wonderful exposure to arts at early age, including symphony, theatre, and opera. I had initially started as a drummer, accompanying singers. I went to Boston, graduated from high school, and began working professionally as a piano player. I love theatre and music and writing, yet I decided not to go to college. In 1978 there was too much division between the theatre and opera departments. I think there still is, actually. I felt there needed to be a synthesis between the two. So I decided to learn my craft on the streets.
"I also love research," he continued. "I love American history, and politics, and I sometimes try to create plays that work that stuff in." LaChiusa suggested one theme that seems a common thread in his work. "My characters are all on some kind of search for something. In Suite, for instance [combining separate stories about Mamie Eisenhower, Jackie Kennedy, Margaret Truman, and Eleanor Roosevelt] there's a search for empowerment, a release from the ladies' suite of publicly imposed chambers. In Hello Again characters are searching for their ideal lover. Marie Christine [the Tony-nominated 2000 musical] is about a search for characters trying to find themselves through booze, drugs, and partying. The idea of musicals in the 1940s and '50s was to embrace the great American optimism, but where I grew up, American optimism is a different kind of optimism. It's a world optimism but tempered by a lot of ambiguity now."
His subject matter is diverse: in The Wild Party (yet another 2000 Tony nominee), a tale of depravity and violence in Hollywood; in Marie Christine, a dark modernization of Medea; in Hello Again, a web of sexual exploration, and in First Lady, a rueful and witty glimpse at presidential wives. His music likewise thrives on eclecticism. Some scores, such as for Wild Party, have a strong stylistic leaning--jazz in that case--but others such as First Lady encompass a wide range of pop, classical, and other influences. "I get frustrated when people say of a work, 'Well, that's not a musical. It doesn't have a happy ending or the subject matter is too dark.' That's an insane response. There's always a fear of not being able to explain what it is. On Broadway, even throughout America, what is risky, experimental, or new is not considered good for the buck. Is your money better spent to go see a new musical or a revival? Nostalgia is an American philosophy that the baby boomers have created for us, and we could become a very stagnant culture if we're not careful."
LaChiusa indicated he has no favorite among his works, which he refers to as his "kids." "It's so fun to come to L.A. and work on the show with this group of theatre people, because it's intimate, it's small, and you get to look at the work in a fresh light. Making sure the kids are dressed well for school is essentially what it is. Being a parent." His point was confirmed when we watched his nurturing manner as he worked individually with cast members following the rehearsal. As he did with Hello Again, LaChiusa is taking advantage of the Blank's First Lady mounting to make quite a few revisions. "In this piece," he indicated, "I've been able to write a big opening and finale, and reworked some stuff, and restored a number that I had cut from the New York premiere."
Does he respond to feedback from the critics? "I tend not to read the reviews after my shows open," he replied. "Yet in general I have started reading critics religiously in the last year and a half. I'm trying to figure out the state of the art so I can make an assessment for myself. I think what we have currently is a legitimate death of cultural criticism. The critics write without understanding the context. The newspapers could save themselves a hell of a lot of money and just get rid of it all. They should invite a guest writer or statesman--someone who is well versed in theatre arts but also practices politics in some way, shape, or form. The current batch of critics is mostly white gay men who have done a great disservice to theatre in our country. Most are content to write about a performer, which is the easy way out."
Of the current state of L.A. theatre, he noted: "I'm distressed by recent closing of theatres. I think it's dangerous. There's a healthy community out here. We do a lot of casting for New York out of L.A. The best actors, singers, dancers are generally found in L.A., and the training is here. I'd like to see a greater creative basis in L.A. proper where people were really creating new musicals, and I believe that responsibility falls on the major theatres. They're willing to be houses for new works but not to put their necks on the line and nurture a work though toward production."
He has specific views on the state of the musical. "It's hell in a handbasket," he said, chuckling. "Commercial theatre is too much stuck in the revival mentality." Despite that his shows would seem to have little in common with Jerry Herman, for example, LaChiusa did not like it when I suggested his work was non-traditional. "I am a traditionalist. I know it might not seem that way, but I find myself wedded to a traditional approach to musicals." He indicated in a recent interview that he adored South Pacific. Yet one would be inclined to discuss his cerebral, often dark-hued shows more in the context of Sondheim or Jason Robert Brown than Rodgers and Hammerstein. It's certainly true that in his rich mixture of styles, we see the legacy of many great composers of present and past. When his characters whistle a tune, it certainly can be a happy one. But it can also be poignant, ironic, tragic, or altogether transcendent. BSW