LaChiusa grew up in
Chautauqua, New York, the eldest of three boys in a Roman Catholic family of Italian descent. He described his parents as having 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. 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. LaChiusa graduated high school early and enrolled in a television journalism program, but he dropped out after a semester. 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. 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." 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?'" 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."
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. 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". 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. 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. 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. In August 2022, LaChiusa's musical
Los Otros began performances at A.R.T in New York City. Originally titled "Tres Ninas" the 2022 production of the musical featured book and lyrics by
Ellen Fitzhugh, and direction by Noah Himmelstein. The production starred
Luba Mason and
Caesar Samayoa. LaChiusa won a 2008 Emmy Award for his work on the TV series "WonderPets."
Teaching 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.
Performing LaChiusa also performs at various cabaret and concert venues, including: •
La La Chiusa at
Joe's Pub (October 16, 2000 – November 5, 2000); •
The Girly Show, as part of
Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series (May 17, 2004) and at Cinespace, Hollywood (August 15, 2005); •
Platform Series at
Lincoln Center Theater (March 29, 2006); •
Little Fish in Concert at Joe's Pub (July 10, 2006); • Concert that featured music from
Bernarda Alba and other LaChiusa scores as well as a
Little Fish CD Release party; Alice Ripley and Lea DeLaria, appeared at Joe's Pub (September 8, 2008);
Personal life In 2004, LaChiusa told
The Washington Post that he was a "gay man, happily single". ==Work==