Writer and performer of plays, musicals and cabarets, translator and artist, Michael Conley set out to study musical theatre at Abilene Christian University in his native Texas but ultimately preferred action to academics. He moved to New York to establish a career, quickly becoming 
part of the city’s cabaret scene. He began hosting a weekly revue of stand-up and musical comedy, the Gay and Lesbian Comedy Fest, which led to a 2002 Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) nomination for his ‘The Drinking Song’ (outstanding special material). He also contributed numbers to the MAC-award winning The Poole Party and The Next Big Broadway Musical.In 2003 he began writing and performing in the award-winning Hello, Boys, eventually moving to London in 2007. There he has established himself in a thriving career, collaborating with Luke Bateman. Conley also became a devoted father, including his son in many of his activities.
The Green Room 42 will host the New York debut of Conley’s The Fabulist Fox Sister, the musical comedy stage hit direct from London, for two shows on Tuesday, September 26 and Friday, September 29 at 9:30 PM. The show stars writer and performer Conley, featuring music by Olivier Award nominee Luke Bateman and book and lyrics by Conley.
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) asks Michael Conley (MC) Six Questions:
NLE: Dark comedy is your creative playground; how did you become attracted to this genre? Were there any particular inspirations?
MC: First, thank you so much for asking me to come here and chat about my (fingers-crossed-for-the-love-of-God) triumphant return to New York! I got my start in the cabaret scene, and I cannot wait to come home!
Honestly, every time I sit down to write a musical, I’m planning on writing something light and optimistic and happy; it just never turns out that way. Maybe it’s my way of dealing with the horrors of the world: if you can’t laugh as you struggle, life’s an awful tough row to hoe. The Sorrows of Satan (another show from Luke and me) was written in reaction to the shifting landscape of subsidised work in the UK, this show was written in response to the political turmoil of the time and the erosion of truth. All art (even ours) is political if you dig deep enough.
But first and foremost, you’ve got to write a show you want to see. I don’t mind a polemic so long as it’s got some gags. Also, I’m obsessed with subtext (I’m from Texas where everything is subtext) so I’m always drawn to characters whose effervescence belies a darkness underneath. As for inspirations, I’ve got a million! Sensibility-wise, I’d probably narrow it down to Cole Porter, Fred Ebb and Carolyn Leigh. But I’ll steal from anyone.
NLE: Much of you work is seen in the UK. Are British audiences more receptive to your 
work than Americans?
MC: I don’t know! This is the first time I’ll be delivering the same product on both sides of the pond. I think my voice is distinctly American (how could it not be?) but it’s gone down pretty well in the UK. Particularly performance-wise. I stepped away from performing when I left New York and only started again when the first song from The Fabulist Fox Sister was performed for the first time at the first Signal, a quarterly concert of new musical theatre our friend Adam asked us to be in. This show evolved from those concerts and the audience response was all the incentive we needed.
I’ve had a ball doing this show in London and Deal and online, but it’s a New York story at heart, so here’s hoping…
NLE: How did your partnership with Luke Bateman come about? What’s the best thing about working with him?
MC: We met in 2011 at the inaugural BOOK Music & Lyrics (BML) composer/lyricist workshop. BML is based on the Lehman Engel BMI format where composers and lyricists spend the first year working with everyone in the workshop and then choose one person to work with for the second. I worked with a lot of talented people, but at the end of the year, I chose him, and he ch
ose me and here we are twelve years later.
At this point we’re family. He’s the wiser younger (only by 11 months!) brother I never had and I’m the inspiration he never knew he needed. He’s also the father to my godson so there’s no getting rid of him now.
There are lots of reasons I love working with Luke, but the best thing about him is simply his talent. His gift for melody. Most of our work is comedic, which is by nature lyric-driven, but in every show we’ve written you’ll find at least one drop-dead gorgeous ballad. “Someone Else’s Words” from Personality, “I Forget” from The Little Beasts, “Mavis” from The Sorrows of Satan, “Cedar Springs” from Satanic Panic and others I’ve forgotten. “Something” from The Fabuliist Fox Sister is probably my favorite of the lot.
NLE: Some of your life experiences are performing at Don’t Tell Mama and host of The Gay and Lesbian Comedy Fest. What have you derived from those experiences?
MC: I learned almost everything I know at Don’t Tell Mama! I d
iscovered my voice there. I started doing numbers in Ron Poole’s Poole Party and The Gay and Lesbian Comedy Fest until Ron asked me to take over hosting duties for the latter. I started doing other people’s material and then started writing my own (first with David Maiocco (including the MAC nominated “Drinking Song”) and then with Matthew Loren Cohen (including the MAC nominated show Hello, Boys). The routine of weekly performances hones your craft fast and seeing up-and-coming talent alongside cabaret royalty is an experience I knew at the time was very special. Honestly, if you watch Sidney Myer perform as many times as I did and don’t learn a helluvalot, you weren’t paying attention.
NLE: How does being the parent of a son affect your work?
MC: It certainly makes me think about legacy for the first time. And mortality. It gave me this immense pressure to create, to ensure there’s a trove of work for him to look back on when I’m gone. And hopefully some royalties. He’s very proud of me and I love watching him watch my work. We’ve only written one family show, The Little Beasts, and sitting next to him watching a show I helped create? Sometimes there’s god so quickly.
NLE: The Fabulist Fox Sister is about Kate Fox, the woman who inadvertently invented séances; what was the genesis of this latest idea?
MC: I’ve always got a list of ideas for new projects. When Adam asked us to do Signal, I pitched a few ideas to Luke and this is the one we agreed on.
Being immersed in the news of the UK and the US, I was struck by the number of people doing gold-medal mental gymnastics to go along with something they knew wasn’t right or true. The story of the sisters who invented a religion, admitted it was a fraud, and then recanted their admission was too au currant to not do. I originally planned on it being a bigger show starring three women as Kate, Leah and Maggie Fox. But the show evolved via the early songs written for me to perform at Signal and somewhere along the way, they were too tied with my performances for me to let go of. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see someone else do this show. JUST NOT YET.
Photo credits (top to bottom): • By Adam Hills • Luke Bateman and Michael Conley on the set of The Sorrows of Satan • At London cabaret room The Crazy Coqs • At Don’t Tell Mama 2001 by Tammy Evans • Conley’s son taking notes at a music rehearsal for Indecent Proposal • By Jane Hobson
