The Pet Shop Boys have a key place in pop music through the 80s, 90s, and 00s. With hits like “Go West”, “Left to My Own Devices”, Rent”, and “Absolutely Fabulous” becoming queer anthems, their synth-pop lit up gay club dancefloors and inspired generations of LGBTQ+ artists (with Russell T Davies’ hit TV series taking its name from PSB’s hit 1987 single, “It’s A Sin”).
Adelaide-based performing artist Michael Griffiths has woven the music of the Pet Shop Boys’ into the his autobiographical cabaret show, It’s A Sin: Songs of Love & Shame, playing the 2024 Sydney Festival on January 12th. Ahead of which, Michael Griffiths spoke exclusively with The Queer Review’s Chad Armstrong about the influence that the enduring British pop duo have had on him.
Chad Armstrong, The Queer Review: Michael, as the show is autobiographical, why don’t we start by you introducing yourself?
Michael Griffiths: “Sure. I’ve spent the last ten years as a performer devoted to the rather niche—and particularly queer—genre of cabaret. My partner Daryl and I met at music school in 1992 and have been together ever since. I started my career working in musical theatre, touring around Australia in big jukebox musicals like Priscilla and Jersey Boys, which ran forever and were an absolute hoot!”
“It was only when my best friend Dean Bryant suggested that we collaborate on a cabaret together that I pivoted. It was called In Vogue: Songs By Madonna and premiered at the 2011 Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Since then, I’ve been on tour in various shows and worked as the musical director for Carlotta and Steven Oliver and as the artistic director of Perth International Cabaret Festival.”
What’s your first memory of connecting to the music of the Pet Shop Boys?
“I remember “West End Girls” being ubiquitous in 1986, but it wasn’t until I bought the greatest hits album Discography in 1992—when I was on the cusp of coming out myself—that I became obsessed with them and immersed myself in their back catalog. I was dizzy when Very was released in that incredible orange bubble packaging the following year, and by then I was a fully-fledged homo!”
What made decide to do something autobiographical and what is it like to be on stage presenting your own life to an audience?
“In hindsight, doing a bunch of biographical shows since 2011—ranging from Cole Porter, to Annie Lennox, and even Kylie Minogue—has been a safe space for me to explore my own queerness via an onstage persona. It’s still confronting to present my own story, but I have confidence in the power of humour and connecting with an audience. I’m at an age now where I’m not scared of the mistakes I’ve made or the shame that I’ve carried. There’s an adage that comedy is tragedy plus time and it’s been 32 years since I came out, so there’s quite a bit we can laugh at now. I’ve also done a lot of cabaret mentoring with emerging performers and I always swear that the personal is universal and it felt like the right time to practice what I preach!”
I think we’re about the same age because our cultural touchpoints are similar. The 80s were a complex time to be coming of age and into our sexuality, surrounded by Aussie machismo and the height of the HIV/AIDS. Was music a refuge for you?
“Without the Internet or social media, it was so important to find queer mentors in real life, because being in the closet publicly was the default. Pop music during the 80s and into the 90s was a time when being gay wasn’t only tolerated but it was celebrated in a “read between the lines” kind of way. I was drawn to the artists who shunned machismo and weren’t afraid to be sensitive and vulnerable, and no one did tat better than the Pet Shop Boys. They were an alternative to cocksure bands like Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi, or Dire Straits.”
As queer people, we often find such connection and catharsis through music don’t we?
“Absolutely. Growing up gay in the 1970s and 80s put you in a position of being an “outsider”, with a sense of questioning everything, of needing to make sense of the world. The arts by nature is questioning and accepting and so it’s no surprise that queer people find connection and solace in music. The older I get, the more I understand art as being the turning of pain into beauty. It is the opposite of war. It’s an antidote to toxic masculinity. I’ve gone terribly deep here, but sometimes as queer people we want to just throw our hands in the air sing along to “Go West” with gay abandon!”
This is a one-night engagement at the Sydney Festival, but are there plans to take the show elsewhere afterwards?
“Yes! I’m doing a two-week run in my hometown at Adelaide Fringe in March with plans to take it to Perth and the n Melbourne later in the year. Also, In Vogue: Songs By Madonna will be returning to Sydney for Mardi Gras this year at Hayes Theatre Co.”
It’s A Sin: Songs of Love & Shame is on Friday, January 12 at the Thirsty Mile (Sydney Theatre Company, Wharf Theatre) as part of Sydney Festival 2024.
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