What Illinoise is doing is exactly what I hope theatre artists strive to do. So much of the theatre we consume at the commercial level is etched with the idea that it must be clear, concise, and undoubtedly appealing to an overwhelming majority. Illinoise takes this and runs. The production knows its strengths but it also asks us as an audience to consider that maybe we don’t have to tell stories in one format, that we can be storytellers and create these stories through a more mixed media approach. Words are not the only way to communicate, but one of many forms. It takes an unlikely source material, familiar to some, and creates a conversation that exposes the irony and catharsis of life in the worlds of small towns to big cities.
The last time I can truthfully say I listened to Sufjan Stevens's album Illinois was in early high school, a moment now so blurry it can only be painted with loose watercolor portraits. The album is for me, something Spotify threw out as a recommendation, and something that I enjoyed but wasn’t fully ready to grasp its concept just yet. The album tells a nonlinear story of the American Midwest through different moments and places of major interest and a number of different narratives. Having grown up in the Midwest, I found Stevens' ability to blend poetic lyrics with modified classical music to be a reminiscence of the space that feels so much like home to me. The shifting time signatures throughout the album and subsequently the musical played through by an 11-piece band, add yet another layer to the dynamic story that was rebuilt by Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury
Illinoise puts the album: Illinois by Sufjan Stevens on the stage and gently and wholisticly unpacks the ideas of love, grief, and cynicism. They beg you to feel, to exist in these stories that are so gracefully and potently sprawled across the stage before you. There is no spoken dialogue, only vocalizations of the songs. The musical/dance show instead focuses on contemporary and eclectic choreography by Justin Peck and the mini-dramatic stories of the individual characters.
Through songs such as "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!", we get a glimpse into the ghost towns that are sporadically present throughout the entire state of illinoise, with" The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts", we look at the influence of Chicago on the fictional and wildly loved Metropolis. The album serves almost as a love letter to the complexity and compelling pull of the Midwest. At its core, this production, and the album, aim to explore big emotions. They start large and continue to expand. At no point in this 90-minute production are you left unsure of how you should feel. The songs are deconstructed and the stories are presented in the form of smaller more accessible narratives to the audience, creating individualized stories and ideas of connection throughout. As the individuals sit around a campfire and share their stories, they instead become a community.
With all of this said, I look forward to seeing the production this spring at the St. James Theatre. Will this idea of intimacy and feeling of connection follow into the much larger Broadway house that holds 1700 compared to the Armory's 850? How will the almost industrial set, designed by Adam Rigg, transform to fill the massive space that varies vastly from Illinoise's current home at the Park Avenue Armory? This musical has the ability to come in and take the coveted Best New Musical spot at the Tony Awards this year, and truthfully I believe it has a shot. Sufjan Stevens's music is transformative and unlike the typical "Musical Theatre" sound that many of us have come to expect, but does not fall short in terms of storytelling. Justin Peck's choreography is truly stunning and highlights the story in ways I was not expecting both literally with light and metaphorically. The lighting design, done by Brandon Stirling Baker, felt reminiscent of a concert. Immersive and impactful. I can say without a doubt that I enjoyed this production, and look forward to exploring it again.
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