Good morning, and welcome to Broadway News’ Broadway Review by Brittani Samuel — our overview of reactions, recommendations and information tied to the Broadway opening of “Illinoise.”
RUNDOWN
The new Broadway production “Illinoise” draws inspiration from Sufjan Stevens’ near-eponymous 2005 concept album, “Illinois.” As that album blends genres, so here does director-choreographer and co-story author Justin Peck. “Illinoise” is a dance musical, a musical performance art piece, a theatrical indulgence. Though the work straddles two cities — Chicago and New York — and crackles with the sporty-casual aesthetic of the early aughts, Peck and his co-writer Jackie Sibblies Drury aren’t so much traversing specific settings as much as they are trying to evoke the higher-dimensional frequencies pulsing out of Stevens’ album.
