‘Illinoise’ Review: A Thrilling, Genre-Defying Broadway Musical Brings the Sufjan Stevens Album to Lyrical Life
Christian Lewis Sufjan Stevens’s indie folk concept album “Illinois”(2005) is whimsical, earnest, and sorrowful; it weaves together events and figures from Illinois history (including UFO sightings, Pullman cars, the World’s Fair of 1893, and the Lincoln/Douglas debates) with Biblical allusions and feelings of shame and loss. This multifaceted mix, often stirring and fascinating to listen to, is not an inherently logical choice for a narrative work of art — and yet, Justin Peck has devised, directed, and choreographed a 90-minute dance theater piece based on it, one that will indelibly be remembered as one of the most singular productions in recent Broadway history.