Ahead of Illinoise’s Transfer to Broadway—What You Might Be Missing From the Sufjan Stevens Musical

Illinoise marks Peck and Stevens’s third collaboration, but it took Stevens 5 years to agree to it, and though he’s given it his blessing, the fiercely private musician has not been directly involved as no new music was required by the production. Instead, songs, as they appear on the Illinois album, unfurl in sequence, performed live with an orchestra and a trio of vocalists Elijah Lyons, Tasha Viets-VanLear, and Shara Nova, who was featured on the original Illinois album. With each song, a new story is told not with words but with dance choreography, overarchingly led by protagonist Ricky Ubeda. With Peck’s choreography—tender and organic, at times appearing unchoreographed, as though you’re catching a performer’s jerk-reaction happy dance)—along with the storyline, Illinoise tells of coming-of-age, feeling comfortable in your skin, first loves, first losses, and of course, the 1970s Chicago-based serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Jr.

Ahead of the show’s transfer to Broadway, Vogue catches up with Peck and Drury to discuss their reaction to the show’s feedback and its future.

Vogue: First of all, let’s confirm something; is your production pronounced Illinoise with a hard s? Or like the state?

Justin Peck: I do Illinoise (hard S) 75% of the time and, then I revert back to Illinois. I guess, officially, it would be Illinoise.

With the show’s transfer to Broadway’s St James Theatre, will there be any changes or is the production faithful to what you’ve staged in the past?

Peck: It is making the shift to Broadway, which we’re really excited about, but it’s really the production that we’ve created and designed that was presented at the Armory that is just moving into a Broadway run. The only difference is really—there are always a couple of little things we might tweak—but the only difference really will be how it adapts to the theatrical setting of St. James Theatre, which we’re really thrilled about because it’s a great fit, as far as Broadway theaters go, for this show. I think that the show will become even more energetic and vivid by putting it inside a more contained theater location. There’s a chance for this show to be felt more, not only in regards to the performances on stage but felt in terms of the audience experience—taking in something collectively with your neighbor next to you and being able to feed off of the energy of the crowd as well as the performers on stage. I think it’s actually going to be the most vivid version of the show yet.