Peer Reviewed: Illinoise

Illinoise at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, A Review by Liz Bazzoli

The spirit of three stars… | Photo by Liz Lauren

I started listening to Sufjan Stevens during my freshman year of college at that point in quarantine when it seemed easier to just sink into the melancholic haze of acceptance rather than hold out for a quick return to normalcy. Since then, his music has been a frequent companion of mine, one of the few remnants I am willing to hold onto post-2020.

Stevens was my most listened-to artist of both 2022 and 2023. How many nights has Carrie and Lowell lulled me to sleep? My morning routine is set to the sounds of A Beginner’s Mind. After braving the disappointments of college dating, “Mystery of Love” makes me a believer once more. And on late-night L rides, as I watch the lights of the Loop glitter over the Chicago River, Illinois reminds me of the uniquely Midwestern majesty I’ve made a temporary home.

Naturally, when I heard that the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre was producing Illinoise, a staged adaptation of Sufjan Stevens’ 2005 concept album, I knew that I would not miss it for the world.

Are you writing from the heart? | Photo by Liz Lauren

Illinoise: A New Kind of Musical (its full title) premiered in June 2023 at Bard College’s Fisher Center. Its Chicago Shakespeare premiere is the musical’s fitting Midwest debut. The show, which Fairview playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury and West Side Story choreographer Justin Peck wrote and directed respectively, translates Stevens’ series of eccentric musings on the Land of Lincoln into a semi-biographical narrative of Stevens’ own writing process and relationship to the album. Those familiar with the Illinois album, the songs of which range from the cheery escapist fantasy of “Chicago” to the dark and introspective “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.”, know that creating a cohesive musical from this source material is no small feat.

And indeed Illinoise is unlike any jukebox musical preceding it. It is hardly like a musical in any traditional sense. I would describe the experience as something closer to ballet or a contemporary dance piece in that none of the performers sings the songs they embody. Rather, a live band–donning Sufjan Stevens’ trademark wings–performs the music to the actors’ wordless choreography. Though untraditional, this approach feels like the only authentic homage to both the nature of Stevens’ music, which the singers of this production manage to recreate with shocking accuracy, and the narrative Drury and Peck have set out to tell. With the imagery Stevens can create with his lyrics and the stage images these performers form with their bodies, dialogue is hardly necessary.

We have a lot to give one another | Photo by Liz Lauren

There are two conceits at work in Illinoise. In an episode of guilt-ridden grief, main character Henry (our Sufjan Stevens insert) flees the comfort of his home to chance upon a circle of similarly wayward writers, each of whom has his or her own story to share about the state of Illinois. Thus the musical’s first half is told through a series of dance vignettes (and yes, this is how the writers manage to incorporate “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” into this whole thing). Once everyone in the circle shares, the attention shifts back to a trepidatious Henry: What brings him here? Having ventured the state through the musings of others, he shares his own story of love and loss in Illinois, forming the musical’s second half.

We were in love…| Photo by Matt Murphy

While the latter half of the musical hardly lacks the beauty of poignancy of the first — I could not give more praise to Ricky Ubeda’s moving performance as Henry nor to Justin Peck’s stunning choreography–I don’t know if both concepts necessarily work together. There is a beauty to the first half in that it asks the question, “Whose Illinois is it?” How does a centuries-old state, with millions of stories to tell, manifest in different minds and memories? How might individuals envision their own place within the state’s (sometimes unsavory) history? That to me feels like a closer thematic representation of the original Illinois album than the biographical tilt that comes halfway through the musical’s runtime. Henry never really gets to identify himself as part of this writer’s circle because the plot becomes almost too invested in the depths of his life story. I find that this leaves the ending a little hollow, too simply arrived at. Stevens, too, is pretty famous for his use of Biblical allegory and allusions in his work. Illinois has no shortage of this, but you will not see much if any of this addressed or staged as part of Illinoise. This to me feels like another lost opportunity, as to represent literally what Stevens clearly means to be elegiac and amorphous feels like another misunderstanding of the source text.

Nonetheless, I find Illinoise to be a welcome entry into the world of celebrity musicals. I see this as a joy for fans of Stevens and for the uninitiated, alike. And for those of you who happen to be from Illinois, I doubt you will see any other stage show in your life name-drop Decatur, Peoria, and Highland within the span of ninety minutes.

Illinoise is playing at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre until February 18th. Students are eligible for $20 tickets.

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“Peer Reviewed” is a series in which Honors students can share their thoughts and interpretations of art, literature, theatre, film, and other forms of popular media.