ILLINOISE Adds Three Matinee Performances To Broadway Run

The Tony Award-winning new musical ILLINOISE featuring Tony-winning choreography by Justin Peck has added three matinee performances to its strictly limited engagement through Saturday, August 10 at the St. James Theatre (246 West 44th Street).

ILLINOISE will now perform three additional matinees on Wednesday, July 10; Wednesday, July 17 and Wednesday, July 24. 

The new musical recently won the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Choreography (Justin Peck) and the Chita Rivera Award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Broadway Show.

ILLINOISE moved to Broadway direct from two critically acclaimed sold-out productions at the Park Avenue Armory and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Stevens' beloved cult classic comes to life with live music and vocals, choreography, and narratives centering on self-exploration and community, and a book by Tony Award-winning director-choreographer Justin Peck (Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, Carousel) and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury (Fairview, Marys Seacole).

A company of performers brings the original story to life, set to the entirety of Stevens' album with new arrangements by composer, pianist, and frequent Stevens collaborator Timo Andres, ranging in style from DIY folk and indie rock to marching band and ambient electronics, performed by a live band and vocalists. ILLINOISE is a “mysterious, deeply moving and unforgettable dance-musical hybrid that explores the hot zone between childhood and adulthood when emotions can be at their most overwhelming. The vocalists do not seem to sing so much as pour emotion into our ears. (New York Times).”

The cast of ILLINOISE includes Ben Cook, Gaby Diaz, Ahmad Simmons, Ricky Ubeda, Elijah Lyons, Tasha Viets-Vanlear, Yesenia Ayala, Kara Chan, Jeanette Delgado, Carlos Falú, Christine Flores, Jada German, Zach Gonder, Manny Houston, Rachel Lockhart, Brandt Martinez, Dario Natarelli, Tanner Porter, Tyrone Reese, Craig Salstein, Becca Stevens, Byron Tittle, and Alejandro Vargas.

In addition to Stevens, Peck, and Drury, the creative team includes Music Director and Supervisor Nathan Koci, Music Arranger and Orchestrator Timo Andres, Scenic Designer Adam Rigg, Lighting Designer Brandon Stirling Baker, Costume Designers Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung, Sound Designer Garth MacAleavey, Props Designer Andrew Diaz, Mask Designer Julian Crouch, Associate Director and Choreographer Adriana Pierce, Associate Music Director Sean Peter Forte, Production Stage Manager Christopher R. Munnell, Production Management by Aurora Productions and Brian Freeland, General Manager and Executive Producer TT Partners.

With inclusion on several reviewer's “best of the decade” lists including those of Paste, NPR, and Rolling Stone, Sufjan Stevens' acclaimed 2005 concept album Illinois enjoys cult status for its lush orchestrations and wildly inventive portrayal of the state's people, landscapes, and history, complete with UFOs, zombies, and predatory wasps.

This musically ambitious work, which weaves together cinematic orchestral anthems, jazz riffs, and other musical influences, leads audiences on a mighty journey through the American heartland, from campfire storytelling to the edges of the cosmos.