Illinoise opened at the St. James Theatre on April 24, 2024.
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Today, August 10, 2024, Broadway says goodbye to Illinoise, which takes its final bow at the St. James Theatre Theatre following 116 regular performances. The venue will soon be home to Sunset Boulevard, which begins performances on September 28, 2024.
The universally praised 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 “springs to epic life on stage (Washington Post)” 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.
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