Photos: First Look at Justin Peck & Jackie Sibblies Drury's ILLINOIS at the Fisher Center at Bard

The Fisher Center at Bard is presenting its world premiere production of Illinois, a music-theater work based on Sufjan Stevens' acclaimed album of the same name.

Get a first look at photos below!

Directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner and frequent Stevens collaborator Justin Peck (Carousel on Broadway, Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, New York City Ballet), with music and lyrics by Stevens and a story by Peck and Pulitzer Prize-winner Jackie Sibblies Drury (Fairview, Marys Seacole), this union of visionary artists is an ecstatic pageant of storytelling, theater, dance, and live music. Round-trip coach transportation from NYC will be available for the additional performance.

For Illinois, frequent Stevens collaborator Timo Andres has created new arrangements of Stevens' songs-which stretch from DIY folk and indie rock to marching band and ambient electronics-to be performed by a live band (led by Nathan Koci, music director of the Fisher Center's Tony Award-winning production of Oklahoma!) and three vocalists (including Illinois album backing vocalist Shara Nova), with twelve dancers embodying and propelling their ambitious storytelling. Illinois leads audiences on a journey through the American heartland, from campfire storytelling to the edges of the cosmos.

Part of the Fisher Center's 20th Anniversary Season: Breaking Ground, Illinois kicks off SummerScape 2023 (June-August, 2023), the Fisher Center's annual summer festival. The production exemplifies the Fisher Center's role as an internationally influential hub of artistic innovation and incubation, following works such as Daniel Fish's production of Oklahoma! and Pam Tanowitz's Four Quartets.

Stevens' 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. Peck transforms Stevens' giddily melodic Americana collage into a full-length theatrical performance, working with Sibblies-Drury to thread together a narrative that honors the album's structure-and draws movement from its moments of rhapsody, sweetness, anxiety, and anguish. As Pitchfork wrote of Illinois in a rare "9.2"-rated review, "Stevens has a remarkable habit of being rousing and distressing at the same time, prodding disparate emotional centers until it's unclear whether it's best to grab your party shoes or a box of tissues."

The music-theater adaptation of Illinois had been percolating as an idea since Peck first articulated it on a whim at a dinner with Stevens in 2014; it finally takes exuberant form nearly a decade later, and with the collective imagination of a dynamic team, in its world premiere at the Fisher Center. Peck sought dancers who were not only technically extraordinary, but whose manner of gesture and expression made them exceptional storytellers. They include Kara Chan (Four Quartets), Ben Cook (Spielberg's West Side Story), Jeanette Delgado (Spielberg's West Side Story), Gaby Diaz (winner of Season 12, So You Think You Can Dance?), Tilly Evans-Krueger (Moulin Rouge! The Musical), Jonathan Fahoury (New York City Ballet), Jennifer Florentino (Spielberg's West Side Story), Brandt Martinez (Moulin Rouge! The Musical), Craig Salstein (American Ballet Theatre, Spielberg's West Side Story), Ahmad Simmons (Fosse/Verdon), Byron Tittle (In the Heights film), and Ricky Ubeda (winner of Season 11, So You Think You Can Dance?), with swings Jada German, Matthew Johnson, Zachary Gonder, and Dario Natarelli.

Shara Nova, Tasha, and Tariq Al-Sabir perform vocals and on guitar and synths. The band comprises Christina Courtin (violin/viola), Domenica Fossati (flute), Daniel Freedman (drums), Sean Forte (piano and keys), Kathy Halvorson (oboe), Nathan Koci (banjo), Eleonore Oppenheim (bass), Brandon Ridenour (trumpet), Kyra Sims (horn), Jess Tsang (vibraphone).

The creative team includes Sufjan Stevens (Music and Lyrics, based on the album Illinois), Justin Peck (Director/Choreographer/Story), Jackie Sibblies Drury (Story), Olivier Award nominee Nathan Koci (Music Direction and Supervision), Timo Andres (Music Arrangements and Orchestrations), Tony Award nominee Adam Rigg (Scenic Design), Brandon Stirling Baker (Lighting Design), Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung (Costume Design), Garth MacAleavey (Sound Design), Andrew Diaz (Props Design), Julian Crouch (Masks), Adriana Pierce (Associate Direction & Choreography), Sean Forte (Associate Music Direction), and Natalie Hratko (Production Stage Manager).

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