“Illinoise” may be called a new musical on Broadway, but its real language is dance.
Tony Award-winner Justin Peck directed and choreographed “Illinoise,” a 90-minute show without any dialogue.
“Illinoise” opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on Tuesday, and the story follows a group of teenagers exploring their friendships and sexualities. It’s based solely on the 2005 indie folk concept album “Illinois” by Grammy and Academy Award-nominee Sufjan Stevens. The adapted songs from the album are sung by vocalists in the orchestra. The main cast, which includes Brandt Martinez, Ricky Ubeda, Jeanette Delgado and more, don’t speak a single word in the entire musical.
“When I first heard it [‘Illinois’] I was like, ‘This is mind blowing, and it has so much range to it,’” Peck told Variety at the premiere on Tuesday. “Everything from these quiet whispers of songs to big orchestral moments and everything in between. And I just felt like there was a world to build based off of that, and I wanted to honor the music and present it in a way that’s not only sonic, but also kinetic and visual.”
Early in the process of creating the show, Peck and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury had a conversation about potentially having dialogue in the show but came to the decision that went the characters spoke, it weakened the quality of the show.
“We [Peck and Drury] felt like if there was a way to tell this whole story, without speaking, that would be the most ideal because it just gives it this energy in the space that’s unlike so many other things,” Peck says. “I think that’s why it feels sort of like a silent film because you’re watching all of this action, and this body language, and also these amazing moments of dance and it all comes to life without any words. It’s told in a very unconventional way, so it has all the elements of a musical. It has music, dance, story, lyrics, song, singing, but all those things are sort of shattered and then put back together in a very unique way that suits the show.”
“Illinoise” is up for four Tonys this year, including best new musical, orchestrations, lighting design of a musical and choreography.
Drury adds, “I would categorize it pretty firmly as a musical. I feel like there’s something that’s funny about how the American Songbook musical has sort of taken hold of the way that we think the musical can be, but I think that they can be all kinds of things.”
Ubeda, one of the main dancers in the show who previously worked with Peck on Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” and Broadway’s “Carousel,” says he relies a lot on gesture and emotion to carry his performance.
“It’s cool to let emotion really carry us through the narrative,” Ubeda says. “As an audience member, you get to pick up on what matters, which is what the visceral feeling is and what these characters are going through and you sort of get to meet the show, wherever you are and paste your own experiences onto it.”
Peck says because the show is unconventional, he faced obstacles to bring “Illinoise” to life.
“The resources were a little more scarce, and the marketing of it was challenging because it sort of defies genre, it’s like ‘What exactly do you call it?’” Peck says. “My hope is that it can be a part of adding more variety into what a musical could be. A musical could look like this, and then it could also look like something that is more conventional or standard as a form.”
Source Agencies
