Summerscape Stages Theatrical World Premiere Of Cult-Status Album “Illinois”
The work’s resistance to categorization makes it the perfect inaugural event for this year’s SummerScape.
"Illinois." Photo by Roksana Bashyrova
Anticipation and surprises are part of the allure of a world theatrical premiere such as “Illinois.” But given the foundation of Sufjan Stevens’s cult-status album and Justin Peck’s exhilarating choreographic mix, this musical-theater event has garnered an exceptional amount of pre-opening buzz. "Illinois,” which kicks off Bard’s 2023 SummerScape, explores the American heartland through music, dance, and storytelling. The artists heading up the evening-length work include Sufjan Stevens (music and lyrics), Justin Peck (direction, choreography, story), and Pulitzer Prize winner Jackie Sibblies Drury (story). The production runs from June 23 through July 2.
Stevens released the 22-song album, “Illinois,” in 2005, earning raves in the indie music world. Lyric topics range from predatory wasps to Casimir Pulaski Day to zombies. Peck, resident choreographer at New York City Ballet, has expanded his scope beyond ballet to Broadway (“Carousel,” Tony Award) and film (West Side Story, directed by Steven Spielberg). He first collaborated with Stevens on “Year of the Rabbit” for NYCB in 2012; since then, they’ve worked on several dances such as the ebullient “Everywhere We Go.”
Gaby Diaz, Byron Tittle, Jeanette Delgado, Jonathan Fahoury. Photo by Maria Baranova
“Illinois” is the first collaborative dive into musical theater for Stevens and Peck, who have each garnered laurels for their respective contributions to music and dance. Stevens’s lush harmonics and sparkling orchestrations manage to capture both filigreed detail and the vastness of space. He was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music to create “BQE”, about the notorious urban highway, complete with hula hoopers to complement a mesmerizing film, and “Round-Up,” keying off of rodeo. Stevens has defied categorization with other projects on subjects including the Chinese zodiac, an ode to his late mother, and two Christmas box sets. His last two albums, both released in 2021, were Convocations, a five-volume requiem mass for present times, and A Beginner’s Mind, comprising songs inspired by pop films. Peck, for many years a soloist dancer with NYCB, quickly established himself as a gifted choreographer who has since created dozens of dances for the company. He is fluent in classical ballet, and also smartly navigates contemporary and street-influenced syntaxes. From the energy and warmth radiating from the stage, it’s apparent that his dancers love to perform his steps.
Timo Andres, an accomplished composer and performer who frequently works with Stevens, has created new arrangements of “illinois,” to be performed live by a band led by Nathan Koci and three vocalists including Shara Nova. (Andres, Stevens, and Conor Hanick recently released the classical album Reflections.) A dozen superbly accomplished dancers will perform, including from Spielberg’s ”West Side Story” (Jeanette Delgado, Craig Salstein, Jennifer Florentino, Ben Cook), Pam Tanowitz Dance and NYCB (Kara Chan, Jonathan Fahoury), Broadway and TV (Ricky Ubeda, Byron Tittle, Ahmad Simmons, Brandt Martinez, Tilly Evans-Krueger, and Gaby Diaz). Other creatives include Adam Rigg (scenic design), Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung (costumes), and Brandon Stirling-Baker (lighting).
Kara Chan, Jada German, Ricky Ubeda, Ben Cook. Photo by Maria Baranova
Surprisingly, Stevens once held disdain for ballet, deeming it anachronistic and irrelevant before Peck contacted him about using his music for his Koch Theater acclaimed choreographic debut, “Year of the Rabbit.” Stevens grew to admire the form, saying in the New York Times that it’s “about absence of self — there is no ego in it, even though there is extreme self-consciousness. Ballet is like proof of the existence of God.” “
Illinois,” which Peck listened to as a teen, is the culmination of an idea springing from a dinner he had with Stevens in 2014. He recalls “being blown away by the whole world that it opened up: the way it fluidly could move between such a variety of styles and compositions.” That could just as well sum up Peck’s oeuvre, shifting seamlessly between ballet, tap, and street dance. The work’s resistance to categorization makes it the perfect inaugural event for this year’s SummerScape, a festival that has presented countless sui generis performances and boundary-crossing artworks.
