Jackie Sibblies Drury is fresh off writing Illinoise, a Tony award-winning Broadway musical revue inspired by Sufjan Stevens’ 2005 album Illinois. The playwright, a Brooklyn resident for over a decade, wrote the musical with choreographer Justin Peck.
“I’m so proud of this project and deeply grateful to every single person that has made it, makes it every night and has contributed to it, and I’ve learned a lot from all the performers, designers and Justin,” said Drury. “This is a unique piece of theater in that the performers have all this training, but I don’t know if they had the training to do a dance musical based on a Sufjan Stevens indie album. Part of the magic is that we found ourselves here, and we’re inspiring each other and it’s exciting.”
Stevens’ work was previously nominated for both an Academy Award and a Grammy award for his song “Mysteries of Love” featured on Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name” (2017). Illinois, his first album to top the Billboard 100 chart, was his second work named after a U.S. state, playing on a joke that Stevens would eventually release 50 state-inspired albums.
“It was a pretty extensive process to get the go-ahead from Sufjan, and he’s been incredibly generous about just giving the project its space to develop, allowing us to honor this music, and trusting us with what is such a beloved album,” Peck told WNYC.
Nearly two decades after the album’s release, Drury co-wrote Illinoise with Tony award-winning choreographer Peck.
“[Justin and I] hadn’t known each other. We’ve gotten to know each other throughout this project,” said Drury. “The genesis of the show came from him, and once Justin started to work on adapting Illinois in earnest, he’d done a workshop to put some of his choreography…
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