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  "path": "/theater-stages/2026/05/18/illinoise-sufjan-stevens-dance-musical-justin-peck-chicago-shakespeare-theater-broadway-tony",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-18T13:24:40.940Z",
  "site": "https://www.wbez.org",
  "textContent": "<p>Tony winning choreographer Justin Peck will return to Chicago early next year to remount “Illinoise,” his Tony Award-winning dance musical set to the genre-bending Sufjan Stevens album of the same name.</p><p>The musical, which headed to Broadway after a lightning fast run in early 2024, will return as a highlight of Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s 40th anniversary season, announced Friday.</p><p>Artistic Director Edward Hall told WBEZ/Sun-Times that the return of “Illinoise,” running Feb. 9-March 14, 2027, answers a demand from audiences who missed its<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/culture-the-arts/2024/01/30/sufjan-stevens-musical-illinoise-in-chicago-2024\" target=\"_blank\" ><u> sold-out premiere</u></a> here in 2024 before the production decamped for Broadway and, just under the awards deadline, won a Tony for choreography.</p><p>“It was born at Chicago Shakespeare Theater and because of the pressures of the onward life of it, it left very quickly,” Hall said of the production, staged by a live band and dance chorus. “All of us felt that it was unfinished business.” Peck will direct the production, but casting has not yet been announced. Several high-profile local musicians, including Tasha Viets-VanLear and Shara Nova, performed in the Chicago staging in 2024.</p><div class=\"Enhancement\" data-align-center> <div class=\"Enhancement-item\" data-crop=\"\"> <figure class=\"Figure\"><a class=\"AnchorLink\" id=\"image-4b0000\" name=\"image-4b0000\"></a> <picture data-crop=\"medium\"> <source type=\"image/webp\" width=\"490\" height=\"275\" srcset=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/d73c8c0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8192x4598+0+433/resize/490x275!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F67%2F75%2F233b227046899978793029221ab3%2F20240125-sufjan-stevens-mm0068.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6f58a8f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8192x4598+0+433/resize/980x550!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F67%2F75%2F233b227046899978793029221ab3%2F20240125-sufjan-stevens-mm0068.jpg 2x\" loading=\"lazy\" /> <source width=\"490\" height=\"275\" srcset=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/699c42c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8192x4598+0+433/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F67%2F75%2F233b227046899978793029221ab3%2F20240125-sufjan-stevens-mm0068.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" /> <img class=\"Image\" alt=\"20240125_Sufjan_Stevens_mm0068.jpg\" srcset=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/699c42c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8192x4598+0+433/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F67%2F75%2F233b227046899978793029221ab3%2F20240125-sufjan-stevens-mm0068.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b9c3b34/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8192x4598+0+433/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F67%2F75%2F233b227046899978793029221ab3%2F20240125-sufjan-stevens-mm0068.jpg 2x\" width=\"490\" height=\"275\" src=\"https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/699c42c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8192x4598+0+433/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F67%2F75%2F233b227046899978793029221ab3%2F20240125-sufjan-stevens-mm0068.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" > </picture> <div class=\"Figure-content\"><figcaption class=\"Figure-caption\"><p>Justin Peck, director and choreographer of “Illinoise,” poses with playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury in 2024 in Chicago as the production prepared to premiere at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. The theater announced the dance musical will return in 2027. </p></figcaption><span class=\"line\"></span><div class=\"Figure-credit\"><p>Manuel Martinez/WBEZ</p></div></div> </figure> </div> </div><p>The return of “Illinoise” from Broadway comes within days of a Chicago Shakespeare announcement that it is sending to Broadway its co-production of the horror-themed<a class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.wbez.org/theater-stages/2025/10/09/paranormal-activity-chicago-shakespeare-levi-holloway\" target=\"_blank\" ><u> “Paranormal Activity,”</u></a> written by Chicago’s Levi Holloway.</p><p>The 2026-27 season also will feature the world premiere of a Pat Benatar-backed “Heartbreakers,“ based on the classic “Romeo and Juliet.” The show will pull from the rock catalog of Benatar and her creative and romantic partner Neil Giraldo — “known as the Romeo and Juliet of rock and roll,” said Hall – for a 1980s-themed musical set in a dance hall.</p><p>The starcrossed lovers get brought back to life a second time next season in the bilingual “Romeo y Julieta,” directed by Henry Godinez, in a show that builds on the theater’s momentum with Spanish-speaking audiences. “There’s a big appetite for bilingual Shakespeare on stage,” Hall said, nodding to strong sales of “Hamlet” by Peru’s Teatro La Plaza in March.</p><p>The theater’s 40th anniversary season will kick off in September with “Play On,” a Duke Ellington-themed retelling of “Twelfth Night,” created by Sheldon Epps. Starting in October, the theater will notch its first repertory staging with consecutive productions of “The Winter’s Tale” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” starring the same 14-person cast under the direction of Hall.</p><div class=\"Enhancement\" data-align-center><div class=\"Enhancement-item\"> <div class=\"ExternalContent-wrapper\" > <div class=\"InstagramUrl\"> <blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DYXqEVvEfI6/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\"><div style=\"padding:16px;\"> <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DYXqEVvEfI6/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; 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font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\">View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"></div> <div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\"><div> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"></div> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"></div> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"></div></div><div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\"> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"></div> <div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)\"></div></div><div style=\"margin-left: auto;\"> <div style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"></div> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"></div> <div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"></div></div></div> <div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\"> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"></div> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"></div></div></a></div></blockquote> <script async src=\"//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js\"></script> </div> </div> </div></div><p>The theater will offer at least five marathon days where audiences can see both productions back-to-back, Hall said. “The work that Shakespeare has made is so famous all over the world is rooted in the idea of an ensemble, and Chicago has such a strong relationship and tradition of ensemble acting,” he said. “We've never done this before at CST, and for our 40th anniversary, it seemed like a beautiful moment to do that.”</p><p>The theater will continue in the 2026-27 season to offer a “Short Shakespeare” program for student field trips, a multipart “Demystifying Shakespeare” course for curious adults and $30 tickets for audiences under 30.</p><p>“One of the things that's consistently important for us is that the work on our stages represent the breadth of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods,” said Kimberly Motes, the theater’s executive director. “I think this season really does continue to demonstrate that commitment to our Chicago communities.”<br></p>",
  "title": "The Sufjan Stevens dance musical ‘Illinoise’ will return to Chicago Shakespeare in 2027",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-18T13:24:40.940Z"
}