New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The original cast recording of the Tony Award-winning Broadway show Illinoise: A New Musical is now available in a two-LP vinyl set via Nonesuch Records, following its recent streaming, download, and CD release.
The new work features music and lyrics by Sufjan
Stevens based on his album Illinois, a book by Tony Award-winning director-choreographer Justin Peck (Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, Carousel) and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury (Fairview, Marys Seacole), and direction and choreography by Peck, who won the Tony Award for Outstanding Choreography for the show.
The New York Times exclaims: "The vocalists do not seem to sing so much as pour emotion into our ears." Variety says: "A thrilling, genre-defying Broadway musical brings the Sufjan
Stevens album to lyrical life." The Washington Post adds: "The landmark Sufjan
Stevens album springs to epic life onstage. A testament to the delicateness and danger of Stevens's work."
Illinoise moved to Broadway in April of this year, direct from two critically acclaimed sold-out productions at the Park Avenue Armory and
Chicago Shakespeare Theater, with performances at the St.
James Theatre on Broadway through last Saturday, August 10. Stevens' beloved classic "springs to epic life on stage," according to the Washington Post, with live music and vocals, choreography, and narratives centering on self-exploration and community set to the entirety of Stevens' album. Its songs—with new arrangements by composer, pianist, and frequent
Stevens collaborator Timo Andres, a Nonesuch artist, and
Music Supervision and Direction by Nathan Koci—range in style from DIY folk and indie rock to marching band and ambient electronics, performed by a live band and vocalists Elijah Lyons, My Brightest Diamond, and Tasha.
The album's band includes the vocalists and
Christina Courtin, Sean
Peter Forte, Domenica Fossati,
Daniel Freedman, Kathy Halvorson, Nathan Koci, Eleonore Oppenheim,
Brett Parnell,
Brandon Ridenour, Kyra Sims, and
Jessica Tsang.
With inclusion on several reviewer's "best of the decade" lists including those of Paste, NPR, and Rolling Stone, Sufjan Stevens' acclaimed 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. This musically ambitious work, which weaves together cinematic orchestral anthems, jazz riffs, and other musical influences, leads audiences on a mighty journey through the American heartland, from campfire storytelling to the edges of the cosmos.
The Broadway cast of Illinoise included Yesenia Ayala (film West Side Story, on Broadway in West Side Story), Kara Chan (Twyla Tharp Dance, Pam Tanowitz Dance), Ben Cook (film West Side Story, on Broadway in West Side Story), Gaby Diaz (winner of So You Think You Can Dance, films Maestro, West Side Story, and Tick, Tick… BOOM!),
Jeanette Delgado (Miami City Ballet, West Side Story film),
Carlos Falú (West Side Story film), Christine Flores (Dance Heginbotham, Pam Tanowitz Dance), Jada German (Twyla Tharp Dance, Metropolitan Opera), Zachary Gonder (Carmen at Lyric Opera, Pam Tanowitz Dance), Rachel Lockhart (Juilliard's Choreographic Honors program, Jacob's Pillow), Brandt Martinez (Aladdin), Dario Natarelli (New York City Center Encores!, Maestro film), Tyrone Reese (Juilliard School),
Craig Salstein (American Ballet Theatre, associate choreographer for West Side Story and Maestro films, Carousel on Broadway), Ahmad Simmons (Fosse/Verdon on FX, Hadestown), Byron Tittle (Dorrance Dance, In the Heights film), Ricky Ubeda (winner of So You Think You Can Dance Season 11, FX's Fosse/Verdon), Alejandro Vargas (Juilliard School) and Manny Houston, Tanner Porter, and Becca Stevens.
The album is produced by Dean Sharenow, Timo Andres, Nathan Koci, Garth MacAleavey, and executive produced by Orin Wolf and Nate Koch. It was edited, mixed, and mastered by Dean Sharenow at Steel Cut Audio and Garth MacAleavey served as recording engineer.
