A cult classic album gains new life, and new meaning, onstage
It’s hard to describe Sufjan Stevens’ beloved 2005 album “Illinois” in a sentence. Even a paragraph – the next one included – wouldn’t do the 74-minute project justice.
Thematically, the Prairie State’s history is but a starting point. In addition to touching on locales like Peoria and Decatur, figures like Frank Lloyd Wright and Carl Sandburg, and esoterica like the 1893 Columbian Exposition’s White City, the album’s tracks meditate on love, loss, liberation, Christianity, mystery, and self-discovery. Listeners will hear shades of rock, folk, jazz, electronica, and classical minimalism. Mr. Stevens performs on 20 instruments, ranging from oboe, saxophone, and recorder to banjo, organ, and accordion.
So it’s fitting that the new stage adaptation, “Illinoise”opening March 7 at New York’s Park Avenue Armory after a
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