My Personal Take on Illinoise: A Thrilling, Queer Broadway Show
For the love of queer millennial art
If there’s one thing the new Tony-Award-winning Broadway music-and-dance revue Illinoise does, it makes you feel emotions strongly and deeply. At best, the show takes you through the therapeutic and healing relief of sharing your trauma in a safe intimate space. At worst, it makes you reflect in despair on what you or anyone would have in common with notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy Jr.
The show is built around the ethereal music of Sufjan Stevens and formulated into a musical book by Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury that takes the viewer on a queer-positive journey using movement. Set at a campfire deep in the woods, each of the characters shares deeply personal stories about their lives. The principal story arc belongs to Henry, played by Ricky Ubeda, and revolves around friendship, love, and loss.
Millennial Queer Art for Queer’s Sake
Few things are gayer than Broadway. Throughout the Great White Way’s long history, a fair but not large number of shows have examined queer life through an authentic lens. Long before TV’s important but flamboyantly stereotyped depictions of gay characters like Jack in Will & Grace, Broadway took a grounded approach with shows like…
