“Oh, great White City
I’ve got the adequate committee
Where have your walls gone?
I think about it now.”
—Sufjan Stevens

Come on Feel the Fair! A stage musical adaptation of Sufjan Stevens’ acclaimed 2005 concept album Illinois, which features a song about the 1893 World’s Fair, will open this summer.

The lyrics in Illinois reference iconic persons, places, and events related to the Prairie State. In addition to tracks about UFOs, zombies, and predatory wasps is the triumphant “Come On! Feel the Illinoise!” (Part I: The World’s Columbian Exposition – Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream).

Tony Award-winner Justin Peck (Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, Carousel revival) transforms Stevens’s music and lyrics into a full-length theatrical performance with a cast of virtuosic dancers, singers, and musicians in a narrative crafted with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury (Fairview). The musical will feature new arrangements of the entire album for a live band and three voices, ranging in style from DIY folk and indie rock to marching band and ambient electronics.

Illinois makes its world premiere on June 23 at the Fisher Center at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. After closing there on July 2, the show is expected to then play in Chicago.