When emotions get too big for speech, you sing; when too big even for song, you dance. But what if the emotions are huge from the get-go? That’s the challenge and, it turns out, the glory of “Illinoise,” a mysterious and deeply moving dance-musical hybrid based on Sufjan Stevens’s similarly named 2005 concept album. But not together: Among a thousand other smart choices, Justin Peck (who directed and choreographed) and Jackie Sibblies Drury (who, with Peck, wrote the story) have delaminated the songs from the characters, thus avoiding the jukebox trap that diminishes both. perform a parallel story without being forced into overliteral connections.

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Persons: “, Justin Peck, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Peck Organizations: Armory Locations: Illinois