ILLINOISE Reviews — Page 4

FYI, their in person rush today had ~30 people in line when the box office opened at 10am. Tickets are partial view in the orchestra. Looking at Seat Geek, both show are close to being sold out today.

Well, just hand this show the Tony already. There's no other new musical on Broadway this season that pulls you in immediately and tells a story as beautifully as ILLINOISE does. It's a sin Ubeda wasn't put into the lead actor Tony category. I'm still in awe of what I just saw. Gorgeous music, stunning lighting, beautiful dancers. Only issue(s) I had was the development of the smaller characters that kind of get unnoticed. The show is more or less centered around the three male leads. I desperately wanted more and the 90 minutes flew by.

Seating note: my partial view rush seat was slightly obstructed (right orchestra, E20). I saw the billboard but missed anything that happened on the second level. I really want to see this again but from a better seat. I thought about moving to the SRO section in the back, but wasn't sure if it was available.

I agree that this show won't appeal to tourists or even the older theatergoers. I, too, heard several people say as I exited the theater that said "I'm not sure what exactly happened" or "what was this about?". So maybe their limited run will be enough unless it ends up winning the Tony. Maybe they'll look to transfer this to a smaller theater in September and have it run for six more months?

ACL2006 said: "I agree that this show won't appeal to tourists or even the older theatergoers. I, too, heard several people say as I exited the theater that said "I'm not sure what exactly happened" or "what was this about?". So maybe their limited run will be enough unless it ends up winning the Tony. Maybe they'll look to transfer this to a smaller theater in September and have it run for six more months?"

The negative or mixed quotes that I mentioned came from the younger audience members. The older ones, from what I heard, appreciated it.

I’m not exactly sure what I just watched…. Maybe I don’t understand art. Who knows? But this so totally wasn’t my thing. I completely appreciate the talent of the dancers, vocalists, and musicians. It certainly was impressive how much choreography they learned and performed it non-stop. As for the “story” - were they even telling a story at first or just doing individual dance numbers? Once Henry’s story started it began to unfold and was easier to follow. I so badly wanted to like this and connect with this, but I really didn’t. I refrained from checking my watch the entire time and after each piece ended kept hoping it was the last one. I also don’t understand how this is being called a musical. It is quite literally a dance narrative. The whole thing sort of just confused me. I will say it seems the audience was really enjoying it though. I also understand how this would be enjoyable for people who love interpretive modern dance. Just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Of note, I won the lottery for this. Was placed in the right orchestra row B seat 8. Off to the side but close. Not a terrible seat, not the best. No one was sitting in the aisle seat one row back in row c so I moved there which was a better seat. Overall I think this would have been more enjoyed further back and probably in the front mezzanine. I didn’t get the full effects of the whole dance numbers or lighting like I know I would have further back. I tried not to let affect my opinion of the show, but can’t help but think I may have a felt differently if I were in a different seat. Something to note they use spot lights in the back of the stage pointing toward the audience, angles house left and right, so had a giant light in my face during the numbers when the corn field was showing. Was pretty annoying, though thankfully wasn’t for the whole show

Jordan Catalano said: "Wait, with those side seats, you missed the entirety of what happens up there during “The Seer’s Tower”???

I’d demand a refund.

Partial view is one thing but no view of something that beautiful and important to the story is unforgivable."

I could see the bottom half of the dancers and kind of understood what was going on. I get why these seats are the rush seats.

What a truly beautiful piece of theatre. I think I felt every emotion under the sun in the course of the 90 minute run time. After an overstuffed season with a lot of ho-hum shows, Illinoise a breath of fresh air.

Ricky Ubeda as Henry and Ben Cook are both doing tremendous work, and I hope both of them get the Tony nods they so deserve. The vocalists sing beautifully. The lighting design is exquisite - some of the best lighting I’ve seen on Broadway in a while. The simple set serves the story.

The story is compelling. The characters here are more fleshed out than a lot of characters in the new book musicals this season. This is a true testament to the power of the stunning choreography. The ninety runtime is perfect for this show. Just a really beautiful show in every sense of the word.

After about the third mention of Ricky Ubeda in this thread it finally hit me that he was the understudy I saw give an absolutely knock-out performance as Bernardo in Ivo's West Side Story. I felt at the time that the shutdown totally robbed him of potentially becoming a major player. Subsequently, the youtube videos of him dancing in his Miami backyard during lockdown were just so sweet and dazzling but also heartbreaking as I kept thinking what might have been had he been able to stay performing in New York. My excitement about seeing Illinoise in June has just about quadrupled.

Updated On: 4/27/24 at 07:23 PM

Piping in here to say I sat in the mezzanine, slightly house right, and the only person I couldn't see was the conductor. Great seats. Beautiful show. I loved it, but definitely was more invested once the story about Henry began. The singers' voices were enchanting and the orchestra sounded amazing. The sound engineer is getting an incredible mix in the house. I would aim for Mezz seats if you can.

Exactly. It won't work for anyone that expects a traditional musical. Or anyone that doesn't want to think. Or anyone to whom dance doesn't speak. Age has nothing to do with it.

dramamama611 said: "Exactly. It won't work for anyone that expects a traditional musical. Or anyone that doesn't want to think. Or anyone to whom dance doesn't speak. Age has nothing to do with it."

I will disagree with you on one point. Like I said in my first post about this, modern dance does absolutely nothing for me but I was more taken with this show than anything else this season and immediately saw the show again. It actually gave me a new appreciation for what dance can do, as far as storytelling.

I guess it really is more of individual tastes. I am a big fan of dance. I’ve always checked on what’s happening at Joyce Theater and at the City Center and BAM. I knew nothing about Illinoise when I first bough the tickets early on at the Armory. I’m not even a big fan of Justin Peck. So I was critical about the show from the start. At first I thought it was good. Not great. Don’t get me wrong the choreography was excellent… but I’ve seen better. I kept thinking…. Hmm Travis Wall might have made this better, or Mia Michales… group dancing Sonya Tayeh might have interpreted it better. Or Christopher Wheeldon…. Great modern dance choreographers. I didn’t even know Ricky Ubeda was there and I’ve religiously watched his SYTYCD season.


Everything was fine and I have a smile on my face all thoughout the show until the story of Henry started. And I wasn’t prepared for that. That hit me so hard. Somehow every movement, facial expressions, connections, the music - they all made sense. I never experienced that particular coming of age story as a gay man but somehow it became personal. The lighting, the music, the voices, the movements all brought me such a cathartic experience that I’ve never felt anything this season. Justin Peck’s impeccable direction elevated this dance musical into a work of art.

Wow! Such a great show. Had my tickets set this weekend’s annual Spring theatre trip (Cabaret, Tommy, Hell’s Kitchen, and Merrily We Roll Along) for quite a while and was bummed I’d miss this late transfer. But a surprise Thursday matinee made this one possible!

Fantastic in every way possible

Updated On: 4/28/24 at 01:54 PM