ILLINOISE heading back to Chicago in 2027 -- who's going?

[macbeth]

ILLINOISE heading back to Chicago in 2027 -- who's going?#1

Posted: 5/16/26 at 12:05pm

Just saw that Chicago Shakespeare is bringing ILLINOISE home in their 2026-27 season!
https://www.chicagoshakes.com/productions/2627-illinoise/

For a show that was so quintessentially CHICAGO in its DNA (and named after the state!), it feels almost overdue that it's getting a proper Midwest homecoming. The Broadway run was such a unique experience -- that dance-forward storytelling, the Sufjan score live -- and the question is whether the original Justin Peck choreography and Jackie Sibblies Drury book stay intact or get reimagined for the Yard at Chicago Shakes.

Anyone else hoping for some original cast to return? I'd love to see Ben Cook or Ricky Ubeda back on stage. And does this make a tour more likely down the line?
 

[SteveSanders]

ILLINOISE heading back to Chicago in 2027 -- who's going?#2

Posted: 5/16/26 at 12:29pm

February 9-March 4, 2027 for those looking to plan ahead.

[ardiem]

ILLINOISE heading back to Chicago in 2027 -- who's going?#3

Posted: 5/16/26 at 1:14pm

It also overlaps with Dead Outlaw (Feb 10-March 21, 2027) coming to Chicago!

[ACL2006]

ILLINOISE heading back to Chicago in 2027 -- who's going?#4

Posted: 5/16/26 at 1:26pm

Maybe they'll launch a tour shortly after?

A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.

[RippedMan]

ILLINOISE heading back to Chicago in 2027 -- who's going?#5

Posted: 5/16/26 at 2:04pm

It started at the Yard so I’d imagine it would stay that way but I’d love to see a whole new take. 

[Sutton Ross]

ILLINOISE heading back to Chicago in 2027 -- who's going?#6

Posted: 5/16/26 at 3:56pm

This could tour all over the world and be incredibly successful. It's brilliant and cheap to run. Enjoy, Chicago!

[dramamama611]

ILLINOISE heading back to Chicago in 2027 -- who's going?#7

Posted: 5/16/26 at 4:47pm

Not going, but lord, I loved that show. 

If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it? These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.

[AC126748]

ILLINOISE heading back to Chicago in 2027 -- who's going?#8

Posted: 5/16/26 at 4:50pm

dramamama611 said: "Not going, but lord, I loved that show."

Me too. The only show on Broadway since COVID that I've gone to see twice. I'd honestly consider planning a trip to Chicago around seeing this again.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body

[schubox]

ILLINOISE heading back to Chicago in 2027 -- who's going?#9

Posted: 5/16/26 at 4:59pm

ardiem said: "It also overlaps with Dead Outlaw (Feb 10-March 21, 2027) coming to Chicago!"

Oh nice. Guess I’m going back to Chicago next year