Brian Schaefer

Nearly two decades ago, Justin Peck moved from San Diego to New York to dance with the prestigious New York City Ballet and ended up, somewhat unexpectedly, establishing himself as one of the world’s top ballet choreographers. He now serves as the company’s artistic advisor and resident choreographer, celebrated for infusing ballet with youthful, virtuosic vitality. In recent years, he has brought his elegant, protean style to Broadway, winning a Tony Award for his choreography in Carousel, and to Hollywood, where he reimagined Jerome Robbins’s iconic moves for Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story. All along, Sufjan Steven’s seminal 2005 concept album Illinois remained a source of inspiration, and Peck dreamed of bringing it to life on stage. Last month, Illinoise (now spelled with a final e) arrived on Broadway under his direction, and shortly thereafter received Tony nominations for Best Musical and for Peck’s choreography. We talked with Peck by phone about the “beautiful vomiting” of Illinoise’s first iteration, what he learned from Spielberg about directing, and how the show has helped him process a recent tragedy: the death, in a train accident, of the show’s production stage manager, Thom Gates. First, I want to acknowledge that it's been a difficult time for the whole Illinoise community. How are you doing with the sudden passing of Thom Gates? It's a bit of whiplash emotionally for everyone. It followed our celebratory opening. Waking up to that news was just