Listen up for 'Every Day Is a Miracle,' 'Slippery People,' 'Once in a Lifetime,' and 'Burning Down the House.' A rendition of Janelle Monae's protest song 'Hell You Talmbout,' along with brief allusions to local elections, lends a bit of political heft. Unspooling over 100 unbroken minutes the set list covers new and old songs and fan favorites and lesser-known music from Byrne's career. 'We don't have any cable or wires attached to us in these shows, attaching to gear or equipment or any of those kinds of things,' Byrne says. Unrestricted movement, or the opposite of lockdown, underpins this theatrical experience. After all, masked theatergoers leaving home still grapple with an ongoing global health crisis that plunged them into lockdown. The bit got giggles before, and still sparks laughs, but for different reasons. Thank you for leaving your homes,' he says. Byrne acknowledges that the script, though the same as before, may land a bit differently now than in the pre-pandemic 'old world.' Case in point: his exuberant welcome to the audience in the opening moments. American Utopia, based on the former Talking Head frontman's 2018 album and tour of the same name, remains essentially unchanged.īut, as it's said, it's all in the timing. Two years down the road, the world has changed in dramatic ways. There's also a filmed live-capture performance directed by Spike Lee, who was in the audience (doing research, perhaps?) when I sat rapt at the production for the first time in October 2019. The show returns with triumphant signs of its success, including a shiny special Tony Award for its four-month sold-out run that wrapped in February 2020. David’s work over the past few years has been focused on highlighting hope and optimism in a world that is engulfed by despair and bad news.Īmerican Utopia uses a dark and bleak canvas with just the musicians for props and starts off with David handling a vivid pink extraordinarily large brain! The discomforting feeling is set off by the uplifting and novel music that will have you swinging through different moods.Pricking up your ears - and your peepers - in a state of streaming delight goes with the territory at American Utopia, David Byrne's dazzling concert production back on Broadway for an encore joy jolt. The main theme, however, is based on America as a utopian experiment. The show includes David’s songs from his previous albums as well as the latest album including ‘I Dance Like This,’ ‘Gasoline and Dirty Sheets,’ and ‘Everybody’s Coming to My House’. The company includes Jacquelene Acevedo, Gustavo Di Dalva, Daniel Freedman, Chris Giarmo, Tim Keiper, Tendayi Kuumba, Karl Mansfield, Mauro Refosco, Stephane San Juan, Angie Swan, and Bobby Wooten III. David involved a brilliant company of eleven musicians who are amongst the world’s best percussionists and classical musicians. Following its success, he took the show on live tour where he experimented with the visual aesthetics of the show. It’s an extremely freeing experience and one that should not be missed! David Byrne's American Utopia : Broadway Storyĭavid Byrne’s American Utopia is a musical experiment that is based on the solo album of the same name, released in 2018.

The set involves the 12-person company dressed up in grey suits, attached to their instruments moving over the stage without constraint.

The American Utopia show is a visual and motion experience and David has partnered with choreographer Annie B-Parson to create a movement to the legendary songs. He has even been enlisted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and is known for his work as the lead guitarist of band ‘Talking Heads’.

He has revolutionized the way musicians work on the stage and move without any cords tethering them and hampering their movement.ĭavid is one of the best contemporary artists in the world and has won several awards including Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, and Drama Desk awards. That’s what David Byrne says about his latest show ‘American Utopia’ and true to his vision, he has created an exciting show that has never been showcased on Broadway before. I had this vision of how exciting that would be – both for me and for an audience’. I imagined a live show…I pictured a lot of drummers, a kind of drum line/samba school/second line – that would create the rhythms. ‘As I was recording the songs for my American Utopia album, it occurred to me that they would be exciting to play live – and I realized that a lot of my older material would fit right in. David Byrne's American Utopia : About The Show

American utopia broadway tickets