David Byrne's American Utopia delivers "an experience unlike anything else" (Billboard) and marks a major cultural milestone in the worlds of music and theater. Innovative pop/rock icon David Byrne (Talking Heads, Here Lies Love) shares the spotlight with a diverse ensemble of 11 musical artists from around the globe.
Together with production consultant Alex Timbers and choreographer Annie-B Parson (his collaborators on Here Lies Love), Byrne and ensemble deliver "a marvel of staging and motion" (Chicago Tribune) that's as surprisingly poignant as it is supremely funky. Don't miss this "thought-provoking example of the power of live music" (Forbes).
American Utopia began as an album that David Byrne released on Nonesuch Records in March 2018. The recording was his first to reach number 1 on the Album Chart and was also his first to reach the Top Five on the Billboard 200 chart. The theatrical concert, which includes songs from American Utopia along with songs from Talking Heads and his solo career, played more than 150 dates in 27countries over nine months in 2018.
While this neophyte to David Byrne's work found American Utopia to be an entertaining, sometimes moving, change of pace from his typical Broadway assignments, he'll defer to his Byrne-loving theatre companion who found the evening absolutely thrilling. Judging from the audience's response, she wasn't alone.
I must admit I found the mix of ecstatic music-making and aesthetic constraint similarly joyful and puzzling. Is this coolly mechanized realm the utopia referred to by the title, a place we want to be, a monochromatic escape from the overstimulating particularities of life? Or are we witnessing what it's like inside the prison of being David Byrne? Of being ourselves? You know the etymology of utopia, right? Fittingly, Byrne chooses Little Creatures' nihilist frontier anthem, 'Road to Nowhere,' for the encore. If the road ends here, I'm totally OK with that.
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