David Byrne’s ‘American Utopia’: A Heady Swirl of Hope for Our Anxious Times

The production opens with a curtain of elegant thin-metal chains slowly rising as Byrne, a spectral figure with white hair lit from above, sits in a chair at a card table, holding a model of a brain.

Byrne has been slyly subverting sloppy rock concert conventions since before the Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense tour that was captured by director Jonathan Demme for the , redefining what we expected from our music idols. Here, he’s worked with choreographer Annie-B Parson to create something that’s slick and surreal, at times quirky and confusing, but ultimately playful, accessible, and full of joy.

That doesn’t mean all is perfect. Byrne’s interstitial banter can feel awkward and heavy-handed. At times, he tries to show connections between disparate parts of the audience, or compels people to register to vote and have optimism in our democracy. All worthy sentiments, but somehow they feel like timid speed-bumps working against the jubilant music-making.

While Byrne can seem diffident when trying to reach the audience through soliloquy, it also lends the production a certain charm and authenticity rather than having the hour-and-45-minute show coming across as too-highly choreographed. And he hasn’t lost tinges of irony. While explaining how a school choir he’d worked with had interpreted the newer “Everybody’s Coming to My House” as an inclusive good-time ditty, he performed the anxious track laced with glee.

I know this isn't a PC thing to say in our times, but Broadway needs to ban the pop & rock stars from Broadway. Not a healthy theatre trend, anymore than comic book/action hero movies are to film.

I saw it when DBtodomundo was on tour with it. Absolutely one of the best live performances ever!

NursepollyRgn It's amazing. Seen it in Dublin . Outstanding.

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