Septemseemed “doable” though, according to Freedman. The show was originally slated to resume last fall. and I’ve noticed that on a personal level, it’s changed the way I perceive music and think about music and its relation to dance and performance.” “So it adds another it that adds almost intangible unity and quality to the music side that, you know, it’s really rare. “It’s not just 12 musicians on stage behind their instruments, but it’s 12 musicians also moving through space while playing together,” said Freedman. Daniel Freedman and Jacquelene Acevedo, two of the band’s six percussionists, spoke about to Our Town about the show. Without the confines of cords or equipment, the band members, with their various instruments (mostly drums), don matching suits and perform in grayscale. Like him, or the version of himself he presents here, they’re heading into the twilight, wondering why the hell they haven’t grown up yet,” Brantley wrote. “In “David Byrne’s American Utopia” - an expansive, dazzlingly staged concert - he emerges as an avuncular, off-center shepherd to flocks of fans still groping to find their way. The New York Times’ co-chief theater critic Ben Brantley, like several others, compared Byrne to Mister Rogers in his 2019 review upon the show’s original Broadway debut. As Byrne recorded the songs for his “American Utopia” album, the idea came to him to play it live. Having equal representation has always been a part of this show.Īs Byrne wrote in a note in 2019 published on the show’s website, “American Utopia” did not come together all at once, but rather it “evolved organically” over time during the planning stages. James Theatre on September 17, is comprised of 12 band members, including Byrne - most of whom are Broadway outsiders with strong backgrounds in music - and several of them are people of color. The show, set to return to Broadway’s St. This sent the lives of entertainers everywhere into limbo as productions went on pause.ĭavid Byrne’s “American Utopia” had finished its stay on Broadway and subsequent cross-country tour, totaling around 300 shows, in February 2020 before the pandemic. Participant Media, River Road Entertainment, Warner Music Entertainment and Radical Media are executive producing and financing the project, with Participant as lead.As we return to a new normal, over a year after the start of the pandemic, Broadway is seeing a revival of its own - and at time when we could all use a little “Once in a Lifetime” feeling.Īt the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Broadway went for dark the first time since the Spanish Flu in 1919. Producers on the film include Byrne and Lee. ET/PT, and to stream on HBO Max.ĭavid Byrne’s American Utopia is executive produced by Jeff Skoll, David Linde, Diane Weyermann, Len Blavatnik, David Bither, Charlie Cohen, Kurt Deutsch, Bill Pohlad, Christa Zofcin Workman, Jon Kamen, Dave Sirulnick, Meredith Bennett, Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, and Patrick Catullo. The transformative musical experience will be made available on HBO beginning Oct. The performance is based on Byrne’s 2018 album and tour of the same name, and includes choreographed performances of songs from the album American Utopia, in addition to popular Talking Heads favorites such as “Once in a Lifetime” and “Burning Down the House,” and covers of Janelle Monáe’s “Hell You Talmbout.”Īlso featured throughout are brief inter-song monologues that allow the Scottish-born, American-raised, songwriter and singer to address various socio-political topics such as voter turnout, climate change, and immigration.Īcademy Award and Emmy-winning filmmaker Spike Lee serves as director and produces via his prodco 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. The 105-minute film, which held its world premiere as the opening night film at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, documents the performance of former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and an ensemble of 11 musicians on Broadway at New York’s Hudson Theatre. American premium cable network HBO will launch David Byrne’s American Utopia, the feature-length documentary from BlacKkKlansman director Spike Lee, in mid-October.
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