The performers kneel and Byrne speaks at length about the need to vote. The first image to appear on the otherwise bare stage is that of Colin Kaepernick. While there is boundless joy to be seen and heard on stage, there is also an undercurrent of outrage and anxiety running through the loose narrative of the show. Every aspect of David Byrne’s American Utopia insists that we connect with the music in a communal way, and Lee’s fluid direction helps this idea reverberate through us without distracting from the music. The camera moves to close-ups of Byrne’s face, eyes, and feet, roving over the stage to create an ever-changing tableau of visual splendor. Lee, with his small army of camera operators and director of photography, Ellen Kuras, brings an added layer of dynamism to the show for the crowds watching from home. Like the late Jonathan Demme did with Stop Making Sense, Spike Lee isn’t just there to document the stage show but instead to heighten it. As Byrne muses in one of his spoken interludes, watching people is the most interesting thing in the world. Byrne and his troupe’s choreography is mesmerizing, their dynamism bouncing off of every corner of the stage. One second they’re all a loose collective, everyone dancing and playing in different directions, together but apart, the next they’re unified in song, all performing in syncopated rhythm. All dressed in identical gray suits, they dance, sing, perform and prowl around Byrne, constantly re-staging themselves across the Hudson Theatre’s stark stage. Both Byrne and Lee have, for decades, separately been exploring the ways people connect through art, and both artists’ respective utopias are more similar than might first appear – they are both places where we see each other honestly and truly.Ĭonnectivity is woven into the very fabric of the performance with Byrne backed by 11 international musicians and dancers. It makes sense that Spike Lee chose to be a part of this project. Byrne then points to another area on the brain: “Here is a connection with the opposite side.”Ĭonnection and community are the guiding elements of David Byrne’s American Utopia. “Here is an area of great confusion,” the former Talking Heads singer says from a minimalist stage, a model brain poised in his hand. Gray-haired, gray-suited, and barefoot, Byrne opens American Utopia with “Here,” the final song on his recent album. More than just a concert, however, American Utopia mixes musical theatre and performance art, with Byrne tying together his loose assemblage of songs with monologues and thoughtful musings about America today. Related: “David Byrne’s New Album: A Reason to Be Cheerful” Riding on the success of his American Utopia album and subsequent Broadway show in 2019, David Byrne’s American Utopia is a filmed version of the stage production, which incorporates most of the “American Utopia” album, along with classic Talking Heads hits like “Once in a Lifetime,” “Burning Down the House,” and “This Must Be the Place.” Now, in 2020, when things seem to make less sense than ever, Byrne has paired up with Spike Lee to deliver a joyous musical performance and the perfect antidote for these trying times. Thirty-six years ago, David Byrne and the Talking Heads delivered one of the most acclaimed concert films of all time in Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense.
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