Credit: Catalina Kulczar
Credit: Catalina KulczarDavid Byrne is bringing an adaption of his 2018 tour show supporting his 2018 album American Utopia to Broadway starting October 4, following a preview engagement at Boston’s Colonial Theater that wraps this Saturday, September 28.
The ex-Talking Heads frontman tells ABC Audio that the prospect of performing for a Broadway audience, a portion of whom may not be familiar with any of his past work, is thrilling to him.
“I’m really excited that there’s a possibility that some of the audience at least will be people who’ve never heard of me, never heard of Talking Heads, and they’ll be hearing this stuff for the first time,” he maintains. “Part of that is really exciting because they’re not bringing any baggage to it. They’re taking it as it is. They don’t have any memories or preconceived ideas about the songs or anything like that. It’s just, like, what they see, what moves them, is really honest and authentic.”
While the production will obviously include songs from the American Utopia album, it will also feature a number of Talking Heads tunes, among them “Burning Down the House,” “Road to Nowhere,” “Once in a Lifetime,” “Slippery People” and “This Must Be the Place.”
Byrne says he found it really enjoyable to cherry-pick songs from his back catalog, including some “really popular ones,” to use in American Utopia that “fit what the show’s about [and] help tell the story.”
As previously reported, American Utopia will feature Byrne accompanied by an ensemble of percussionists and other musicians who move freely about a sparse stage. The show’s Broadway engagement will be held at the intimate Hudson Theatre and will run through January 19, 2020.
You can buy tickets for the New York City and Boston performances now by visiting, respectively, TheHudsonBroadway.com and EmersonColonialTheatre.com.
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