David Byrne Taking American Utopia to Broadway

Starting in October:

Journal | The Human Connection

 

Dates of the Broadway and Boston pre shows are here:

American Utopia

 

The show was so good on tour, it should be amazing when they can settle in and dial in one venue.

 

+1000 One of the most enjoyable shows - of any sort - that I've ever attended.

 

Same with me. I still rave about it.

Great concert. Now it’ll be a great concert/show.

 

Just realized I'll be in Boston and had a free evening Sept 12! Going!

 

wow, great news. saw two shows on this tour, will go to at least one of these Broadway performances.

 

Saw the 2nd night of the preview in Boston. Definitely added a little more dialog to create a more coherent story (baby brain losing connections -> adult brain). Smaller stage made it more intimate. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it, even if you saw the tour. There are a few different song selections to improve the flow of the story. So much personality in all the performers.

 

This really needs to be filmed and properly documented.

 

My wife and I are going on Sunday October 27! Very excited!

 

Saw him last year in Philly. Just blown away by this show! My wife and I nearly flew to FL the next day to see it again. Got my tickets for broadway as soon as they went on sale. Can't wait to see this in early November!

 

Missed it last year at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn . Saw it on Broadway last night . Simply fantastic. The staging, technology, and movement are just stellar, and the music was everything one could ask for. My wife, who's an 80s music fan, was beside herself (with happiness) during the Talking Heads tunes they did. See it if you can!

 

I subscribe to David Byrne's newsletter and align with his politics and ideas about music in so many ways. I went to buy tickets to this show and was unpleasantly surprised to see that the cheapest tickets were getting close to $200. Sorry, but that's way too much...even if it's an amazing show. I'm a little disappointed that the show is (what I would say is) inaccessible to most people.

 

I saw it in Boston. Great concert. But not a show worthy of Broadway, in my opinion (and I love musical theater). It's not much more of a concert with some choreography

The attempt to give it an intellectual thread doesn't really work, and, unlike when he's performing the songs, David Byrne reads the "patter" from a monitor. It's very stilted. The performance of the songs, on the other hand, were joyous. I sat next to a couple that had seen the tour last year. They didn't think that there was all that much difference.

An orchestra seat at the Colonial Theatre in Boston, 10 rows from the stage, was $169. Too much for what was essentially just a concert.

In contrast, Springsteen On Broadway was a much more considerate piece of theater, with more thought put into it as a theater work.

 

That's kind of a bummer. We had really good seats for around $150 for the tour (after fees), which was insane, but we're also both huge fans who'd never seen him, and who knows how many more chances we'll get, especially living in a market that's not NYC or LA. But that was $150 for good seats, in a touring production. You'd think the expenses would be cheaper not having to travel and move the show every night, but then it being "broadway" and in NY, I guess that means they can make it even more expensive than the touring gigs.

At least this, unlike Bruce's thing, Byrne actually toured first so a lot of people got to see it without having to go to (or be in) NYC. Setlist.fm says he did 144 shows in 2018?? That's insane for a guy pushing 70. But I think he did it the right way, at least, as far as access goes. I'm sure there's some differences between what he's doing on broadway and what he toured, but it seems essentially the same in a broad sense.

 

That's like the ultimate relationship test:
"Honey shall I get you a ticket to see David Byrne with me, or just get you a diamond ring?"

Meanwhile most fans are just waiting for this extended Broadway encore to be done and finally get the show on disc with splendid sound.

 

Definitely find you a partner who opts for the ticket.

Also, apparently it's already out?? I had no idea a live album was even being released, and it's been out for a few days already. You've failed me, internet. ‎American Utopia on Broadway (Original Cast Recording Live) by David Byrne

 

That didn’t sound right to me, like he knows he can’t hit the notes so he avoids them.

 

So would sounding “right” be to attempt to hit notes you know you can’t?

 

I’d have rearranged and let the choir hit some high notes for me, to avoid the overall flat sound

 

I'm going to be in NYC for the Marathon the first week of November and my wife surprised me with tickets. We were on the fence about seeing this tour in Charlotte last year and are both looking forward to it. I never got to see the Talking Heads back in the day so David Byrne has been on my "wish list" for quite a while.

 

Going to see the show next Saturday. Just bought the soundtrack today! Saw the show at the Mann Center in Philly in August 2018. Still the best show my wife and I have seen! Can't wait to see it again!

 

I saw this Broadway show from the Dress Circle (Hudson Theater has three levels, from lowest to highest: Orchestra, Dress Circle and Balcony). I saw the tour in 2018 from within 10 rows in front of the stage.

The shows works from close up or far back and high up. Close up and stage level, you'll get more immediacy to the performers, and the action feels more chaotic with multiple performers dancing in front and behind each other on stage. Far back and higher up, the action feels more orderly because you see an extra dimension of front to back of stage, like a God's eye view of chess pieces laid out on the board.

Hudson Theater is small, compared to other Broadway theaters: it seats under 1,000. (For comparison, the Broadway theaters for Wicked and Lion King seat over 1,900 and 1,600, respectively.) I went up to the back row of the Balcony to see the view, and I would have been happy sitting there for this show (unlike just about any other Broadway theater in NYC). The only seats I would least recommend are the far back rows of the Orchestra and far back rows of the Dress Circle: the overhang will block your view of the upper part of the stage. It won't ruin the experience, as you'll still see well above the performers' heads, but there are a couple staging elements that use the upper part for large shadows projected against the back wall.

The Broadway show is similar to the concert I saw, but they added more theatrical staging elements and brief dialogue by David Byrne in between many songs. The Broadway show is halfway between a theater show and concert. The audience followed theater etiquette of no standing, no singing along, and no photos. Many people were dancing and grooving hard with their butts in their seats. Only towards the end of the show did David Byrne give the audience permission to stand up and dance. Before the show, a prerecorded announcement just asked people not to take too many photos, and I saw people snapping a photo or two in between songs.

I got my tickets from TKTS and paid under $100 all-in for my seat in the Dress Circle. The TKTS clerk told me the show does regularly release tickets to TKTS, but not every day, and it's been hit or miss how good the seats are for any given day.

The lounge at the Dress Circle level features a great collection of original Talking Heads and David Byrne concert posters, from David Byrne's personal collection. Make your way upstairs to see that. Very cool to see!

One of the ushers said that David Byrne sometimes does step outside for photos and autographs after the show, but he never does that between two shows on the same day.