From the early days of Talking
Heads, David Byrne has been developing unique and fascinating new
ways to present his music to the world. There’s no finer example of
this than the jaw-dropping American Utopia show, which the NME
called “The Best Live Show Of All Time”.
Today we are delving inside the process of creating and performing
the show from its early touring incarnation through to the wildly
successful Broadway run that has just triumphantly resumed at the
St James Theatre. I talk to key members of the band and cast about
the show's merging of rock concert with modern dance piece and
Broadway show, the innovative staging and unique challenges of
reconfiguring classic songs for the show, the costumes, memories
from the road, celebrity encounters, working with Spike Lee on the
film version, how they went from collaborators to family and the
challenges and joys of finally bringing the show back a year later
than planned.
Thank you to cast members Angie Swan, Bobby Wooten, Chris Giarmo,
Mauro Refosco and Stéphane San Juan for sharing their insights and
stories, to Aussie queen of rock radio Zan Rowe for joining me to
break down what makes the show special and publicist Michelle
Farabaugh for making the whole thing possible.