Most musicians would probably consider themselves lucky if they get to work with one iconic director. David Byrne, it seems, is even more fortunate than that. In 1984, Byrne worked with director Jonathan Demme to make “Stop Making Sense,” a now-iconic concert film that changed the way we think about music in film. And now, almost 40 years later, Byrne will work with director Spike Lee on an adaptation of “David Byrne’s American Utopia,” the singer-songwriter’s hit 2019 Broadway production.
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“David Byrne’s American Utopia,” which features Byrne as both performer and storyteller, offers audiences a look back on his career as a musician. In his note for the show, Byrne described his fascination with having an ensemble that is free to roam the stage without cords or electronics. “With all this work to achieve emptiness,” Bryne wrote, “we want people to notice it! I hate seeing all the gear, speakers, stagehands, tech and support stuff that tends to crowd and surround concert stages. Now I can relegate all of that to the edges.”
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Given Bryne’s pride for the ‘emptiness’ of his production, it will be interesting to see how Lee translates his show to the big screen. Part of the appeal of Byrne’s stage show is the intimacy it contains. In his review, The New York Times’s Ben Brantley described the show as not unlike “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” “In [“Stop Making Sense”], even when he’s sharing a mic with another singer, Byrne registers as an isolated being, in radioactive communion with himself alone,” Brantley wrote. “In ‘American Utopia,’ he’s in propulsive dialogue with everyone onstage, and with the audience, too.”
Regardless, with whatever he and Lee dream up, don’t be surprised if Byrne finds a way to re-reinvent the concert film once more in the back-half of his career.
