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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

David Byrne's American Utopia

Streaming on HBO

As former lead singer and artistic mainspring of the band Talking Heads, David Byrne has come a far piece from the hallowed squalor of CBGB’s. Once a jittery Anthony Perkins type, today a genial snow-haired gent, Byrne has achieved grandmaster status as a multi-creative: film director (True Stories), dance composer (The Catherine Wheel), pop musical inventor (Here Lies Love), and roving ambassador for world music. What was left? Broadway, baby! In 2019, Byrne and company checked into the Hudson Theatre for the concert staging of his 2018 album, American Utopia. Gospel uplift with a funky beat, the show is now an HBO Special Event, directed by the Oscar- and Emmy-winning Spike Lee. —J.W.