American Utopia

Submitted by LT_Sargent on Sat, 03/12/2022 - 20:02
TitleAmerican Utopia
Year for Search2018
AuthorsByrne, David(b. 1952)
Date Published2018
PublisherUnpublished album, concert, play
ISBN Number978-1-63557-687-0
KeywordsCanadian author, Male author, Scottish author, US author
Annotation

The play and film are the most complete expressions of the idea, which has been compared to “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” or a utopia of nostalgia for the twenty-first century. The book is made up of words from the play, many simply the names of U.S. cities with an illustration.

Info Notes

It originated as a solo album in 2018. The release of the album was accompanied by a concert tour, which, modified, was premiered in Boston in September 2019 and on Broadway in previews October 4, with the official opening October 20, closing February 10, 2020. Also, a film directed by Spike Lee premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, September 10, 2020, and was shown on HBO Max, October 17, 2020. An unpaged book, not a script, with words by Byrne and art by Maira Kalman was published New York: Bloomsbury, 2020.
Author Note

(b. 1952)
Full Text

2018 Byrne, David (b. 1952). American Utopia. It originated as a solo album in 2018. The release of the album was accompanied by a concert tour, which, modified, was premiered in Boston in September 2019 and on Broadway in previews October 4, with the official opening October 20, closing February 10, 2020. Also, a film directed by Spike Lee premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, September 10, 2020, and was shown on HBO Max, October 17, 2020. An unpaged book, not a script, with words by Byrne and art by Maira Kalman was published New York: Bloomsbury, 2020.

The play and film are the most complete expressions of the idea, which has been compared to “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” or a utopia of nostalgia for the twenty-first century. The book is made up of words from the play, many simply the names of U.S. cities with an illustration. The author was born in Scotland, moved at an early age with his parents to Canada and then to the United States before he turned ten. He is best known as a musician, first as part of Talking Heads, followed by a solo career and work in film, theatre, and television.