David Byrne

American Utopia develops from an isolated figure towards a mobile community of musicians, with Annie-B Parson's choreography and musical staging central to that progression. Byrne has described the show as a journey outwards, towards other people and the wider world. The relatively clear stage makes relationships between bodies unusually visible. Watch the concert film for how formations, movement and spoken passages connect songs from different periods. The result demonstrates that theatrical storytelling can emerge from an ensemble's organisation without a large fictional set.