Talking Heads Frontman David Byrne on His Broadway Show

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So “American Utopia”, it might sound a little sort of, you know, off kilter really in this, as we’ve described, partisan and kind of toxic atmosphere. But you say it without any irony. I mean, you’re quite careful to say this is not an ironic statement.

DAVID BYRNE, CREATOR, “DAVID BYRNE’S AMERICAN UTOPIA”: Yes. It’s not meant ironically. It’s meant to be — well, as a friend from London who saw the show early on said, well, the utopia is right there on stage. We see it. We see what’s possible. We see what can be or what we can aspire to. And it’s not just like empty words. It’s like there it is, there’s evidence.

AMANPOUR: So, tell us, because for those of us that haven’t seen it, I mean, I saw it and I really feel the same way. I mean, you took some very important themes and highlighted them. Give me one of them. The utopia, what do you see on the stage? You talk about your band, for instance.

BYRNE: Yes, the band is from a lot of different places all over the world. There’s people from different races, different genders, yes, all that. It’s very mixed up in a way I feel like that’s America. That’s the America that I know. That’s the America that I think what America stands for.

AMANPOUR: You’re an immigrant yourself.

BYRNE: I’m an immigrant myself. I mentioned that. I mentioned that my parents brought me over from Scotland when I was little and that we’ve all made homes here. And look, here we are on a Broadway stage.

AMANPOUR: It is amazing and it’s got such great reviews. And I just wonder what kind of reaction you get from the audience, from people who come back and see you. Well, what do they say about what you’re trying to say and what you are saying there?

BYRNE: They tell me that it’s — well, they tell me that it gives them home, that it’s atonic (ph), that it’s something that they need right now, this sort of thing, which could make it sound like it’s just like, oh, this is going to cheer you up. This is like a happy little thing. We hit on a lot of issues, we talk about a lot of things that are kind of dark and — but in the end, we kind of show you that here we are, we’re together in this.