David Byrne’s American Utopia Receives Special Tony Award

The Great White Way has mostly remained dark since the pandemic began more than a year ago. The 74th Annual Tony Awards were supposed to be held in June 2020, but kept being postponed until tonight. So despite there being almost no Broadway performances in the past year, the awards will celebrate musicals and plays that debuted in the 2019-2020 season before it was cut short. And it comes just as Broadway is once again opening back up again for shows.

And David Byrne’s American Utopia — which started its initial Broadway run in October 2019 before closing in February 2020 — is being honored with a Special Tony Award, which are presented to outstanding productions that don’t fall into any of the competitive categories at the show. This award comes just as American Utopia returned to Broadway last week. Byrne accepted the award in-person at the Tonys telecast, which aired on Paramount+.

Byrne was also recently on CBS This Morning to talk about the importance of concerts, a topic he also spoke about on the Tonys red carpet. Here are clips from those:

Musician David Byrne discusses the importance of collective rituals, such as concerts, which have been denied us during the pandemic lockdown, and how their return is part of our healing.https://t.co/DOrVH3Zyno pic.twitter.com/qVBJrJxofi

— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) September 26, 2021

And here’s Byrne arriving at the show on his bike: