“Rainbow Around the Sun” is a visual adaptation of the the album of the same name by singer-actor Matthew Alvin Brown. In the vein of classic rock operas like “Tommy,” “Pink Floyd: The Wall,” and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” “Rainbow” tells its story almost entirely through songs and imagery.

Brown stars as Zachary Blasto, a hard-drinking but talented songwriter and performer who lives out madcap musical fantasies to avoid dealing with the downward spiral of his personal life. Featuring vaudevillian dance numbers, honky tonk performances, and an animated Busby Berkely-style number that must be seen to be believed, “Rainbow Around the Sun” is a rock and roll delusion that plays like a favorite album come to life.

A selection of the IFP Narrative Rough Cut Lab, “Rainbow” world premiered at SXSW 2008, and is currently seeking finishing funds for completing a final sound mix.