Every Brilliant Thing (Hudson Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

Daniel Radcliffe returns to Broadway in Every Brilliant Thing, his first stage appearance since his Tony-winning turn in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along. As he has in each of his New York outings, Radcliffe proves himself a formidable stage presence.

Here, however, his skills are tested to the limit: Every Brilliant Thing is a one-man show. Even with generous audience participation, it is Radcliffe who must guide—and control—every moment.

Written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe and directed here by Jeremy Herrin and Macmillan, the play first premiered to great success a decade ago at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before transferring to New York, where Donahoe also starred. Since then it has been performed in some 80 countries and filmed for HBO with Donahoe. The current production stems from a recent West End run that featured stars including Minnie Driver and Lenny Henry.

The premise is simple but affecting. Radcliffe plays an unnamed narrator reflecting on how his mother’s suicide attempt when he was a child shaped the course of his life. When she returns home from the hospital, he begins compiling a list of everything—small or large, trivial or profound—that makes life worth living. Over the years, as he grows up, falls in love, and marries, the list grows as well, helping him cope not only with his mother’s recurring crises but with his own bouts of melancholy, until he finally arrives at a kind of reckoning.

Before the performance begins, Radcliffe and several stage managers circulate through the theater, distributing numbered cards—each bearing an item from the list, ranging from “ice cream” to “a really good sneeze.” Audience members call these out when Radcliffe cues the numbers. A handful of volunteers seated onstage take on slightly larger roles, portraying figures such as the narrator’s father, his teacher, and eventually his spouse.

While the device creates an atmosphere of inclusivity that many in the audience clearly relish, it can also grow a bit wearisome, particularly when some participants deliver their lines flatly or inaudibly. Still, at a brisk 70 minutes, the show hardly overstays its welcome.

Radcliffe remains the evening’s undeniable engine, shifting nimbly from breezy good humor to moments of genuine emotional reflection. Yet the production’s buoyant, participatory tone sometimes sits uneasily alongside its darker themes of suicide and depression.

Along the way, the script offers some pointed observations about how we speak—or fail to speak—about suicide. In keeping with that focus, the production has partnered with the mental-health nonprofit Project Healthy Minds, which provides resources for those who may need them.

Vicki Mortimer designed both the thrust stage (effectively lit by Jack Knowles) and Radcliffe’s increasingly sweat-soaked costume, while Tom Gibbons supplies the sound design.

For all its structural quirks, Every Brilliant Thing ultimately rests on Radcliffe’s shoulders—and he proves more than capable of carrying it.

(The Hudson Theatre, 141 W 44th Street; everybrilliantthing.com; through May 24)

Photo by Matthew Murphy: Daniel Radcliffe.

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