Review: EVERY BRILLIANT THING at Fulton Theatre

One of the most useful strategies to combat anxiety, chaos, and uncertainty is to make a gratitude list. This endeavor serves as the focal point of Fulton’s latest, appropriately named show, Every Brilliant Thing.

Andrew Kindig is charming as the unnamed narrator in this one man show. He is very dynamic and knows exactly how to engage with the audience. He shares his character’s struggles that led him to create a never-ending list of all the good things in life like ice cream, water fights, and the color yellow.

While Kindig is fantastic in the role, he deserves special credit for his improvisational ability to interact with the intimate fourth -floor audience. Throughout the night, he calls on people to serve as his father, his girlfriend, and others. The audience members selected were warm, positive, and confident in their impromptu dialogues. It was truly amazing to see how comfortable folks were with being playful, energetic, and in some cases, profound.

The lady pretending to be his grade school guidance counselor was asked to take the sock off of her foot and make it into a puppet to converse with the narrator. This bit could have turned out to be really silly, or easily go off of the rails, but it didn’t. The woman introduced us to “Betty the Labrador Retriever”, who interacted with a soothing, wise demeanor that would give Fred Rogers a run for the money. The rest of us were close to tears afterwards. Truly, the audience interactions are among the most brilliant things this script has to offer!

Katelin Walsko, the prop designer, deserves major accolades. Prior to the show, ushers asked audience members if they would like a slip of paper that lists one source of numbered gratitude. We were asked to shout out what it said when our number was called. While some of the slips were simple post it notes, others were cleverly matched to the content. For example, my entry “#994-A Hairdresser that actually listens to you” was written on the back of a beautician’s business card. These types of small touches made a big difference.

You should know that the show is not all sunshine and lollipops. The narrator discusses mental illness, suicide and even acts out euthanizing a pet dog (don’t worry, it wasn’t Betty the Lab) that bring significant gravitas to the story.