Every Brilliant Thing Broadway Reviews

CRITIC'S PICK - And something more is happening here, too. Radcliffe makes himself extraordinarily available to us — his fondness for the audience radiates outward from wherever he is onstage. When participants make tiny errors (say, Mrs. Patterson...

CRITIC'S PICK - And something more is happening here, too. Radcliffe makes himself extraordinarily available to us — his fondness for the audience radiates outward from wherever he is onstage. When participants make tiny errors (say, Mrs. Patterson’s joke is a dud), he laughs with unguarded delight. He thanks those yelling out their brilliant things with a courtly nod. Radcliffe doesn’t just do away with the fourth wall, he manages to expand his magical aren’t-people-wonderful optimism to include the whole orchestra, mezzanine and balcony. (His “Merrily” co-star and friend Jonathan Groff achieves a similar area-of-effect spell in “Just in Time.”)

Yet launching a conversation around mental health with an audience magnet as powerful as Radcliffe is on balance an excellent thing. And Radcliffe’s compassionate portrayal of a survivor recognizing that he’s not out of the woods just because he ...

Yet launching a conversation around mental health with an audience magnet as powerful as Radcliffe is on balance an excellent thing. And Radcliffe’s compassionate portrayal of a survivor recognizing that he’s not out of the woods just because he made it into adulthood is one of those things that makes a theater lover just a little more appreciative of the humanity at the center of this art form.

*CRITIC'S PICK* Broadway performances, despite their sensational acting and writing, often follow a certain set of conventions. However, “Every Brilliant Thing” shatters the format, making it a true breath of fresh air. The difficult topics of de...

*CRITIC'S PICK* Broadway performances, despite their sensational acting and writing, often follow a certain set of conventions. However, “Every Brilliant Thing” shatters the format, making it a true breath of fresh air. The difficult topics of depression and suicide are referenced throughout the show’s script. Yet the show is a reminder that amid all the challenges and heartache that life throws at us, there is always something to look forward to, even if it’s just for a little while.

But without specificity and motive, one is left with a thickly padded elaboration of an idea that Rodgers and Hammerstein compressed into two and a half minutes in The Sound of Music’s “My Favorite Things.” Primo tickets for Every Brilliant Thi...

But without specificity and motive, one is left with a thickly padded elaboration of an idea that Rodgers and Hammerstein compressed into two and a half minutes in The Sound of Music’s “My Favorite Things.” Primo tickets for Every Brilliant Thing cost more than $400, and if you don’t mind spending top dollar on a dime-thin show, this one won’t disappoint; it’s diverting and at times even touching. But, appealing though he is, there may be better things on which to spend that money than 70 minutes of Radcliffe doing crowd work.

Radcliffe is costumed (by Vicki Mortimer, who also designed the effective boxing-ring style set) in a purple sweatshirt that, at least during the reviewed performance, he was perspiring through by the show’s half-way point (there is no intermission...

Radcliffe is costumed (by Vicki Mortimer, who also designed the effective boxing-ring style set) in a purple sweatshirt that, at least during the reviewed performance, he was perspiring through by the show’s half-way point (there is no intermission). And that is the only way he lets us see him sweat, so seemingly easy does he move through all the moods and feels of what must be a taxing endeavor. Every Brilliant Thing is unsparing and clear-eyed in its presentation of the realities of depression and suicide, yet glows with a hopeful, life-affirming aura that convincingly depicts the value of struggle, and the beauty in tenacity.

Like a lot of Every Brilliant Thing, this trick doubles as a lesson – in this case, about the power of just listening, in performing and in real life. That alertness keeps the show humming for its single 70-minute act, even as its straight text rea...

Like a lot of Every Brilliant Thing, this trick doubles as a lesson – in this case, about the power of just listening, in performing and in real life. That alertness keeps the show humming for its single 70-minute act, even as its straight text reads like something a precocious college student might write. Basically, the show works because Radcliffe more or less wills it to. It would be misleading to call his performance a high-wire act, because he intentionally stays closer to the audience’s level. As a medium-wire act, though, it’s still plenty brilliant.

It seems almost incongruous to talk about what a great time you will have watching a play centered around depression and suicide, but what Every Brilliant Thing does is create almost a communal support group filled with constant reminders of the thin...

It seems almost incongruous to talk about what a great time you will have watching a play centered around depression and suicide, but what Every Brilliant Thing does is create almost a communal support group filled with constant reminders of the things that make life worth living. And with Radcliffe as our guide, this show definitely makes the list. Grade: A–

Despite its weighty subject matter, Radcliffe and the audience mesmerized by him remain buoyant, thanks to improvisation woven throughout. The unpredictability reminds us why we gather in theatres to begin with: a shared lived experience that will ne...

Despite its weighty subject matter, Radcliffe and the audience mesmerized by him remain buoyant, thanks to improvisation woven throughout. The unpredictability reminds us why we gather in theatres to begin with: a shared lived experience that will never be exactly the same.

“Every Brilliant Thing” confronts serious subject matter — depression, suicide attempts, and the complicated experience of loving someone who struggles with mental illness — yet it does so with determined optimism. Over the course of the even...

“Every Brilliant Thing” confronts serious subject matter — depression, suicide attempts, and the complicated experience of loving someone who struggles with mental illness — yet it does so with determined optimism. Over the course of the evening, Radcliffe turns the Hudson Theatre into a kind of temporary community, inviting the audience to contribute their own reminders of life’s small pleasures. The result is a modest but affecting theatrical experience that finds unexpected power in the simple act of paying attention to what makes life worth living.

He’s also never really alone with his thoughts. By this time, he’s not merely implicated the audience in his journey but recruited us to be his companions, his aides-mémoire to that every-growing list, and his cheering section. How can we not ro...

He’s also never really alone with his thoughts. By this time, he’s not merely implicated the audience in his journey but recruited us to be his companions, his aides-mémoire to that every-growing list, and his cheering section. How can we not root for Radcliffe as he delivers a tour de force, serotonin-boosting performance that’s as powerful as any drug currently on the market? Every Brilliant Thing is the funniest, most life-affirming show about suicide. It provided so much uplift that I didn’t even mind being called “old.”

Radcliffe, who has demonstrated increasing power as an actor since his inescapable cinema origins, is so perfect in the role—and so suited to the play—that a spectator might think Every Brilliant Thing built for and molded upon him. Not so. The p...

Radcliffe, who has demonstrated increasing power as an actor since his inescapable cinema origins, is so perfect in the role—and so suited to the play—that a spectator might think Every Brilliant Thing built for and molded upon him. Not so. The play began on a small scale, at the Edinburgh Festival in 2013, fashioned by Macmillan around Donahoe, a comedian. The play has since traveled the world, including, notably, a 2014 stint at off-Broadway’s Barrow Street Theatre and an HBO version (both starring Donahoe) as well as a 2025 production at London’s intimate Soho Place with a handful of actors playing short stints in the role (namely Donahoe, Lenny Henry, Ambika Mod, Sue Perkins, and Minnie Driver). So Every Brilliant Thing is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a custom-built vehicle for Radcliffe. That said, his participation has propelled this small play into the Broadway spotlight. Does it work, in a three-tier 1,000-seat proscenium house? Spectacularly so.

The actor is a revelation, though I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that someone who could have retired a multimillionaire at 22 but keeps pushing himself into new challenges really does love what he gets to do for a living. Beside Radcliffe�...

The actor is a revelation, though I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that someone who could have retired a multimillionaire at 22 but keeps pushing himself into new challenges really does love what he gets to do for a living. Beside Radcliffe’s magnetic charisma, it’s his palpable joy in the project that shines brightest. There are a few reactions carefully calibrated for maximum fawning, sure, but his demeanor throughout suggests that he, too, is working through the meaning of performance; of engaging strangers through the one-way mirror through which they’ve grown accustomed to seeing him.

When you think of all the questionable celebrity casting to be found on Broadway, the choice of Radcliffe for this piece really stands apart. That’s not just reflective of his ticket-moving celebrity and engagingly vulnerable stage presence, althou...

When you think of all the questionable celebrity casting to be found on Broadway, the choice of Radcliffe for this piece really stands apart. That’s not just reflective of his ticket-moving celebrity and engagingly vulnerable stage presence, although both of those things are true.

Granted, I was very close to the stage, but it still felt like Herrin, Macmillan, and Radcliffe were able to envelop all 970 of us in this small, personal story. I can’t begin to imagine the logistics required to get each performance going, let alo...

Granted, I was very close to the stage, but it still felt like Herrin, Macmillan, and Radcliffe were able to envelop all 970 of us in this small, personal story. I can’t begin to imagine the logistics required to get each performance going, let alone the infinite hours of pre-production planning. But the result feels effortless, even while appreciating Radcliffe’s mammoth undertaking. It truly feels like we’re all at a party, celebrating life and all the little every day things that make it worth living. It’s a balm in a troubled time, at least for seventy minutes. As the character’s list wrapped up at the end of the night, I thought the real final number should be this production.

What’s not lost is Radcliffe’s performance. Jonny Donahoe, the co-creator of the show and originator of the role, had experience as a stand-up comedian; he was also a big guy who looks as if he’s about to give you a bear hug. These would not li...

What’s not lost is Radcliffe’s performance. Jonny Donahoe, the co-creator of the show and originator of the role, had experience as a stand-up comedian; he was also a big guy who looks as if he’s about to give you a bear hug. These would not likely be among the top attributes of his Broadway successor in the role. But Daniel Radcliffe is also a witty, energetic and generous host, a cool hand at comedy (as we saw in “Franklin Shepard INC”) and something more. When his character says things like: “If you got all the way through life without ever being heart crushingly depressed, you probably haven’t been paying attention,” the pain he communicates makes it clear that he’s been paying attention.

But what about your marriage?! I hear you holler. Well, we met in the college library. He lent me Twilight and I lent him Percy Jackson and the Olympians. (We were into YA, I guess.) He took me to meet his parents, who seemed great — they played an...

But what about your marriage?! I hear you holler. Well, we met in the college library. He lent me Twilight and I lent him Percy Jackson and the Olympians. (We were into YA, I guess.) He took me to meet his parents, who seemed great — they played and sang jazz around the piano. His mother was bright and funny and dramatic, though I know that’s only one side of her, and I saw how scared he was for her. I proposed (I know!). People threw confetti at our wedding, and his dad made a wonderful toast. And this is the potential of Every Brilliant Thing: Though it can stray into PSA territory, you can never really resent it because then a shy-seeming, silver-haired stranger stands up and actually starts to cry as he tells you and Daniel Radcliffe how much he loves you and how beautiful you are together. In its essence, it’s a play about presence and attention, about how really noticing the world might just be what saves us.

Thanks in no small part to the radiant emotional authenticity Mr. Radcliffe brings to the role, the narrative of the protagonist’s life maintains our interest as he matures and himself begins to suffer from a persistent melancholy. As the list of m...

Thanks in no small part to the radiant emotional authenticity Mr. Radcliffe brings to the role, the narrative of the protagonist’s life maintains our interest as he matures and himself begins to suffer from a persistent melancholy. As the list of matters that make the slings and arrows of life worth enduring grows into the hundreds of thousands—closing in on a million—I found it harder to give credence to this element of the story. But ultimately the inventive staging, which also includes invigorating bursts of recorded music, from Nina Simone, Ray Charles and Curtis Mayfield (the glorious “Move On Up”), succeeds at the high-wire challenge of blending sincerity and levity in disarming but effective, and affecting, proportions.