"If you live a long life and you get to the end of it without ever once feeling crushingly depressed, then you probably haven't been paying attention."
So opinesDaniel Radcliffein the solo showEvery Brilliant Thing, which just opened at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway. It's a deep quote in a story centered around a very deep topic — suicide. Yet the play's secret is managing to confront the issue head-on while also offering a life-affirming alternative in the form of a constantly growing list of seemingly trivial things that make every day worth savoring.
Radcliffe's unnamed narrator began making the list at 7 years old after his mother attempted to take her own life. But instead of Radcliffe reading the list items to the audience, the trick is that the audience actually reads the items back to Radcliffe. The actor will shout out a number and then — in an impressive display of audience amplification by sound designer Tom Gibbons — a reply emanates back from somewhere in the theater. Sometimes from the orchestra. Other times, the mezzanine. And occasionally from on stage, where people are seated in the round.
On the list could be anything: The even-numberedStar Trekfilms. When a concert crowd keeps singing the melody after the band have left the stage. Peeing in the sea without anybody knowing. Spaghetti bolognese. And the star reacts to it all with whimsical delight, as if he is cherishing the memories all over again.
And that is just the beginning of the audience participation, as theater goers are picked out to play key roles such as the narrator's father, girlfriend, librarian, and professor along the way. Not only does it inject a bit of improv into the proceedings as Radcliffe must react to how his amateur thespians play the scene, but it also creates a mad pre-show scramble that is just as entertaining as the actual play itself.
From the moment the house doors open, right up until the show officially begins, Radcliffe stalks the aisles of the theater — chatting with attendees and handing out assignments. The star has always projected as a celebrity completely unimpressed with his own celebrity, and watching one of the most famous faces on planet Earth literally work the room — bouncing manically from row to row and enthusiastically thanking those who agree to participate — is an absolute delight and sets the perfect tone for what is to come.
Advertisement
Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with ourEW Dispatch newsletter.
Every Brilliant Thingwas written in 2013 by Duncan Macmillan (who directs this production with Jeremy Herrin) and Jonny Donahoe (who was the original performer; you can watch a filmed version of his take on HBO Max). It has since appeared worldwide and starred folks likeMinnie DriverandPhoebe Waller-Bridge, but it's hard to imagine anyone tackling the role with more energy and ebullience than Radcliffe, who at one point during a drum and bongo solo from Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up" proclaims, "I'm going to high-five the entire room!" And then proceeds to go and do it… before eventually making his way back on the stage and noting, "The high fives were a mistake. There are too many of you."
And the flurry of Hudson Theatre high-fives is not the only time Radcliffe is quick on his feet. During one performance, the two books he retrieved from audience members for a key scene happened to be none other thanPercy Jackson and the OlympiansandTwilight. Upon reading the words "Soon to be a major motion picture" on theTwilightcover, the former Harry Potter slyly ad-libbed, "Nothingevergoes wrong with adaptations to major motion pictures."
Any one-person show is obviously dependent on the magnetism of its performer, and Radcliffe is in total command of both the material and the room. While Donahoe's original narrator was a bit more tender and subdued, Radcliffe is a frenetic force. Where Donahoe walked around his stage, Radcliffe bounces. Which is what makes his energetic narrator's own spiral at one point into a depressive state all the more impactful, as both he and we learn that all the lists and ebullience in the world can't fully protect you from the demons within.
It seems almost incongruous to talk about what a great time you will have watching a play centered around depression and suicide, but whatEvery Brilliant Thingdoes 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–
Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly