If You Want to Get Called on at Every Brilliant Thing, Don't Be Too Eager, Says Daniel Radcliffe

The solo show, with audience participation, is running at the Hudson Theatre.

March 12, 2026 By Diep Tran, Jeffrey Vizcaíno

It's a common sentiment in live theatre that every show is different. But for the creators of Every Brilliant Thing on Broadway, every show truly is different—because every night, members of the audience are brought up to the stage to help the narrator (played by Daniel Radcliffe) tell the story of his life. Some of them even get lines.

"Every time someone is recruited ... magic happens," says the show's co-director, Jeremy Herrin. "People don't know that they got those resources, and suddenly they're in a scene. The scene can be hilariously funny, it can be very surprising, it can be very moving."

To Herrin, the show is a testament to "the wonder that is human beings."

It's also a look at depression. Co-written by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe, the play follows an unnamed narrator who creates a list of all the brilliant things in life in order to help lift his mother out of her depression. The play first premiered in the U.K. in 2013, and has since been performed in 66 countries and 44 languages. Watch Herrin, Macmillan, and Radcliffe discuss the show in the video above with Playbill's Jeffrey Vizcaíno, and reveal how they choose the audience members who get to act alongside Radcliffe in the show every night. As Radcliffe notes: "Too eager is a problem."

READ: Daniel Radcliffe's Favorite Part of Every Brilliant Thing Is the Audience Participation

Every Brilliant Thing opens at the Hudson Theatre March 12, with Tony winner Radcliffe in a limited run through May 24.