Daniel Radcliffe, who won a Tony Award last year for “Merrily We Roll Along,” will return to Broadway this spring to star in a one-actor show, “Every Brilliant Thing,” about a man sustained by reasons-to-live lists he initially made for his seriously depressed mother.
The 36-year-old British actor, forever famous for playing Harry Potter in the eight films about the boy wizard, has made Broadway an artistic home for nearly two decades now, starring in three plays and two musicals there since 2008.
“I mean, I love it. I love working in New York. I love working onstage. And I’ve been insanely lucky to be able to do both — to have a stage career and a film and TV career,” Radcliffe said in an interview. “And want to be able to keep finding reasons to come back to Broadway for as long as I am physically capable of doing so.”
The play was written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe, a British comedian who originated the lead role. The show began its life at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and was staged in London before an acclaimed Off Broadway run in 2014 (Ben Brantley, writing in this newspaper, deemed it a critic’s pick). It has been staged in more than 80 countries, and is now running in London’s West End with Minnie Driver starring.
“Every Brilliant Thing” involves audience participation — unusual for Broadway — although Radcliffe, mindful that could turn off some people, took pains to point out that no one will be required to speak, if they don’t want to.
“There’s something about the nature of this play and the connection that is being constantly made with the audience, from before the play even starts when I’m out there interacting with people as they come into the room, that I’m very intrigued by and excited by,” he said. “This play is built with the audience new every night.”
The Broadway production, like the London production, will be directed by Jeremy Herrin and Macmillan; it will begin previews Feb. 21, opening March 12 and closing May 24 at the Hudson Theater. The producers are Second Half Productions, a London-based company co-founded by Herrin; Seaview, a New York company that has significantly expanded on and off Broadway since the pandemic; and Gavin Kalin Productions, another London-based entity.
Michael Paulson is the theater reporter for The Times.
The post Daniel Radcliffe Will Return to Broadway in ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ appeared first on New York Times.
