Daniel Radcliffe, Mariska Hargitay and the Happiest List on Earth
4/26/202641 min
With war, political wrangling and price hikes jockeying for headlines, it’s a rare thing to sit for an hour with a large group of strangers and focus on the small pleasures in life. But that’s what the show “Every Brilliant Thing” is all about.
Since 2013, Duncan Macmillan’s audience-participation-heavy play has been performed in dozens of languages in hundreds of locations across the globe. It revolves around a central character who writes a list of all the good things in life for a depressed parent. And while it tackles dark subject matter — including frequent mentions of a loved one’s suicide — it may be one of the funniest shows about depression, ever.
In this episode of “The Sunday Daily,” Michael Barbaro talks with Daniel Radcliffe, who currently stars in a Broadway production of the show, and Mariska Hargitay, who will step into the role in a few weeks. We’ll also hear from the playwright and several other actors who have performed the play on stages, in living rooms, on basketball courts and aircraft carriers all over the world.
On today's episode:
Daniel Radcliffe
Mariska Hargitay
Duncan Macmillan
Candunn Jennette
Greg Dragas
Mugambi Nthiga
Erika de la Vega
Jung Sae-Byul
Mohsina Akhter
Tommy Schoffler
Nanda Mohammad
Background reading:
‘Every Brilliant Thing,’ Now Starring Daniel Radcliffe and You
Daniel Radcliffe Makes ‘Every Brilliant Thing’ Shine
Daniel Radcliffe Wanted a Break From Broadway. Then He Read This Play.
Photo credit: Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsDaniel Radcliffe· Guest0:00
[upbeat music] In theory, I knew that this kind of thing can happen in any family. Upstanding citizens are always turning out to be secret criminals, and I wouldn't even call my cousin Alan an upstanding citizen. But it's one thing to know and another thing to understand.
Kanden Jeanette· Soundbite0:15
Alan murder me?
Daniel Radcliffe· Guest0:18
What the hell was Alan thinking? From Serial Productions and The New York Times, I'm M. Gessen, and this is The Idiot. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Michael Barbaro· Host0:28
[upbeat music] From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily on Sunday. The general heaviness of this moment, the war, prices, the AI, is not lost on any of us. We cover it every day on this show. Joy and relief, I think it's fair to say, are rare. But a few weeks ago, I found myself genuinely awash in both of those feelings. I had just left a theater in midtown Manhattan where I had seen something unlike anything I'd ever seen before. A show that insists on creating a new kind of filter, a happier filter, a filter through which ordinary everyday occurrences literally become a reason to live.
Speaker 3· Soundbite1:24
The list began after her first attempt, a list of everything