My brilliant birthday with Daniel Radcliffe
My teenage self would never, ever have imagined that on her 39th birthday, she would meet her celebrity crush, the poster stuck to her wall throughout high school and college. Even my adult self would never even think that a play I did back in 2019, 2020, and 2023 would enable me to meet Daniel Radcliffe! Yet it really did happen last April and months later I’m still awestruck and over the moon.
Every Brilliant Thing is a play written by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe, which opened at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013 and has since toured the world, opened at the West End in August 2025 and finally made its Broadway debut in March 2026, starring Daniel. The play has been a champion for mental health, as it tells the story of a child who grows up listing “brilliant things in life” to deal with their mother’s mental health condition, and their own life struggles. It was produced in Manila by The Sandbox Collective, directed by Jenny Jamora. Its initial run in 2019 included Teresa Herrera and me as its leads, and later in 2023, a Filipino translation by Guelan Luarca starred the amazing Jon Santos.
The rich global history of Every Brilliant Thing prompted its author, Duncan, to reach out to all the leads in 2025 just before its West End debut to swap stories and share memorable moments, since the play relies on improvisation with the audience members for every show. It was here that one of my stories stood out, as I would improvise kissing scenes (with consent!) with audience members who would play my love interest. Apparently, I was the only one who did that in the history of the play! Since it was memorable and unique, Duncan decided to include it in the footnotes of the updated Every Brilliant Thing script published in 2025 onwards.
Then, last March 14, I opened Instagram to see a link sent by Sasha Dalabajan to a Playbill interview on YouTube with Daniel, and directors Jeremy Herrin and Duncan Macmillan, and a message that just said, “5:06 mark!!!” I opened the video and scrolled accordingly to that timestamp. When asked about his favorite footnote in the script, Daniel Radcliffe replied, “Was it Kakki Teodoro (pronouncing my name “Teodorow” with his lovely British accent), the actress who performed the play in the Philippines? But Kakki Teodoro, SHE KISSED SO MANY PEOPLE! I found that really, really cool to read about.” That was his answer.
So, then I decided to make a trip to NYC, catch Every Brilliant Thing on Broadway, and meet Daniel! THIS IS IT! Let’s seize the moment! I sent a message to Duncan to share my plans, booked my flight, and quickly prepared for this solo adventure.
When I arrived in NYC (my fourth time in the city), I immediately went to the theater box office to buy a ticket and choose a seat close to the stage, about five seats away, orchestra center by the aisle. Duncan was also teasing me, “What if he casts you as Sam?” To which I replied, “He has my consent for a kiss. Haha!”
Duncan also co-directed the Broadway staging, so he asked for my seat number so he could inform the associate director, Dave, to look out for me, as he was still in London. Dave would arrange for me to meet with Daniel after the show.
On April 15, I entered the Hudson Theater for the 7 p.m. show, went straight to my seat and saw Daniel start the pre-show, handing out pieces of paper to the audience members and giving them instructions for all the improvisational moments. I marveled at how huge the theater was. I performed this for a room of 200 people at the Maybank Theater in BGC and thought how incredible it must be for Daniel to perform this one-man show at a theater with about 970 seats.
It dawned on me that this is Daniel Radcliffe, my childhood crush, Harry Potter himself, and at the same time, a fellow actor, who shares my love of theater, and who is an incredible human being.
Then, as Daniel went onstage (still during pre-show), I saw someone whisper to him. He turned around quickly, looked at me and waved hello excitedly. As I happily waved back at him, he RAN off the stage towards me, landed in front of me and said, “Kakki?!”
My alto voice transformed into a high soprano and I said, “HI!!!” We hugged, and then he said, “I’m so nervous because you’re watching!”
In disbelief yet still very high-pitched, I replied, “What do you mean?!”
“Well, you know how it is when someone who did the show before visits you to see the show…”
I answered, “You are going to be amazing, and we are so excited to see you. I’m just so happy to be here for this!”
Then, he pointed backstage and said, “I’ll see you later, yes?”
I told him, “Yes, I’ll see you after. Break a leg!”
Then he went on to distribute more brilliant things to the audience.
The show unfolded, and Daniel was simply spectacular. He was hilarious, quick-witted, and very endearing. He had so much energy and charisma, and you could see how much he cared for the material. He also cast amazing audience members who improvised with him perfectly.
After the show ended, I stayed in my seat as Dan’s bodyguard Thomas introduced himself and asked for my name. He said I was third on the list, the last one for the meet-and-greet before Daniel did his stage door, and that I might wait a little.
I said, no worries, I don’t mind waiting.
Then I saw another man approaching, the one who whispered to Daniel earlier, and he said, “Hi, I’m David! I wasn’t able to say hi to you earlier!”
I said, “So happy to meet you! I’m Kakki!”
“Yes, Kakki, we know who you are! Let me introduce you to the team!”
We got onstage, and I was introduced to Jhanaë, Fati, Laura, and Maddie, and I said, “Hi, everyone, I’m Kakki!”
And they went: “Yes, Kakki, we know who you are! You’re a legend!”
Then I did a dalagang Filipina bit, saying, “What do you mean? Me? I swear, guys, I was just following the script!”
They teased back: “Girl, you knew what you were doing!”
To which I replied: “I mean, I’m a single Filipina, and I love to multitask!”
We kept on laughing, as they called me “Kakki the Kisser” and I gave a breakdown on how we did the scene exactly in Manila. We all also bonded over how amazing and challenging it is to do this play—and how it relies on the trust and kindness of people.
Finally, time for my meet-and-greet. I walked backstage and as soon as I saw Daniel he immediately screamed, “KAKKI!” I rushed to give him a hug, as if we were old pals. It was just us talking as people, as fellow actors, as peers, no cameras or devices recording. He started by asking if I experienced any exhaustion doing the show. We bonded over the fact that this show demands so much from us—it demands so much energy and vulnerability that it can be both exhausting and energizing at the same time. We talked about how much we both loved the team taking care of us—because this one-person show needs the strong support of stage managers, directors and the crew offstage.
We swapped stories on our favorite show moments. We laughed about his “Kakki Teodorow” pronunciation, and I told him everyone teases me about this and how the statement “Kakki Teodoro KISSED SO MANY PEOPLE” was now iconic. I shared how I would do the kissing scene exactly in Manila. We did not talk about Harry Potter at all. Instead, we talked about Merrily We Roll Along (a musical he won a Tony for, and a show I did in college) and Stephen Sondheim. We hugged many times! At the end, I asked if we could do a quick video for me to share on my Instagram. His dresser Sandy Binion (who was just in a corner the entire time) also took wonderful photos of us with her phone.
He thanked me for being so supportive, because he really was nervous about me watching. He said this so sincerely, and I responded, “Of course, we should always support each other! What an honor to have been part of EBT history with someone like you.”
He then told me, “I’m honored to share this with you and to meet you!”
It dawned on me that this is Daniel Radcliffe, my childhood crush, Harry Potter himself, saying this, and at the same time, a fellow actor, who shares my love of theater, and who is an incredible human being.
As I exited the theater, my entire body was electric again. Then I realized I forgot to have anything of mine signed by him, nor did I have pictures of us in my phone, only one video! So, I made my way to the stage door, and seeing the lines of screaming fans waiting for him, I was reminded of how truly magical it was for us to share that long conversation backstage—just us.
Bodyguard Thomas saw me again and non-verbally told me to stay put because he would make sure that Dan saw me right away. I watched Daniel for a minute talking to his fans, and I saw how truly genuine he is as he spoke with every single one of them, and my admiration for this person kept growing!
Then he saw me and goes, “Kakki, what are you doing here?” I finally got my photos and an autograph. He ended by saying, “And Happy Birthday!” It was truly one of the best birthdays of my life.
On my last day in NYC, just before my late-night flight, I passed by the theater again after the Sunday matinee to say goodbye to everyone. Monday is an off day, and it was lovely seeing everyone chill for a bit post-show before heading out. It reminded me of how we are in Manila, when people usually grab a drink together to unwind before the days off. They shared their highlights for that show week, and Dan even said, “Kakki, we had the best Mrs. Patterson ever, so far, the other day!”
I also made it to the merch booth and saw that the NY edition of the script had just arrived! I got my copies signed by everyone. Finally, I showed Daniel the videos and photos of my kisses [in EBT Ph], and he was laughing out loud, and even remarked at one (with Khalil Ramos): “Hey, that was just a simple smack!” To which I replied, “Yes, I don’t fully make out with them, thank you very much!”
I expressed my gratitude again for his kindness and told him he would always have someone from the Philippines wishing the best for him and his family. Daniel said thank you and expressed that hopefully we could get to work together in the future.
I told him that would be the most brilliant thing.
