CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio review for the streaming series “Emily in Paris” the adventures of Emily Cooper and her fanciful/fashionable Paris friends and lovers, now in its fourth season. Episodes 1-5 currently on Netflix.
Podtalk: Monologist John Michael Books a Summer Canadian Tour With ‘Meatball Seance’
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CHICAGO – John Michael is kicking out the pandemic and going on the road! Chicago’s favorite monologist is reviving his show, “Meatball Seance” for a Canadian Festival Tour. It kicks off on June 18th, click the Ottawa Fringe Fest for dates, times and details. Future shows will take place at the Toronto (July) and Edmonton (August) Fringe Festivals.
In “Meatball Seance,” John Michael is trying to find his way after the passing of his mother, and find a new boyfriend! Various audience members, selected by Michael, portray the potential paramours and their support system, and the interaction with John Michael is the main part of the fun. There will be recipes shared, prep work done and lots of cooking, both in stagecraft and reality.
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John Michael Conjures the Spirit in ‘Meatball Seance’
Photo credit: © Paul Clark
To know John Michael is to love him, as he maintains an energy that combines whirling dervish with emotional observer. The death of his mother has changed him forever, and getting to the other side of it … while negotiating new and hilarious relationships through a meatball recipe … colors a spectrum of feelings. But mostly it’s about understanding the happy side of memory beyond the loss, and using the “seance” and Mom’s meatballs as one way to connect to that happiness.
John Michael is a Texas-born performer whose specialty is the one man show. His spin brings in the audience as characters, as he tells his life stories in his one-of-a-kind style. He first got rave notices in Chicago with a show he developed in his native Dallas, “John Michael and the Order of the Penix.” His follow-up was “Dementia Me” – a chronicle of his two-year period keeping up with dementia patients as he worked at a Dallas care facility. “Meatball Seance” first opened in 2017, and has evolved as the spirit of the play has evolved, and of course how John Michael has evolved.
In a Podtalk with Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, John Michael talks “Meatball Seance,” the spirit of the show AND what is most Canadian about him …
![]() | By PATRICK McDONALD |