Theater, TV, DVD & Blu-Ray

CHICAGO – On July 1st, 2023, Sarah Slight was named Artistic Director of the Raven Theatre, beginning with the 41st Season, which begins October 5th with Lucille Fletcher’s from-Broadway thriller “Night Watch.” In 2024, the season will continue with two original commissioned stage plays, Paul Michael Thomson’s ‘brother sister cyborg space’ in February and the final installment of the Grand Boulevard Trilogy, “The Prodigal Daughter,” by Joshua Allen. For all information and tickets, click RAVEN.

CHICAGO – YIPPIE! It’s back, in the neighborhood of its roots. YippieFest 2023 will be August 4th-6th in the Lakeview/Buena Park venue of PRIDE ARTS, 4139 North Broadway in Chicago. The space is less than a half mile from the former Mary-Arrchie Theatre, whose “Abbie Hoffman Festival” was the template for the three-day performance celebration. Tickets prices are for one day or all three days, so click YiPPIE FEST 2023.

CHICAGO – What began in Chicago in 2016 … as a preview to its eventual Broadway run … comes back to where it now belongs. The passionate and ebullient Kokandy Productions presents “The SpongeBob Musical,” and yes, it will satisfy fans of the cartoon series with flash, dash, and since it’s under the sea, SPLASH!

CHICAGO – One of the more unique theater festivals in Chicago invites us to “get physical.” The 10th Physical Theater Festival Chicago will take place from July 8th-16th, 2023. For the complete show line-up, including ticket links, click PHYSICAL FEST.

CHICAGO – The Opening Night ovation certainly acknowledged that the audience “Saw, Felt, was Touched and Healed” by the passionate and celebratory performance of “The Who’s Tommy.” Adapted from the iconic rock opera created by The Who in 1969, the Goodman Theater revival … with 1990s origins … was written by Pete Townsend and Des McAnuff (also director).

CHICAGO – YIPPIE! It’s back, in the neighborhood of its roots. YippieFest 2023 will be August 4th-6th in the Lakeview/Buena Park venue of PRIDE ARTS, 4139 North Broadway in Chicago. The space is less than a half mile from the former Mary-Arrchie Theatre, whose “Abbie Hoffman Festival” was the template for the three-day performance celebration. YippieFest currently has slots for theater acts, including one-act plays, monologue, sketch, improv, vaudeville and other stage performance arts. Artists get free admission to the rest of the festival, so click YiPPIE FEST 2023 to sign up.

CHICAGO – Theatrical satires of the Star Wars Universe are like the number of TV series the universe has wrought … too many to figure out if anything is worthwhile. But “Trade Federation” (subtitled “Or Let’s Explore Globalization Through the Star Wars Prequels”), presented by Otherworld Theatre in Wrigleyville Chicago, gets it right on.

CHICAGO – Omi Hopper is competing … and still survives … on the second season of “Next Level Chef,” the TV cooking show on FOX hosted by Gordon Ramsay. The social media viral star, who created a following with her approach to traditional Puerto Rican dishes, is still in play as the show winds down to the finale on May 11th.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio streaming review for Season 5 of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” the popular episodic TV series telling the story of Midge Maisel, a woman stand-up comedian trying to make it in the patriarchal 1960s. First three episodes streaming on Prime Video, since April 14th.

CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 23rd, 2023, reviewing “Ted Lasso” Season 3, a continuation of the story of an American coach trying his methods out for a British soccer team, and other fish out of water situations. Currently streaming on Apple TV+.