Long Island Medium brings live experience to Orpheum on Saturday

Fans snapped up all of the tickets for the Long Island Medium’s first visit to Wichita since 2015 when the event was scheduled for April 21, 2020, at the 1,286-seat Orpheum Theatre. During the pandemic, the event was rescheduled three times: to Oct. 4, 2020, then March 8, 2021, and now it appears the woman behind the moniker, Theresa Caputo, will finally take the stage Saturday night at Wichita’s downtown historic theater.

If you’re interested in seeing the television personality read members of the local audience in person, you’re in luck. As of Thursday, about 80 tickets remained for Theresa Caputo Live! The Experience. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and Caputo begins the roughly two-hour show at 7:30 p.m.

Does she remember her last visit to Wichita?

“Yes, there was this great little breakfast place,” Caputo said during a recent phone interview. “Was it called Doo-Dad’s?”

Once reminded that the name is Doo-Dah Diner, the rest of the memory was clear.

“I remember I had gone there with my assistant and, I mean, I could not stop eating,” she said in her recognizable thick, animated Long Island accent. The gourmet comfort food was so good, she said, she brought meals back to her crew who were setting up for her performance.

This event will be much like that one in 2015. Caputo spends a few minutes on stage explaining how she has been able to communicate with the souls of the departed since age 4.

“My goal is not for people to believe in mediumship or to believe in what I do, I want them to believe in themselves,” she said. “I want everyone in that audience to believe in an afterlife, to know that there truly is more to life than what is here in the physical world. I am the first one to say that what I do is absolutely crazy. I don’t even know how this works for me; I was born this way.”

Then she starts what everyone pays to witness: she follows what she calls a spirit through the audience and delivers healing messages to people from their loved ones who have passed but are still with them spiritually. Because Caputo wanders through the audience, she wears a mask and requires that members of the audience wear masks.

Caputo says where you’re sitting in the theater doesn’t impact your chances to get a reading; she might read someone in the balcony. She’s also clear to say that buying a ticket doesn’t guarantee a reading, either.

“But I can guarantee that the souls that speak are the souls that can deliver as many messages at one time,” she said. “What I mean by that is that someone clear across the theater or up in the balcony might be going ‘oh my God, that sounds like what happened to my sister. That’s what happened to my mother.’ I ask the audience that for anything that spirit has to say, please don’t take for granted. Place it your life as a healing message. … I have found a way with spirit to be able to deliver the gift of healing, and at the end of the day, that is what the experience is about.”

Caputo became a household name through her reality television show “Long Island Medium,” which debuted 10 years ago this week on the TLC television network. The last episode on TLC aired in December 2019, though the similar “Long Island Medium: There in Spirit” premiered on Discovery+ on Feb. 5, 2021, with eight episodes. Discovery+ is a streaming service affiliated the TLC and other networks. You can find many of the original 87 episodes on streaming services, as well.

While her live theater shows continued to be canceled for more than a year, Caputo stayed busy doing small distanced live readings in ballrooms or outdoor venues as well as virtual readings. Her website theresacaputo.com has a page to request a private reading but warns that there is an extended waiting list.

The best chance to get a reading appears to be attending her live events or calling the hotline she’s established for her podcast. She started a weekly 40 to 50 minute podcast titled “Hey Spirit” in September 2020. She invites anyone to call 1-866-822-7886 and ask a question; she answers some questions on the podcast and also reaches out to callers using the contact information left on the hotline for on-air readings.

Earlier this month, Caputo’s special “Long Island Medium: In Memory of 9/11” premiered on TLC and streamed on Discovery+. Timed with the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the medium traveled to New York, Washington and Pennsylvania and conducted readings with victims’ friends and family members near the site of each attack.

She called creating the special the most meaningful accomplishment of her life besides having her two children, but she said she’s thrilled to be back in larger venues. Her current tour is taking her to about 30 markets, including Wichita.

“Even for those who have listened to my podcast, watched ‘Long Island Medium’ or my specials, there’s nothing like being in a room with thousands of people,” she said. “First of all, it feels fantastic to have that human interaction after being cooped up for 18 months. But beyond that, you can feel the healing in the room. Even those who don’t get a personal reading leaving feeling what they’ve witnessed was absolutely life changing.”

Theresa Caputo Live! The Experience

What: A live show with readings by Theresa Caputo, known as the Long Island Medium

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Where: Orpheum Theatre, 200 N. Broadway

How much: $43.75-$129.75 with pre-show VIP photo ops available

Information: theresacaputo.com and wichitaorpheum.com

Health & Safety: Face masks are required of guests and staff, contactless ticket scanning, social distancing signage, hand sanitizing stations, frequent disinfecting procedures