Author Archives 
Robert W. McDowell is a Raleigh, NC-based freelance writer, editor, and theater critic. A Columbia, SC native and graduate of East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, he has written theater, film, book, and music previews and reviews for The News & Observer, The Raleigh Times, Spectator Magazine, and Classical Voice of North Carolina, all based in Raleigh.
In April 2001, he started Robert's Reviews, a FREE weekly e-mail theatrical newsletter that provides more comprehensive, in-depth coverage of Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro theater than all of the other local news media combined. (To start your free subscription, e-mail robertm748[at]aol.com and type SUBSCRIBE TTR in the Subject: line.) Triangle Theater Review is the latest-and-greatest version of McDowell's original newsletter.
Robert McDowell also co-edited and supervised the production of Jim Valvano's Guide to Great Eating (JTV Enterprises, 1984), a 224-page sports celebrity cookbook; and he served as a fact checker for Valvano: They Gave Me a Lifetime Contract, and Then They Declared Me Dead (Pocket Books, 1991). From 1980 to 1991, he worked for N.C. Citizens for Business and Industry (now the North Carolina Chamber) of Raleigh and served as associate editor and acting editor of North Carolina, a monthly business magazine that also covered economic development, government, education, and (sometimes) the arts.
Since December 1980, McDowell has served on the board of directors of The Cinema, Inc., a Raleigh-based nonprofit film society formed in 1966. He also maintains a list of FREE advance screenings of movies in the Triangle area. (To have your e-mail address added to this FREE list, e-mail robertm748[at]aol.com and type JOIN FFL in the Subject: line.)
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Posts by Robert:
- June 2013 Triangle Theater Calendar(0)
- “Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy” Will Raise the Roof at DPAC Through Sunday, May 19th(0)
- A Death in the Family: Haskell Fitz-Simons(0)
- Unlike the 1992 Film, “Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy” Is Set in Philadelphia in the 1970s(0)
- Amusing Antics by Clay Aiken, Beth Leavel, & Co. Make “The Drowsy Chaperone” a Must-See Musical(0)
- Martin McDonagh’s “The Cripple of Inishmaan” Is a Delightful Dark Comedy Set in the Aran Islands(0)
- Clay Aiken and Beth Leavel Will Star in NCT’s Production of “The Drowsy Chaperone” on May 7-12(0)
- Drag Queens Will Dazzle in “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” at the Durham Performing Arts Center(0)
- Competition Is Fierce in Theatre Raleigh’s “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” April 24-May 5(0)
- Universes Premieres “Spring Training” on April 24-28 at PlayMakers Repertory Company(0)
- May 2013 Triangle Theater Calendar(0)
- “Our Town” Cast Fails to Do Justice to Thorton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize Winning Play(0)
- LETTER TO THE EDITOR: David Wood Responds to Susie Potter’s TAE Review of “To Kill a Mockingbird”(0)
- Kink with a Wink: “50 Shades! The Musical” Milks Its Double Entendres Like a Herd of Holsteins(0)
- Drag Artist Taylor Mac Will Star as the Gender-Bending Emcee in “Cabaret” at PlayMakers Rep(0)
- The Original Parody “50 Shades! The Musical” Will Titillate and Tickle Triangle Audiences on April 2-6(1)
- Jay O’Berski and Jeffrey Detwiler Are Delightful in “Derklöwnschpankeneffekt: Two Plays for Klöwn”(0)
- April 2013 Theater Calendar(0)
- Sail Ho Ho Ho: Durham Savoyards Delight with Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance”(0)
- It’s the Top: “Anything Goes” Dazzles and York, Franklin, and Applegate Wow DPAC Patrons(0)
- Rachel York Will Star as Nightclub Singer Reno Sweeney in “Anything Goes” at DPAC March 19-24(0)
- Burning Coal Will Bring British Singer/Songwriter Callaghan to Raleigh at 7 p.m. on March 24th(0)
- Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance” Returns to the Triangle — for One Show Only — at 7 p.m. March 10th(0)
- Lisa Jolley Stars as a Troubled Wife and Mother in “Next to Normal” at Deep Dish Theater Company(0)
- UNC NEWS RELEASE: “If My Feet Have Lost the Ground,” a Toy-Theater Piece by Torry Bend(0)
- Enda Walsh’s “The New Electric Ballroom” Turns the Lonely Lives of Three Sisters Into a Dark Comedy(1)
- March 2013 Theater Calendar(0)
- Readers Go Ballistic Over “Julius Caesar” Review(1)
- Abridge Too Far: The Justice Theater Project Murders Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”(24)
- Joe Brack Gives a Pixilated Performance in “My Princess Bride” at Common Ground Theatre(0)