All stories by William Powell on BroadwayStars

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Review: ‘The Promised Land’ by Dunvegan Productions by William Powell

The Promised Land is entertaining, thought-provoking, unsettling, and at times disturbing. Director and Playwright Lane McLeod Jackson has written and directed a dystopian tale in which the …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:13PM
Saturday, June 2, 2018

Review: ‘Ragtime’ at 2nd Star Productions by William Powell

The Golden Age of D.C. area shows this spring continues with the opening of Ragtime by 2nd Star Productions. Excellent performances by Carl Williams, Ashley Lyles, Stephen Yednock, Heather …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:09PM
Sunday, May 13, 2018

Review: ‘Deathtrap’ at Wolf Pack Theatre Company by William Powell

The first thing you notice about Deathtrap is its busy and detailed set. The set contains posters of plays by the fictional playwright Sidney Bruhl on the wall; a skull with a pipe between i…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 05:09PM
Friday, May 11, 2018

Review: ‘SOUL The Stax Musical’ at Baltimore Center Stage by William Powell

Holy Mother of all that is funky! SOUL The Stax Musical is the most fun I’ve had as a reviewer. A musical this magnificent comes around once in many a shady blue moon. SOUL The Stax Musica…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:25PM
Monday, May 7, 2018

Review: ‘Weird Romance’ at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s MAD Theater by William Powell

There’s a powerful scene in MAD Theater’s Weird Romance in which a computer-simulated woman, who may or may not contain a reincarnated spirit, bemoans the precarious fate of her newly bo…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:24AM
Thursday, May 3, 2018

Interview: Actress Gayle Carney Discusses her Off-Broadway show ‘The Promised Land’ by William Powell

Gayle Carney has played a myriad of roles in her many years as an actress. She’s been seen most recently in The Dog Must Die at Highwood Theater in Silver Spring, Maryland. That play is a …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 05:37PM
Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Review: ‘1984’ by Scena Theatre by William Powell

Big Brother. Newspeak. Thoughtcrime. Doublethink. Orwellian. Those words have floated around the public lexicon for years, and at a time when the political zeitgeist contains phrases like �…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:38AM
Friday, April 27, 2018

Review: ‘Snow Child’ at Arena Stage by William Powell

The Russians have a folktale called Snegurochka (The Snow Maiden). Prominent in the 19th Century, many versions of the Snow Maiden folktale centered around the appearance of a young girl who…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 02:07PM
Sunday, April 15, 2018

Review: ‘10x10x10’: A Ten-Minute Play Festival at Fells Point Corner Theatre by William Powell

In its sixth year, Fells Point Corner Theatre’s 10x10x10, a collection of 10-minute plays by Baltimore-DC area playwrights, is a feast for theater lovers. The setup of this must-see show …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:38PM

Review: ‘The Mountaintop’ by L.A. Theatre Works at George Mason University by William Powell

On April 3, 1968, a rainy night in Memphis, Tennessee, in a dingy hotel, there was a man working on a speech. This man had missed birthdays and anniversaries in pursuit of his dream. He was …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 07:37PM
Saturday, April 7, 2018

Review: ‘Underground Railroad Game’ at Woolly Mammoth Theatre by William Powell

How can you unpack a show with as many racial, sexual, and historical bombshells as Underground Railroad Game? The conceit of the play (2017 Obie Award Winner, Best New American Theatre Work…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:16AM
Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Review: ‘The Wiz’ at Ford’s Theatre by William Powell

Ford Theatre’s The Wiz, the Tony-Award-winning musical based on L. Frank Baum’s novel, will leave you enthralled, amazed, and bedazzled. The show is a cornucopia of colors, dancing, sing…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:13AM
Saturday, March 10, 2018

Review: ‘Frankenstein’ by Bowie Community Theatre at Bowie Playhouse by William Powell

Frankenstein by Bowie Community Theatre has blood, violence, and drama, all wrapped up in a Gothic shell. This version was adapted from Mary Shelley’s novel by Victor Gialanella and Di…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:04AM
Sunday, March 4, 2018

Review: ‘Disgraced’ at Compass Rose Theater by William Powell

Race, religion, office politics, and fear of the “other” are just some of the issues that explode onto the stage in playwright/novelist Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced, a 2013 Pulitzer Prize w…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:55PM
Saturday, March 3, 2018

Review: ‘Othello’ at American University’s Studio Theatre by William Powell

A play like Othello raises many questions in the minds of theater-lovers: Should art be recuperative? Should plays written long ago be redeemed to suit the tastes of modern-day audiences? Ot…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:28PM
Saturday, February 17, 2018

Review: ‘U-Street, The Musical’ at Momentum Collective by William Powell

U-Street, The Musical, directed by Alexandria, Virginia-based playwright Jason A. Ellis, explores the tribulations of the homeless in an engaging story punctuated with humor, song, dance, an…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 12:07PM
Friday, February 16, 2018

Review: ‘George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic’ at the Howard Theatre by William Powell

George Clinton, legendary songwriter, bandleader, and record producer, at 76 years young, put on a rapturous, stunning, extraterrestrial funk fest at the Howard Theatre on a warm February ni…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:03PM
Monday, February 12, 2018

Review: ‘Stick Fly’ by ANKH Repertory at the Gaithersburg Art Barn by William Powell

Stick Fly is a boiling stew of classism, colorism, parent-child dynamics, unspeakable secrets, and marital choices. With a cast every bit the equal of Lydia R. Diamond’s Broadway-produced …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:25AM
Saturday, February 10, 2018

Review: ‘The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940’ at Bowie Playhouse by William Powell

Complete with double identities, hidden passages, murders, and mystery, The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 is the type of comedy that blends the serious with the silly. Sharply directed by J…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:36PM
Sunday, January 28, 2018

Review: ‘Almost, Maine’ at Greenbelt Arts Center by William Powell

Almost, Maine, by John Cariani explores the upside and downside of love as experienced by the residents of its mythical, titular town. Playing as almost a comedic version of Our Town, the co…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:11PM
Monday, January 8, 2018

Review: ‘House.’ at Laurel Mill Playhouse by William Powell

Reality TV shows have been described with many different words since they have pervaded the airwaves over the past two decades – crass, stereotypical, unreality. Maryland-based playwri…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:08PM
Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Review: ‘The First Christmas’ at the Music and Drama Ministry of Shiloh Baptist Church of Landover by William Powell

Written and directed by Fay Brake, The First Christmas, performed recently at Shiloh Baptist Church of Landover, speaks to the essence of Christmas – inspiring its audience to remember…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 01:25AM
Monday, December 18, 2017

Review: ‘The Gift of the Mad Guy’ at Building Better People Productions by William Powell

Christmastime is promoted by many as a time to let go of, at least temporarily, the practice of excessive self-cherishing. It is a time to reflect on the wants and needs of others. Many Chri…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:43AM
Sunday, December 10, 2017

Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Wolf Pack Theatre Company by William Powell

Who isn’t familiar with the story of Ebenezer Scrooge? Wolf Pack Theatre has retold the familiar story of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, in a different way each year, for the past …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 10:50AM
Saturday, December 2, 2017

Review: ‘The Man Who Came to Dinner’ at Prince George’s Little Theatre by William Powell

What can you say about a character who was on a first name basis with Walt Disney and Mahatma Ghandi? A character who dominated the radio airwaves, read plays, wrote books, who often slept u…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:00PM
Saturday, November 25, 2017

Review: ‘The Wizard of OZ’ at Greenbelt Arts Center by William Powell

  Greenbelt Arts Center’s The Wizard of OZ, directed by Jon Gardner, is the epitome of joy, happiness, and sunshine; a theatrical ride to magic and wonder. With lyrics and music by Ha…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 11:26AM
Sunday, November 5, 2017

Review: ‘A Tuna Christmas’ at Bowie Playhouse by William Powell

Satire can be both salve and mirror in tough times and in good. A Tuna Christmas, written by Tony-nominated Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard, satirizes small-town American life, lea…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 07:54PM
Thursday, November 2, 2017

Review: ‘19’ at Through The 4th Wall by William Powell

The road to freedom is never easy. Often that road is fraught with several steps forward and several steps back. Marginalized groups must face pressures from without and within. The in-works…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 07:23PM
Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Review: ‘The Bridges of Madison County’ at Kensington Arts Theatre by William Powell

“For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, ‘It might have been’,” wrote poet John Greenleaf Whittier. The themes of “what might have been” and “what if” wer…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:00AM
Saturday, October 28, 2017

Review: ‘The Sea Voyage’ at Baltimore Shakespeare Factory by William Powell

Ask most theater lovers if they have heard of Jacobean-era playwrights such as John Fletcher and Philip Massinger and you would probably receive a confused “no.” Fletcher and Massinger, …

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 06:24PM
Sunday, October 15, 2017

Review: ‘Hamlet’ at Port City Playhouse by William Powell

An actor of illustrious talent shone bright recently on the D.C. area stage of Port City Playhouse. Rebekah Raze, in a performance that progressed from great to astounding, not only enthrall…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 09:40PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards