Reviews
How to find reviews of a variety of cultural materials; books, film, music, theater, & art.
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TIP 1: Keep in mind that it can be difficult to find reviews of specific plays unless they were covered in the local media. For example, it's often easier to find reviews of plays in cities recognized for theater, like Chicago or New York, versus smaller venues that did not receive much press.
TIP 2: Try searching for the subject heading "Stage History" in Library Catalog Search and then a keyword from the title of a play, like Midsummer. You can get information about plays that might be useful to your work.
Theater Reviews in Print
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The best plays theater yearbookCall Number: PN 2266 .A2 B56In Hatcher Graduate Library, Annual chronicle of United States theater
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Curtain call : selected reviews, 1957-2000 by Leonor Orosa GoquingcoCall Number: PN 2914 .G67 2001In Hatcher Graduate Library
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Play by play : theater essays and reviews, 1993-2002 by Jonathan KalbCall Number: PN 2266.5 .K371 2003In Shapiro and AAEL
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John Simon on theater : criticism, 1974-2003 by John SimonCall Number: PN 2277 .N5 S521 2005In AAEL
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Millennial stages : essays and reviews, 2001-2005 by Millennial stages : essays and reviews, 2001-2005Call Number: PN 2266.5 .B79 2006In Shapiro and AAEL
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The New York Times theater reviewsIn Hatcher Graduate Library, Covers 1870/1885-1999/2000
Theater Reviews in Library Databases
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Academic OneFileCoverage: 1980-present (varies by title)
Provides indexing for over 8,000 scholarly journals, industry periodicals, general interest magazines and newspapers.
In the Advanced Search enter the title of the play, and in the box labeled "By Document Type" select "Theater Review." -
Humanities Abstracts (with Full Text)Coverage: 1984-present (varies by title)
Contains abstracts for more than 300 humanities publications, including reviews of plays and television and radio programs.
Type the title of the play in the first search box and type "theater review" in the second search box. (Also reviews radio and television programs). -
Web of ScienceCoverage: 1975 ‐present
Type the name of the play or playwright in the Topic line and on the second line, select "Document Type" from the drop down menu, and click on "Theater Review" (Also includes reviews of radio and television programs). -
International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full TextCoverage: Varies by title
Type the title of the play in the search box. In the Refine Search area below, change Document Type to Entertainment Review. -
Performing Arts Periodicals DatabaseIndexes articles in more than 200 scholarly and popular performing arts periodicals. Covers a broad spectrum of the performing arts including dance, film, television, drama and theater.
Click on Search Articles. Type the title of the play in the Keyword search box. Under Document Type, select Theater Review from the list (you will have to click on the "Down" button to get all the way to "Theater Review" and then click on the "Select" button). -
Nexis UniCoverage: 1980- present (varies by title)
Provides full-text access to a wide range of news, business, legal, and reference information, including hundreds of U.S. and international newspapers.
To find reviews, click on the News tab in the left sidebar, then click on the "All News" link. Type the title of the play in the search box and in the Article Type box, click on Theater Reviews. -
Readers Guide Full Text MegaCoverage: 1890-present (varies by title)
Indexes and briefly summarizes articles from 240 popular periodicals published in the U.S. & Canada.
To find reviews, type the title of the play in the search box. Change Document Type to Theater Review. -
Readers Guide RetrospectiveCoverage: 1890-1982 (varies by title)
ndexes and briefly summarizes articles from 240 popular periodicals published in the U.S. & Canada.
Tof ind reviews, type the title of the play in the search box. Change Document Type to Theater Review.
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Times Digital ArchiveCoverage: 1785‐2006
Searchable access to the complete backfile of The Times, London.
Click on Advanced Search. Type in the title of the play in the search box. Under the Features section, check the box for Reviews.
Last Updated: Oct 9, 2025 11:12 AM
Subjects: General Information Sources
Tags: art reviews, book reviews, film, motion pictures, music, theater, theatre