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How to Find Play Reviews
Finding reviews for plays can be easy or hard, depending on when the play was produced, because the Lindell Library online newspaper databases start in 1985. For contemporary reviews before then, you have to use old-fashioned print sources. Fortunately we have a few of those.
That is why the sections below are divided between plays produced before and after 1985. Enjoy the research!
New York Times Archives
You can search the New York Times for play reviews back to the 1850s, but they are behind a paywall. DON'T PAY FOR THE ARTICLES!
We have a complete subscription to the Times in microfilm, and reviews published since 1985 are in our databases.
Plays Produced After 1985
For plays produced after 1985, these newspaper databases are great sources for reviews.
- US Newsstream This link opens in a new windowProquest Newspapers is an excellent source to track down reviews of plays that opened in cities other than New York.
Plays Produced Before 1985
For plays produced before 1985, you may need to do things the old-fashioned way — by using print indexes, microfilm, and books of collected reviews.
Intimidated?
If you're not sure how to use these resources, don't hesitate to ask a librarian! We can help you find what you're looking for.
Readers' Guide to Periodical LiteratureCall Number: REF INDEX A13 .R48Publication Date: many volumes beginning in 1905The Readers’ Guide is just what the title says, a guide. There is no full text. Look up your play by title or author, and play close attention to the abbreviations that follow the title — these abbreviations contain the publication name of the periodical and date of the review. A librarian will be glad to help you navigate these volumes.The New York Times Index
Call Number: REF INDEX AI21 .N44Publication Date: 1851-1999If you're looking for a review of a play that opened on or off Broadway in the 150-year period ending in 1999, this is the definitive index. Pay close attention to the date that follows the entry! You will use this date to locate the microfilm roll that contains the edition of the New York Times with your review. It's like hunting for treasure with a map, and you will be rewarded.
The New York Times Book of Broadway : On the Aisle for the Unforgettable Plays of the Last Century by Call Number: REF PN2277.N5 N45 2001ISBN: 031228411XPublication Date: 2001Ben Brantley, drama critic of The New York Times relives unforgettable Broadway and off-Broadway moments. Witness the night a star was born, a director's brilliant debut, a play that broke new ground, a musical that redefined the genre, and even a terrible play that ran for years.
Hot Seat : Theater Criticism for the New York Times, 1980–1993 by Call Number: LOWER LEVEL: PN2277.N5 R53 1998ISBN: 9780679453000Publication Date: 1998In his nearly fourteen years as chief drama critic of The New York Times, Frank Rich was both admired as a passionate advocate for the best in New York theater and reviled as "the Butcher of Broadway" for his presumed destructive power over the commercial fate of Broadway shows. Hot Seat is Rich's definitive chronicle of his long run - an encyclopedic anthology of more than three hundred of his best reviews and essays, interspersed with further thoughts, entirely new to this volume, about his adventures on the aisle at the tumultuous time when Broadway was decimated by AIDS and colonized by the British musical.
On Stage : Selected Theater Reviews from the New York Times, 1920–1970 by Call Number: REF PN2277 .N5 B4ISBN: 0812903633Publication Date: 1973This book contains selected reviews published in the New York Times from 1920-1970
