Play reviews focus on a specific production giving details about the general plot and evaluating actors'performances, direction, sets, costumes, etc.
Dramatic Index (1909-1949)
Sawyer REF PN1601 .A55
Indexes reviews of the American and English stage.A Guide to Critical Reviews
Sawyer REF PN2266 .S34
Provides citations to reviews appearing in American and Canadian periodicals and the New York Times. Part I includes American plays from 1909/1910 season to 1981/82 season. Part II covers American Musical Theatre from 1909 to 1973/74 season. Part III focuses on modern foreign plays produced on the New York stage from 1910 to 1976/77.New York/National Theatre Critics' Reviews
Sawyer PN2000 .N76 (1947-1996)
Reprints reviews from New York area newspapers. Use the indexes for 1940-1960, 1961-1972, 1973-1986 (interfiled with the periodical volumes), or use the index at the beginning or end of each volume for a year to find the play you want.London Times Index (1785-present)
Print index located at beginning of reference collection
Look under Theater or Theatrical Productions to find reviews. Microfilm is available on the lower level in the microforms area with the newspaper microfilms arranged alphabetically (under T for Times).
New York Times Historical (1851-2004) and New York Times (1999-Present) Search the full text of the New York Times. The historical file is scanned images of the newspaper, including photographs. The current file is text only. Search with a combination of the play title, playwright, director, or cast members. To get reviews, limit search to a range of dates near the production date, or in the current file select performance review as a limit.
Nineteenth Century Masterfile (1800s-1920)
Provides indexing from Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1802-1906) and several other nineteenth-century indexes, newspapers, and periodicals.Readers' Guide Retrospective (1890-1982) and Readers' Guide Abstracts (1983-Present )
Provides citations to articles in popular magazines. To find reviews, search for the title of the play and limit to a range of dates around the production date. In the current file, choose limit by document type play review.International Index to the Performing Arts (1998-Present; some coverage 1864-1998)
Provides access to reviews in theatre magazines and journals. Select Search. Enter play title in Keyword field. Select "Theater Review" from the list of Document Types.Web of Science (1900-Present )
Select Arts and Humanities Citation Index (1975-present) from the list of Web of Science databases. Choose General Search. Enter play or playwright in Topic field and choose "theater review" as document type.