LibGuides: Theatre and Dance: Finding Performance Reviews

Finding Performance Reviews

Performance reviews evaluate performances of a play or dance. Unlike other types of critical studies of drama or dance, the performance reviews usually appear within weeks of the performance and often appear in newspapers or magazines where the performance took place. Some things to keep in mind when looking for reviews of performances:

When did the performance take place?
Where did the performance take place?
Who was the director, choreographer or principal actor/actress/dancer?
What kind of production or performance is this? Locally hosted? National? International? Traveling production?

Articles Databases

Academic Search Complete (EBSCO)
The world's largest academic multi-disciplinary database, Academic Search Premier provides full text for nearly 4,700 publications, including full text for more than 3,600 peer-reviewed journals. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.
International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance (EBSCO)
International Bibliography of Theater & Dance, represents the most comprehensive multicultural and inter-disciplinary research tool available to theater students, educators and professionals. Since 1984, the Theater Research Data Center (TRDC) at Brooklyn College has published 14 volumes of the IBTD. These volumes comprise a fully indexed, cross-referenced and annotated databank of over 60,000 journal articles, books, book articles and dissertation abstracts on all aspects of theater and performance in 126 countries.

Newspaper Databases

Chicago Tribune (ProQuest)
This database gives access to a full-text backfile (excepting paid advertising) of the Chicago Tribune from 1985 to the current issue, Keyword searching can be free text or customized and limited to the previous three months, six months, or one year in addition to total holdings.
Chicago Tribune (Historical) (ProQuest)
This database offers full-text and full-image articles for newspapers dating back to the 19th century. For most titles, the collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue--cover to cover--in downloadable PDF® files. When the project is complete the coverage will span from 1849 to 2001.
London Times Digital Archive
This database presents online access to one of the most highly regarded resources for the study of the 19th and 20th-century history and culture. The database includes the complete pages of every issue of the London Times from 1785 to 1985 forming a complete chronicle of the period.
Newspaper Source (EBSCO)
Provides full text for 159 regional U.S. newspapers, eighteen international newspapers, six newswires, and nine newspaper columns, The Christian Science Monitor (for a total of 194 full text newspapers and other sources). Newspaper Source is part of the Ebsco family of databases.
New York Times (Historical) (ProQuest)
This database offers full-text and full-image articles for newspapers dating back to the 19th century. For most titles, the collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue--cover to cover--in downloadable PDF® files. Coverage spans 1851 to 2001.

Print Sources

The Dance in Mind by Deborah Jowitt; Lois Greenfield (Photographer)
Call Number: NIU--Main Collection--Call Number: GV1599 .J66 1985
ISBN: 0879235349
Publication Date: 1985-01-01
Some full-text reviews of dance performaces, dancers, and choreographers.
Index to The London stage, 1660-1800
Call Number: NIU--Reference 1st FL--Call Number: PN2592.L63 S3
This index makes accessible in one volume all the information about the plays, persons, and places as they appeared in each theatrical performance over the span of 140 years covered by the work. To find reviews, look for the play, playwright, or performance venue and there will be a list of newspapers that reviewed the performance with the date of publication.
New York theatre critics' reviews.
Call Number: NIU--Reference 1st FL--Call Number: PN1601 .N4
This collection of reviews is a complete record of the New York stage, reprinted from the New York Sun, New York Times, New York Herald Tribune, New York Post, New York Daily News, and New York World Telegram.
The New York Times theater reviews
Call Number: NIU--Reference 1st FL--Call Number: PN1581 .N4
A collection of theater reviews from the New York Times spanning the years 1920-2000. A good resource for finding historical reviews.