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Finding Theater Reviews

Finding Reviews in Newspapers and Magazines

New York Times: The New York Times is an important source for reviews of play productions in the U.S., and occasionally abroad.
New York Times Historical (1855-2003)
New York Times (2004-current)
This resource is preferred over Lexis-Nexis because it contains PDFs of the articles as they appeared in the paper, complete with photographs. The full-text of the Hartford Courant and the Wall Street Journal are also available using this ProQuest historical newspapers database.
The London Times: The full-text of the London Times for 1785-1975 is available through the database the Times Historical File. For reviews later than 1985, use Lexis-Nexis.

Indexes and Databases for Other Newspapers and Magazines

There are several print indexes that can help you find productions records for a particular play, and in some cases will provide citations for reviews:

Drama Criticism Ref PN 1601 .D59: Use the cumulative title index at the back of the last volume in this multi-volume set to identify which volume(s) to consult.
New York Theatre Critics' Reviews Ref PN 2000 .N76: "Theatre Reviews is a complete guide and record of the New York stage, reprinted from New York Sun, New York Times, New York Herald Tribune, New York Post, New York Daily News, New York World Telegram" (1940-); reprinted from the New York Daily News, Wall Street Journal, Time, New York Post, Women's Wear Daily, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Newsweek, NBC (1976).
American Theatre Ref PN 2277 .N5: These chronologically arranged volumes put plays into the context of the theater of their time.
A Guide to Critical Reviews Ref PN 2266 .S24: The first volume of this series lists press revies of major American productions that took place between 1909 and 1982.
British Humanities Index Ref AI3 .B7: This chronologically arranged multi-volume set will lead you to reviews from British magazines and newspapers. You'll need to know the production dates in order to know which volumes to use.
Lexis-Nexis: This database contains the full-text of many contemporary magazines and newspapers. Coverage dates vary, but generally begin in the late 1980s or early 1990s. The range of newspapers, magazines and transcripts being searched is controlled by your selection of "news category" and "news source." Although there is a category called "Book, movie, music and play reviews" you may need to use other search categories, such as a geographical region for regional theater reviews in local newspapers, or a production outside the US.
Readers Guide Retrospective (1890-1982)
Readers Guide Abstracts (1983-current): Index to popular American magazines. Search for reviews using the playwright's name and the title of the play.