Finding Articles
This page includes resources for finding articles about musical theatre. The tabbed box below includes both suggested databases to search in (first tab) and recommendations of specific publications to check out (second tab).
If you need a refresher on how to find articles through an academic database, check out our library guides linked below!
Journals and Databases
- Music Periodicals Database This link opens in a new windowA database with full-text and abstracts of articles on music. Includes indexing for music articles and obituaries from the New York Times and The Washington Post. Covers nearly all aspects of music, including scholarly studies and popular trends. Coverage: 1874 - present.
- Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new windowThis database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 395 international periodicals, plus full text for more than 160 of the indexed journals. The database currently includes almost a million records, the majority from the most recent ten years of each journal. Performing Arts Periodicals Database covers a broad spectrum of the arts and entertainment industry - including dance, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, circus performance, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic, performance art, film, television and more.
Coverage: 1864 - current - International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Alternate version: International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text in the classic EBSCO user interface (best for exporting more than 50 results or combining saved searches). International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text contains all of the content available in International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance as well as full text for 100 titles, including Canadian Theatre Review, Dance Chronicle, Dance Teacher, Modern Drama, PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, Research in Dance Education, Research in Drama Education, Studies in Theatre and Performance, TDR: The Drama Review, Theater, and many more. Additional full text available includes more than 50 books & monographs.
- RILM Abstracts of Music Literature This link opens in a new window
Alternate version: RILM Abstracts of Music Literature in the classic EBSCO user interface (best for exporting more than 50 results or combining saved searches). RILM Abstracts of Music Literature is a comprehensive bibliography on writings about music featuring citations, abstracts and indexes. It covers nearly one and a half million publications from around the world on traditional music, popular music, jazz, classical music and related subjects. Coverage begins in the early 19th century and extends to the present.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new windowSearch all 46 ProQuest Historical Newspaper titles owned by the University of Illinois, representing 19 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, as well as titles from Canada, the UK, and India. Coverage spans the 18th century to the 2010s and includes important publications like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Globe and Mail, and Chicago Tribune.
If you're just looking for a place to browse, check out the journals listed below.
Looking for a specific journal? Check the library catalog or our Journal and Article Locator tool to see if we have it in print and/or online.
- American TheatreAmerican Theatre magazine is the nation’s only general-circulation magazine devoted to theatre. American Theatre covers theatrical trends and events, stage artists of every stripe, and economic and legislative developments affecting the arts. Its main purview is America’s wide-ranging network of professional, not-for-profit theatres—commercial, amateur or university theatre is less frequently covered—and the magazine does not review productions (but does review theatre-related books).
- The Sondheim ReviewDedicated to the work of the musical theater and Broadway's foremost composer and lyricist, Stephen Sondheim.
- New Theatre QuarterlyNew Theatre Quarterly is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering theatre studies. It is published by Cambridge University Press.
- Studies in Musical TheatreStudies in Musical Theatre is a refereed journal which considers areas of live performance that use vocal and instrumental music in conjunction with theatrical performance as a principal part of their expressive language.
- BackstageBackstage is an entertainment-industry brand aimed at people working in film and the performing arts, with a special focus on casting, job opportunities, and career advice.
- PlaybillVols. for published by Playbill, inc. The national magazine of the theatre.