Guide to Research on Musical Theater

Introduction | Overviews | Scholarly Secondary Literature | Popular Press Articles (reviews)

Introduction
Writings about popular musical theater appear in extremely diverse publications, making it essential to search widely for facts and opinions about the topic you may wish to investigate. This means becoming aware of both popular and scholarly perspectives. It also means gaining an awareness of the "nuts and bolts" of musical theater: i.e. acting, dancing, singing, writing, choreographing, composing, producing, marketing, etc. The research strategy suggested here urges a continual narrowing of focus, starting from a generalized overview of a topic and leading toward a close examination of a specific aspect of that broader topic. While online resources serve as the primary tools recommended here for collecting information on musicals, do not be lulled into thinking that the Internet is the primary source for information on musicals. The tools emphasized here have been carefully assembled by scholars and information specialists and are not freely available on the Internet. Material that is freely available on the Internet should be considered cautiously for its accuracy and validity. The World Wide Web should be used primarily as a starting point, which can assist in formulating possible avenues of inquiry.

Overviews (i.e. Encyclopedias)
For an introduction to a topic on the macro scale, good encyclopedias will offer you a concise summary of important aspects of a persons life and work, of an historical period, or of a particular idea or concept. Encyclopedias will also offer you leads as you continue to narrow your topic. Below are some of the resources that might offer you insight in to the musical theater:

Broad Overviews
New Grove Dictionary of Music Online Ed. L. Macy, 2001- (updated quarterly)
The "Grove" is the most comprehensive and authoritative source on music in English (the print edition consists of 29 volumes). This is a good source for relatively concise biographies (e.g. Richard Rodgers or Stephen Sondheim) and definitions (e.g. Musical). Of particular importance for your research are the thorough bibliographies provided with each entry, which lead you to additional resources on a particular topic (e.g. New York: BIBLIOGRAPHY: Musical Theater).

Gaenzl, Kurt. The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre. 2nd Ed. New York: Schirmer Books, 2001. 782.1403 G211, E56, 2001 (Music Reference)
Includes entries on individuals, works, and terms, with short bibliographies. Sample articles: Robbins, Jerome; Rent.

International Encyclopedia of Dance. Ed. Selma Jeanne Cohen et al. 5 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. 792.6203 I61, 1998 (Lilly Reference)
Includes entries on all aspects of dance (individuals, works, styles, etc.) with short bibliographies. Sample article: Robbins, Jerome.

Norton, Richard C. A Chronology of American Musical Theater. 3 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
A listing of production details for musicals in the United States from 1750 to 2001.

Green, Stanley. Broadway Musicals: Show by Show. 5th Ed. Rev. and updated by K. Green. Milwaukee: H. Leonard, 1996. ML1711 .G78 1996 (Mendel Reference)
Chronological guide to popular musical theater in the United States, providing details on productions and a short description of shows.

Green, Stanley. Hollywood Musicals: Year by Year. Rev. and updated by E. Schmidt. Milwaukee: H. Leonard, 1999. PN1995.9 .M86G74 1999 (Mendel Reference)
Chronological guide to musical films, providing details on productions and a short description of shows.

International dictionary of theatre. Ed. Mark Hawkins-Dady et al. 3 vols. Chicago : St. James Press, c1992-c1996. PN2035 .I49 1992q (Firestone: Trustees Reading Room)
Encyclopedia focusing on all aspects of theater.

Topical Reference Tools
Hischak, Thomas S. The American Musical Film Song Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1999. ML102 .M68H57 1999 (Mendel Reference)
Short descriptions of songs from musical films. Lacks documentation, but may offer some useful leads.

Internet Broadway Database. Provides comprehensive historical information and statistics related to Broadway.

Peterson, Bernard L., Jr. A Century of Musicals in Black and White: An Encyclopedia of Musical Stage Works by, About, or Involving African Americans. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1993. ML102 .M88P37 1993 (Mendel Reference)

Scholarly Secondary Literature
It is generally useful to become acquainted with critical considerations of specific topics in musical theater. Criticism on musical theater comes from various sources and is referenced in a variety of places, but rarely is any one research tool complete when it comes to musicals. You will need to consult literary and musical scholarship and perhaps sociological and economic scholarship. Likewise, scholary literature is found in both journal articles, chapters in books, and in entire monographs.

Article Indexes
The indexes below provide citations to scholary critical articles. These citations generally refer to articles in journals, chapters in collections of scholarly essays, or to monographs. After locating in these indexes citations to articles of interest, the item in which the article included must be search in the library's online catalog to determine if Princeton owns the title and where in the libraries it is located.

RILM Abstracts of Musical Literature
RILM is the main index for scholarly literature on music, comparable to the MLA Bibliography.

Modern Languages Association International Bibliography
The MLA International Bibliography indexes scholarship on literature and culture, including the consideration of the literary aspects of musical theater.

Internation Index to Music Periodicals
Draws its current content from more than 370 international music periodicals from over 20 countries with over 60 Full Text titles. IIMP Full Text also includes retrospective coverage from over 185 periodicals dating back as far as 1874.

America: History and Life
This database indexes scholarship on all aspects American culture and history.

Humanities Index
The Humanities Index lists scholarship across the humanities, providing access to scholarly considerations of musicals from outside of the disciplines of music and literature.

Arts and Humanities Citation Index

Library Catalogs
Searching the Library's online catalog will tell you whether a book or journal is owned by Princeton, in which library it is located, and if it is available.

Princeton University Library Online Catalog
A database of the holdings of the libraries at Princeton University. For example, by performing an author search, you can find out what material the University Library owns written by Stephen Sondheim. Or by performing a "journal title" search in the catalog you can find out if the University Library subscribes to Playbill. Tips on searching the online catalog.

Borrow Direct
A database of the holdings of the Ivy League libraries (except Harvard), which allows Princeton users to borrow materials that are unavailable at Princeton. It takes no more than four business days for requested materials to arrive at Princeton.

Popular Press Articles
Places to find popular opinion and critical reception of musicals.

Music Index
This index provides citations to a broad range of material, including scholarly literature, but also provides good coverage of popular magazines such as Billboard and Rolling Stone.

New York Times Fulltext (1851-1999)
Access to all of the New York Times up to three years ago, including reviews of musicals.

Lexis-Nexis News Index
Provides indexing of the New York Times and numerous other major newspapers, providing access to the latest coverage of musicals and theater life.

ProQuest
Indexes most major news and literary magazines, such as Newsweek and Atlantic Monthly.