Theater and Dance Research Guide 

What's Here

Musical theater is a topic of growing scholarly interest, as well as a perennial interest for actors and musicians.  This page offers pointers to finding materials about (and for) musical theater and it's different aspects.

• Find Books and Libretti
• Find Cast Recordings and Videos
• Selected Reference Resources
• Websites of Interest

One reason studying musical theater at Yale is complex is because Yale has so many resources!  As a result, materials are at the Music Library, SML, and the Drama collection at the Arts Library (and possibly at a few other places as well).

If you're looking for resources on the musical aspects of musical theater, see the Music Research guide.

Find Books and Libretti

There are several useful subject headings for finding materials in Orbis. One of the most important things to notice is that library subject headings use the spelling THEATER, not THEATRE. But the main heading in this case is MUSICALS.

Here are some examples:

• Musicals
• Musicals--Excerpts
• Musicals--History and criticism
• Musicals--New York (State)--New York--History and criticism.
• Musicals--United States
• Musicals--Librettos [NOTE: not "libretti" or "librettoes"]
• Musicals--Production and direction
• Musicals--Vocal scores with piano
• Musical theater
• Musical theater--California--San Francisco
• Musical theater--History
• Acting in musical theater
• Musicals--Instruction and study
• Musical theater--Instruction and study

Find Cast Recordings and Videos

One can find CDs and videos at Yale by using the approaches explained on the Videos and Sound Media pages of this guide.  But here are two quick-and-dirty links to generate rough lists of materials you may be able to check out:

• Sound recordings
• Videos

However, there's also an extensive collection of cast recordings in the American Musical Theatre collection at the Historical Sound Recordings Collection in the Music Library, and these recordings are not listed in Orbis. Access is by appointment (Mon-Fri afternoons), so please contact the curator of those collections, Richard Warren, to obtain assistance. It's best to make appointments at least a week in advance.

Selected Reference Resources

American musical theatre song encyclopedia. Thomas S. Hischak. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1995.

Music Library Stacks, ML102 M977 H6 A5

Broadway musicals, 1943-2004. John Stewart. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2006.

Music Library Reference, ML102 M977 S8+ Oversize

Broadway musicals, show by show. Stanley Green. 6th ed. New York: Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, 2008.

Music Library, ML1711 G798 B8 2008

Arts Library, ML1711 G735 2008 (LC)

Broadway yearbook. Steven Suskin. New York: Oxford University Press.

1999-2000: Online and SML Stacks, PN2277 N5 S87 2001

2000-2001: SML Stacks, PN2277 N5 S87 2002

2001-2002: Online and SML Stacks, PN2277 N5 S87 2003

Collins guide to musicals. Rexton S. Bunnett et al. London: Collins, 2001

Arts Library Stacks, ML102 M88 B86 2001

Encyclopedia of the musical theatre. Kurt Gänzl. New York: Schirmer Books, 1994.

Music Library Reference, ML102 M977 G12+ Oversize

Arts Library Stacks, ML102 M88 G3X 1994 (LC)+ Oversize

Internet Broadway Database (IBDB)

IBDB provides information on Broadway productions, both historical and current.  You can search for titles, genres, people, theaters, characters, awards and more. It covers all genres but obviously is of special interest for musical theater. The historical information is slowly reaching farther back.

Musical theater synopses: an index. Jeanette Marie Drone. Lanham, Md. : The Scarecrow Press, 1998.

Music Library Reference, ML128 O4 D7+ Oversize

Opening night on Broadway: a critical quotebook of the golden era of the musical theatre, Oklahoma! (1943) to Fiddler on the roof (1964). Steven Suskin. New York: Schirmer Books; Toronto: Collier Macmillan Canada; New York: Maxwell Macmillan International, 1990.

Music Library Stacks, ML1711.8 N53 S9

More opening nights on Broadway : a critical quotebook of the musical theatre, 1965 through 1981. Steven Suskin. New York: Schirmer Books; London: Prentice Hall International, 1997.

Music Library Stacks, ML1711.8 N53 S9 1997

The Oxford companion to the American musical : theatre, film, and television. Thomas Hischak. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, c2008.

Music Library Reference, ML102 M977 H6 O9

SML Reference, ML102.M88 H593X 2008

Queer encyclopedia of music, dance, & musical theater. Ed. Claude J. Summers. San Francisco: Cleis Press, 2004.

SML Reference and Music Library Stacks, ML100 .Q44X 2004

Singer's musical theatre anthology: a collection of songs from the musical stage, categorized by voice type.  Ed. Richard Walters.  Milwaukee, WI: H. Leonard Pub. Corp., 1986.

Music Library Stacks, M1507 S617 S+ Oversize

Virgin encyclopedia of stage and film musicals. Ed. Colin Larkin. London: Virgin in association with Muze UK Ltd., 1999.

Music Library Stacks, ML102 M977 V8

Websites of Interest

Cole Wide Web: The Cole Porter Resource Site

George and Ira Gershwin: The Official Web Site

The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive

Musicals101: The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, TV and Film

Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization

Sondheim.com