IST 605: Broadway Musicals

Boolean searches, using AND, OR and NOT, can be useful tools to help you find exactly what you're searching for.

• Rogers AND Hammerstein (Finds results with ALL keywords)
• Kander OR Ebb (Finds results with EITHER keyword)
• Gershwin NOT Ira (Excludes a keyword)

Nesting keywords using paratheses will keep key words together: (Tony Award Winning Musicals)

Quotation marks are also handy for exact phrases: "Cole Porter songs"

Helpful Key Words:

• Musical - a play or movie in which the storyline is interspersed with or developed by songs, dances and the like.
• Tony Awards - the award that recognized excellence in Broadway theatre.
• Libretto - the text or words of an opera or similar extended musical composition.
• Choreography/Choreographer - the art of composing ballets and other dances / a professional who plans the dance steps in a musical.
• Composer - a person who writes music.
• Lyricist - a person who writes lyrics.
• Director - a person responsible for the interpretive aspects of a stage production.
• Set Designer - a person who designs the set for a stage production.
• Stage - the platform which the actors perform on in a theatre
• Orchestra - a group of performers on various musical instruments that play the music for a show.
• Theater or Theatre - a place that stages performances
• Showtune - a song typically written for musical theatre.
• Score - the written form of a musical composition.
• Preview - performances before a show officially opens. A show may make changes during previews.
• Performances - a show presented before an audience.

Some definitions provided by dictionary.com

Other Tips:

Musicals are not exclusive to Broadway! Plenty of musicals are out there that have never played in a Broadway theatre.

Broadway is also a street in Manhattan, so simply using terms like "Broadway New York City" will most likely produce results about the street.