Welcome to Internet Broadway Database. Here's a quick map of the site. The basic search engine is in the lefthand column of the page. For more complicated or filtered searches, click on the Advanced Search button below the Basic Search. Search results will appear in the body of the page. To get back to the IBDB home page, click on the IBDB logo on the top left or onto the IBDB Home link on the blue stripe, available at the top of every page. You can also access the IBDB Help menu, About IBDB, and Contact IBDB pages by clicking the tabs at the top of every page.
"QUICK SEARCHES" (horizontal blue bar at the top of every page)
To find a person's Broadway credits, type his/her name into the search field (e.g. "Helen Hayes") and select a category (e.g. "People"). The search engine will bring up the results closest to your search. If there is more than one result (e.g. two people with the same name), you will get a list of people from which to select.
To get a list of all shows of a certain title, type in the title (e.g. "Gypsy") and the category ("Show"). You will get a list of all of the different shows with the title "Gypsy" along with their types (musical or play) and their author(s). Once you find the "Gypsy" that you want (e.g. the musical by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim), click on that link to get a list of all productions of the Styne/Sondheim "Gypsy".
To get a list of all shows that opened at a particular theatre, type in the theatre name (e.g. "John Golden Theatre") and select the category ("Theatre"). You will get a list of all Broadway theatres that had at any time been named "John Golden" along with their addresses. Click on the theatre that you want to get a list of productions at that venue.
To get a list of all shows that opened and closed in a particular season, type in the season (e.g. "1999-2000").
Seasons run roughly from June through May.
If you do not know the category or want to search across multiple categories,
type in the name you want and select the "All" category (in the previous example, "Helen Hayes" would generate
results in both the "People" and "Theatre" categories.)
If you are not sure of the spelling, type in the letters you are sure of at the beginning of a word (i.e. "Cy" will yield "Cyril" but "Cyrril" will not). If this still doesn't work, try conducting an Advanced Search from the appropriate orange tab accessible at the top every page (e.g., Shows, People, Theatres, etc.).
To find certain types of shows by category To find a list of all shows of a particular type, select a category (e.g. "play") without filling in the title. You will get a list of all plays ever produced on Broadway. If you want to further filter this search, select a subtype (e.g. "solo"). In this case, your search will return a list of plays performed by one person. If you know the title of the show but still want to narrow the search down by type, go to the show section and enter the title of the show (e.g. "Peter Pan") and select the category you want (e.g. type = "musical"). You will get a list of all productions of the musical version of "Peter Pan", but not of the play with the same title.
To find productions that opened, closed or played in a specific time period
To find productions that opened, closed or played between two dates (e.g. shows that were playing on Broadway sometime between November 2007 through January 2008), go to advanced search (orange) ?Shows? tab from the home page. In the Playing Date Range field, enter the dates as 11/00/2007 and 01/00/2008.
You can also use these searches for viewing productions of a specific show that played during a specific period (e.g., if you want to see all productions of Hamlet in the 1960s). In this instance, you would enter ?Hamlet? in the show name field, and in the Playing Date Range field: 00/00/1960 and 00/00/1969.
To find a list of all shows that opened between two dates, leave the show title and any other specific show criteria out, and enter your desired dates in a similar fashion.
Do the same thing if you are looking for productions that closed between two dates by searching within the Closing Date fields.
To find shows set in a specific time or place To search by setting, type a key word into the Setting field (i.e. "Verona" or "1776, Philadelphia"). This will give you a list of all productions that were set in the time or place specified. Make sure this is a "fuzzy" search (simply list key words separated by commas) in case the production's setting doesn't exactly match your phrase.
To find a person by name
If you are unsure of the spelling or proper name of a person or if you know only part of his/her name, type in what you know (e.g. first name "Anton"). You will get a list of everyone in the database whose first name is "Anton"
If you know the person's function, type in as much of the name as you know (e.g. first name "Anton") and his function (e.g. playwright). You will get a list of all playwrights with "Anton" in the name.
To find a person by function If you want a list of all Broadway playwrights, check "playwright" in the filter box, but leave the name field blank.
To find a person by gender If you want a list of all female playwrights, check "playwright" in the function box and "female" in the gender box.
To find a person by place, or date of birth or death Similarly, to find female playwrights born in Ireland, check "playwright" and "female" as well as "Ireland" in the country of birth box. You can also get a list of people who were born or died on a certain date by typing in the date in the date of birth or date of death fields. Please note that these results will not necessarily be all-inclusive since we do not have birth cities, death dates, etc. for every individual listed within our database. The search will only yield results for the people for whom we know that particular piece of information.
To find out what actors played a specific character You can also search by character name (e.g. all characters named "Horatio"). This will bring up a list of all characters with that name, the productions in which they appeared, and the performers who played the role.
To find two people credited together To find a production in which two people are credited together, begin by searching for one of the people. When you are on the first person's page, use the search box at the bottom of the page that says, "Find out where this person and ______are credited together." Type the name of the second person in the blank.
To find theatres by addresses If you know the street of the theatre, but not the name, type in the street in the "Street" field (i.e. 44th). If you do not fill in the name, you will get a list of all venues whose addresses include 44th Street.
Type:
The type of a show refers one of three genres: musical, play, or special. Specials are defined as any production not "typically theatrical" in nature and often presented for a limited run (e.g. concerts, dance pieces, comedians).
Subtype:
Subtypes are more specific than the three main types mentioned above. Each production must have one and only one type, but may have many or no subtypes. Subtypes for a musical may include "comedy" (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), "dance", (Riverdance), "revue" (Smokey Joe's Cafй), etc. Plays may have such subtypes as "farce" (Tartuffe), "mystery" (An Inspector Calls), "tragedy" (Hamlet), etc. Subtypes can also vary from production to production of a particular show. For example, a one-man version of Hamlet would have "play" as its type and "tragedy" and "solo" as its subtype.
Version:
The two versions of a production are "original" and "revival". An original production is the first time the show appeared on Broadway. A revival is subsequent production of that show with a different concept (usually with a different creative staff).
A return engagement is a replica of a previous production (either an original or revival). The direction and designs are duplicated and the cast is often the same.
Setting:
The setting is the time and place of the play in a specific production. The setting of a show may change from production to production, and may not be the same as the author's original setting. For example if a director set a production of "Hamlet" on the moon, "the moon" would be the setting for that particular production.
Opening Date:
The official opening date of a production.
Preview Date:
The date a show began previewing to audiences (i.e., performances prior to the official opening).
Closing Date:
The final performance of a production.
Number of Previews:
The total number of previews the production performed.
Number of Performances:
The total number of performances, excluding previews. Performance counts do not include Actors' Fund or other benefit performances.