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jmslsu01
Registered User
Registered:
6/9/2003
From:
northern VA | posted: 12/1/2003 at 11:45:45 AM ET
OK-everyone is obviously online,so the Internet is the obvious starting point.
This website has a big archive-look to the right of your screen,and you can enter search phrases. If you want an exact phrase,enter it in quotation marks.
Secondly-Google (http://www.google.com ) is undoubtedly my favorite search engine. I rely heavily on it for my job. Dogpile is also useful (http://www.dogpile.com )-it pulls together searches from Google,Yahoo,and other sources.
If you do an advanced search on Google,you can enter an exact phrase. Google does not require you to enter Boolean phrases (i.e. you do not need to enter AND to link words. It will do it automatically). However,if you want to eliminate certain phrases,you have that option as well in advanced search.
You can also search newsgroups for information. There is not a dedicated newsgroup for Bernadette,but there is rec.arts.theatre.musicals. If you do an advanced search (you have to select Groups on the Google homepage),you can search the entire Google archive. You can limit it to a certain newsgroup,or you can search across the archives.
Playbill's site also has an archive. http://www.playbill.com
Now-here's where we get to non-World Wide Web sites.
One of the best databases for finding articles is Lexis-Nexis. If you have a (U.S.) college/university library card,chances are your university library subscribes to Lexis Nexis. It is an overwhelming database full of articles from newspapers,magazines/journals,television transcripts (although most TV transcripts are not full-text),etc. If you do a search on Bernadette,you will have to limit your search to a few years at a time-if your search retrieves over 1000 documents (which it will if you do this search without selecting specific dates,which I just tested while writing this),it will stop the search and will make you narrow your search. Your number of articles retrieved will depend on how you narrow your search. I just played with it,and some searches bring up articles that aren't very relevant because I allowed the most general search possible. There are some great articles in Lexis-Nexis (I can't post them on this site because I don't want LN to go after Kevin). I wish I could post them-I could get in trouble as well.
If you do not have access to Lexis-Nexis because you are not enrolled in a university,you still have other options. If you have a public library card (if not-get one!),you probably have access to online databases which you can access at home (some databases may be in-library use only). One of the most common ones is Gale Group Databases. Gale is not as large as Lexis-Nexis (depends on which Gale databases your library subscribes to),but you will still find plenty of articles. Another good database is EBSCO. Biography Resource Center,another database,is also a good start. Newsbank has articles from your local and various national newspapers. World Book Online has links to articles as well as biographical information.
I don't have access to ELibrary Plus,but it has articles,transcripts,etc. It really depends on what your library subscribes to.
While there are no biographies of Bernadette,there are some books that have excellent information. I'm just going to list a few-if others know of any,chime in.
Hot Seat by Frank Rich (a collection of his theater criticisms)
Sondheim & Co by Craig Zadan. Get the updated edition if possible.
Not Since Carrie: 40 Years of Broadway Musical Flops by Ken Mandelbaum (information on La Strada and Mack and Mabel)
American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle by Gerald Bordman (not a lot of info,but information on her less successful shows is included)
Stephen Sondheim: A Life by Meryle Secrest. Secrest's biography remains controversial in the Sondheim circle. I recommend it with some reservation,but it includes information on Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods.
Neil Simon's autobiography includes information on the making of The Goodbye Girl musical.
Ethan Mordden's series on Broadway musicals is fabulous,but look for One More Kiss:The Broadway Musical in the 1970s.
That's all I can think of for right now. Hope this helps! If your library doesn't have these titles,ask them to do an interlibrary loan. Don't be shy-this is done all the time.
If you're looking to buy books,recordings,etc,look on Ebay ( http://www.ebay.com ), Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com ), and Half.com ( http://www.half.com ). Ebay regularly has collections of articles,recordings,and memorabilia for sale.
These are some great general theater sites:
http://www.broadwaystars.com (links to articles/information on theater)
http://www.broadwayworld.com (message board,features)
http://www.talkinbroadway.com (active and opinionated message board,reviews,etc)
http://www.theatermania.com (lots of stuff,and don't miss Peter Filichia's column)
http://www.sondheim.com (fantastic source for Sondheim information. Highly opinionated message board,which recently suffered an enormous breakdown and has not yet been reinstalled. According to the webmaster,much of the archives has been lost,which is extremely unfortunate. There's a lovely interview with Bernadette:
http://www.sondheim.com/features/bernadette_peters.html
The New York Times site has a very knowledgeable forum. http://www.nytimes.com
You have to register to read the paper and access the forums (it's free)-you'll find the forum in the Arts section (hard to link since you have to register-after you go to the Arts section,go to the Theater section and find the link to the discussion forum on the right).
Here's a friendly warning about these boards,and I'm not saying this to be mean. Those other boards will not take kindly to a large amount of simple questions being posted.
Hope this helps someone....
Jenn
| Karen
Registered User
Registered:
5/3/2002 | posted: 12/1/2003 at 1:40:19 PM ET
Wow, what a great list of suggested resources. Thanks so much for that!
|  Jean
Registered User
Registered:
6/7/2003 | posted: 12/1/2003 at 5:24:23 PM ET
Oh Madame Librarian..great job, you've got more patience than I ever had!
2 more books:
"Something for the Boys", John Clum, 1999--mentions Bernadette in relation to gay culture and musical theater;
"Sondheim", by Martin Gottfried, revised edition, 2000--mentions Bernadette in relation to her Sondheim shows.
And, just to put it all in one place (I know it's listed in the FAQ section):
Bernadette's official site :
http://www.bernadettepeters.com
J
| jmslsu01
Registered User
Registered:
6/9/2003
From:
northern VA | posted: 12/1/2003 at 11:00:21 PM ET
Jean-
I forgot about the Gottfried book! Thanks so much. And the official site,too.
Jenn
|  Christine-NYC
Registered User
Registered:
3/23/2002
From:
New York City
Fav. BP Song: With So Little to be Sure Of
Fav. BP Show: Gypsy
Fav. BP Character: Marie (insert last name) lol There's a few
Fav. BP CD: Bernadette Peters Loves Rogers and Hammerstein
| posted: 12/2/2003 at 6:48:56 AM ET
Wow, very nice Jenn. 
I'm sure this will be useful for everyone here.
Maybe Kevin can put this as a sticky post on top for a little while 
<3CMH<3
| jmslsu01
Registered User
Registered:
6/9/2003
From:
northern VA | posted: 12/2/2003 at 12:17:27 PM ET
Another note: The section of Lexis-Nexis which will interest most people here is Academic Search.
And Christine-I didn't know you had a website. I clicked the wrong button to post (I just came from another board) and found it on your profile. Very fancy!
That's a very interesting shot of Tammy and Bernadette. She looks like she's about to kill her.
Jenn
| Christine-NYC
Registered User
Registered:
3/23/2002
From:
New York City
Fav. BP Song: With So Little to be Sure Of
Fav. BP Show: Gypsy
Fav. BP Character: Marie (insert last name) lol There's a few
Fav. BP CD: Bernadette Peters Loves Rogers and Hammerstein
| posted: 12/2/2003 at 7:15:45 PM ET
LOL thanks
It's more of a homepage than a website...there's no links or anything; just some things that express what I like. I actually haven't even updated it in some time. But thank you for the compliment. 
<3CMH<3
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