Welcome to the "Entertainment/Performing Arts" page in our virtual library. Here you will find recent additions to our reference and circulating collections as well as useful links to various web sites. Suggestions for additional web sites or titles to add to our collection are welcome.

General Guides to the Arts | Dance | Movies

CultureFinder: Online Address for the Arts - http://www.culturefinder.com/
One of the best web sites for the performing arts, it includes season calendars for over 1500 arts organizations across the United States. It covers Broadway & Theatre, Classical Music & Opera, Dance, Film and Visual Arts. Each area has a guide that includes biographical information on the artists in that field, descriptions of major works, and a dictionary defining the terms used.

Online Classics - http://www.onlineclassics.com/
This site offers streaming live and archived videos of the performing arts. At the site, visitors will find over 150 hours of video-on-demand of opera, theatre, concerts, plays, dance, and musicals, and new and live broadcasts are added each week. Viewing live broadcasts does require Windows Media Player.

Performing Arts Links - http://www.theatrelibrary.org/links/index.html
An index of links to performing arts information and resources on the Internet including sections on cinema, dance, theater, plays and playwrights, reviews, organizations, museums & collections as well as university departments,mailing lists and newsgroups.

Dance

Ballet & Dance (About.com) - http://balletdance.about.com/arts/balletdance/
This excellent directory of ballet and dance resources includes links to virtually everything connected to the world of ballet and dance as well as message boards and chat.

Dance Directory - Sapphire Swan - http://www.SapphireSwan.com/dance/
Resources organized by type of dance: Ballet, Ballroom, Cajun, Contra, Flamenco, Folk, Morris, Modern, Salsa, Square, Swing and Lindy,
Tango, Zydeco, and more. In addition, covers books, schools, supplies, and other directories and guides.

Dance Links - http://www.dancer.com/dance-links
A regularly updated list of links to dance resources. Covers ballet, modern and contemporary, and other dance forms (flamenco, tap, butoh, multimedia, jazz, world, etc.), performance listings, newsgroups, publications, organizations, funding resources, schools and universities, dancers, and Web indices.

Movies

Classic Movie Sites http://classicfilm.miningco.com/movies/classicfilm/
The best place to start for searches involving older films is MiningCo.com’s Classic Movies Site. This site has indexes devoted to people, titles, studios, and genres, as well as to classic-movie lists, Web rings, collectibles, trivia, games, magazines, and societies.

Film.com- http://www.film.com
One of the most wide-ranging general movie sites on the Web. There are links to movie reviews, home video information, interviews, feedback, and back-lot gossip.

Internet Movie Database - http://us.imdb.com/
The most comprehensive movie database on the Internet with links to thousands of sites and updated regularly. It covers over 200,000 movies and TV shows, 400,000 actors and actresses, nearly 40,000 directors and thousands of behind-the-scenes people who help to create movie magic. The information is well organized and the search feature, whether for particular titles, people, plots, etc., is fun and easy.

Movie Review Query Engine- http://www.mrqe.com/lookup?
If you're looking for movie reviews, this is the site. Over 125,000 reviews are indexed from commercial sources and the Usenet movie review groups.

Movie-STAR - http://www.cuadra.com/demos/moviestar.html
Database of information on the Academy Awards since 1927, including more than 6,200 nominations and 1,200 Oscar awards in major categories for over 2400 motion pictures and 3900 individuals.

Rotten Tomatoes http://www.rottentomatoes.com/
This excellent movie review site was originally launched on August 18, 1998. It features a growing selection of movie reviews and regularly updated news for moviegoers. The site offers articles, reviews and other features that have been designed for both the casual visitor as well as the hardcore movie fan. The "Tomatometer" gives a convenient at-a-glance consensus, but links are provided for the user to search for more in-depth movie-related information.

Screenit! (Entertainment Reviews for Parents) -http://screenit.com - Screenit! provides a chart with 15 categories, from "nudity" to "imitative behavior," rates them from "none" to "heavy," and analyzes each category in some detail. You can find a plot synopsis, a review of the film, and a discussion of the film's suitability for various age groups. Excellent site for parents who want to know more about the suitability of current movies/videos for their children.

Music

Albany Symphony Orchestra http://artsitedesign.com/aso/ Web site for Albany's own symphony orchestra. The site includes program and subscription information and includes concert previews and show reviews.

AMG's All Music Guide - http://allmusic.com/
All Media Guide's extensive database for music, movies and video games includes expert reviews, biographies, ratings, images, credits, essays and thousands of descriptive categories. Search by artist, album, song, style, or label. Access information on new releases, music styles, music maps (guides to the evolution of a musical genre), articles, and a glossary. Entries on artists describe a musician/musical group's history, roots and influences, musical style, discography, guest performances, and reviews.

CDnow - http://www.cdnow.com/
Shopping for a CD? The inventory at CDnow tops 250,000 items and includes 35,000 video releases, 8,500 music videos, and CD-ROMs. You can find almost every album made in the U.S. and around 6,000 imports. You can listen to cuts and clips using RealAudio before you buy. CDnow also contains music news, discographies, biographies, and information on upcoming concert dates.

Essentials of Music — http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/
A Classical music site built around Sony’s Essential Classics Series, it covers six main periods in classical music history, discussing musical themes, musical context, style, and major composers. A Glossary provides 200 terms with listening (RealPlayer format) or picture examples.

Harry’s Blues Lyrics Online — http://blueslyrics.tripod.com/ A very useful site for "nothing but the blues" containing the lyrics of over 2,500 blues songs, arranged by artist and title with Real Audio sound clips provided for half of the entries. Information on the history of the Blues is provided as is a glossary of commonly used blues slang, with links to songs containing the selected term.

The Muze - http://www.muze.com/
This impressive music information resource allows you to search by song, album, composer (classical), or artist in rock, jazz, or classical. You can find artist biographies (from the Encyclopedia of Popular Music), reviews; 30-second sound clips; album details, including producer, release date, guest artists, track listings and times, recording personnel, and many have photographs of album covers. You can also browse by musical category, including music for children, movie soundtracks, and comedy or spoken word albums.

Theatre

Capital Repertory Theater http://www.capitalrep.org/ This is the site of Albany's award winning professional theater company. The site includes information about the current season as well as membership and special program information.

New York Theatre Experience -http://www.nytheatre.com/
Contains current listings of shows playing in New York theatres including musicals, plays, and special attractions. Also has reviews, coming attractions, ticket information and new openings and recommendations. Links to some useful theatre and New York City resources.

Playbill On-line - http://www.playbill.com/index.php
U.S. and London theatre listings, feature articles on the industry, Who's Who, job listings, and more.

Television

Zap2It - http://www.Zap2it
If it's about television, you'll find it here, with its own content, TV schedules, contact information for networks, direct broadcast satellites, and stations, information on all TV shows (with the soaps having their own section), and hundreds of links. Their Nielsen ratings page covers Prime Time, Hispanic, Sports, Cable, and Syndication.

Local Performing Arts Web Sites

Albany Symphony Orchestra - http://artsitedesign.com/aso

Capital Repertory Theater -http://www.capitalrep.org/

Glimmerglass Opera - http://cooperstown.net/glimmerglass

Saratoga Performing Arts Center- http://www.spac.org/

Tanglewood http://www.bso.org

Williamstown Theater -http://www.wtfestival.org/

all links were valid as of 2/7/01

To make suggestions about this site, to report dead links, or for information related to Entertainment and Performing Arts resources you please call our Information Desk at 458-9274.

William K. Sanford Town Library
629 Albany Shaker Road
Loudonville, NY 12211

Phone: (518) 458-9274
Fax: (518) 438-0988

last updated 2/25/02
URL:http://www.colonie.org/library/virtual/arts.html