Performing Arts

Brandy Norwood and Whitney Houston play Cinderella and her fairy godmother in Disney's beloved production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. Courtesy of Walt Disney/Storyline/Citadel/Kobal/Shutterstock hide caption

When we spoke with Karyn Meek back in 2017, she was production stage manager for the Tony-nominated musical Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. She's now enrolled in online grad school. Meek says as a stage manager she's used to solving problems before they arise. The pandemic is "a problem that not only can I not solve — I can't even see what next week will be," she says. Jeff Lunden for NPR hide caption

Abigail Barlow, left, and Emily Bear are the creative duo behind Bridgerton the musical. "We wanted to be able to tell a stand-alone story and still honor what was created in the books and the TV show," says Barlow. "But honestly, we want to bring something new to these characters as well." Igor Kasyanyuk hide caption

Born in Toronto, Christopher Plummer made his name as a classical actor — performing Shakespeare at the Stratford Festival in Canada and the Royal Shakespeare Company in England. He began acting in films in the 1950s. Charles Sykes/AP hide caption

"I've always wanted to just be an actor ... that's all I've ever wanted to be, playing different roles," Hal Holbrook told NPR in 2008. He is shown above in his New York apartment in February 1973. Jerry Mosey/AP hide caption

Cicely Tyson portrays a former slave in the 1974 television movie The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. CBS Photo Archive/CBS via Getty Images hide caption

Derek DelGaudio on stage during In & Of Itself, now streaming on Hulu. Matthew Murphy/Hulu hide caption

Daphne Rubin-Vega played Mimi in Rent. "It was a lot of fun to actually be able to practically apply my research of partying ..." she says. "I knew these people. I knew this world." She's pictured above with Adam Pascal in New York Theatre Workshop's 1996 production of Rent. Joan Marcus hide caption

Wendell Pierce says that live audiences always "let you know if you're on the right track." But filming this new production without a live audience, he said it heightened his focus "to tell the story as clearly as possible." Pierce is pictured above in Paris in October 2016. Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt/AFP via Getty Images hide caption