Performing Arts

In the HBO adaptation of Larry Kramer's 1985 play, The Normal Heart, Mark Ruffalo (right) plays Ned Weeks, who begins to seek answers after he observes a mysterious disease claiming lives in his gay community. Joe Mantello plays a member of the AIDS service organization, Gay Men's Health Crisis. Jojo Whilden/HBO hide caption

Sammy Davis, Jr. holds daughter Tracey in a family picture taken in 1962. RatPac Press & Running Press (The Perseus Books Group) hide caption

With their matching blue wigs, the dancers in the Palm Springs Follies chorus (they're called the "long-legged lovelies") give a whole new meaning to the cliche "blue-haired old ladies." Ina Jaffe/NPR hide caption

Sheldon Harnick (right) with the late Jerry Bock, his long-time musical collaborator. Together they worked on musicals like Fiddler on the Roof and Fiorello! Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images hide caption

This is the third time Alan Cumming has starred in Cabaret. Each of the productions with Cumming was directed by Sam Mendes. Rob Marshall choreographed both American productions and co-directed the new one. Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images hide caption

Eddie Izzard is famous for performing in drag — and in French — though he's given up the drag in recent shows. His latest American tour kicks off this week. Andy Hollingsworth Archive hide caption

The theater troupe is kicking off its Hamlet tour with three performances at Shakespeare's Globe Theater in London. Alastair Grant/AP hide caption

Comic Hari Kondabolu's album Waiting for 2042 is a reference to the year the Census Bureau projects whites will be the minority in the U.S. "Don't worry, white people," he says. "You were a minority when you came to this country. Things seemed to have worked out for you." Kyle Johnson hide caption

Daniel Radcliffe (right) plays Billy, in a scene with Pat Shortt as Johnnypateenmike, in the Broadway production of Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan. Johan Persson/Michael Grandage Company hide caption

"Any time you're playing someone with a cognitive disability of any kind it's dangerous territory," says Chris O'Dowd, of playing Lennie, in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Leighton Meester plays the wife of Curley, the son of Lennie's boss. Richard Phibbs/Polk and Co. hide caption