Broadway Stars Give Fans A Night To Remember During NYC Blackout
Disapointed fans got a night to remember from some cast members during the blackout
A mass power outage struck much of Manhattan on Saturday night, causing subway stations, Madison Square Garden (and one Jennifer Lopez), Times Square, and buildings all over the city to sit in complete darkness for almost five hours. It also affected packed Broadway theatres, but as disappointed ticket holders poured onto the dark streets, they got a sweet surprise from some cast members.
As Broadway theatre-goers were told their shows were being canceled due to the outage (many an hour before their shows were to begin), they were left wondering where to go and what to do. But it didn’t take long for some of their biggest stars to begin impromptu shows in the streets of New York.
Throughout the Theater District, fans got the show they weren’t expecting but will remember forever, from a choir outside Carnegie Hall to Tony Award winner André De Shields of Hadestown, to the cast of Rock of Ages performing on the sidewalk.
The blackout impacted more than 73,000 residents and police responded to 60 stuck-elevator emergencies, which officials preliminarily blamed on an Upper West Side manhole fire affecting an underground transformer, the New York Post reported.
Another performance from the cast of Come From Away left onlookers outside the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater smiling ear to ear, jamming in the streets instead of frustrated and disappointed.
Underneath the city, folks weren’t so pleased. The outage left the New York subway system at a standstill for almost an hour, some people deciding to walk through train cars to evacuate. Luckily for the folks above ground, the party was in full swing.
Of course, the cast of Frozen wasn’t going to let a little darkness ruin a Saturday night. “Our show may be canceled tonight because of the #blackout, but you can’t stop us from singing!” Patti Murin, the actress who plays Anna, wrote.
The cast of Waitress made sure to keep fans entertained, belting out some of their classics and showing everyone the power of music really can fix anything. “Thank you @WaitressMusical for your super sweet performance tonight. I’m so bummed we weren’t able to see the show but this made me so happy,” Anna Mae Murphy wrote on Twitter.
On another street, it was the cast of Hamilton that made the most of a bad situation. “@cnn @HamiltonMusical was canceled due to the blackout. The cast sang to us from above the Rodgers Theater in NY. It was awesome!” ticket holder Antony tweeted.
Throw some performances by Millennial Choirs and Orchestras who were set to perform at Carnegie Hall, and you’ve got yourself a pretty unforgettable Saturday night in New York City — a perfect reminder that in any situation, all it takes is a little creativity to turn things around.
