That was how David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon taped their late shows Monday night, leading to some remarkably quiet monologues. On Tuesday, as the city took account of the damage wrought by the storm, some late-night shows were moving back into full production, while the aftermath of Sandy continued to cause the cancellations of film premieres, film and TV production and even that most unshakable performer: Bruce Springsteen.
The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert scheduled for Tuesday night at the Rochester Blue Cross Arena in upstate New York was postponed until Wednesday because of flight cancellations for Springsteen's band and ticket holders.
In New York, despite a downed subway system and a large swath of Manhattan being powerless, others were pushing on.
Letterman was to again host the "Late Show" on Tuesday night without a studio audience, although with guests meteorologist Jim Cantore, documentarian Ken Burns and musician Andrew Bird. Jimmy Fallon, after sending his studio audience home Monday, planned to resume taping "Late Night" with an audience Tuesday.
Jimmy Kimmel, who brought his Los Angeles-based "Jimmy Kimmel Live" to Brooklyn for a week's worth of shows, will be live from the Brooklyn Academy of Music Tuesday night after canceling Monday's show.
Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" both canceled Tuesday night's tapings.
Letterman and Fallon's taped shows Monday, sans studio audiences, were an unusual sight. Letterman read his trademark top 10 list with hand-written signs held up for each entry, and guest Denzel Washington showed up in a yellow rain slicker, claiming he swam to the Ed Sullivan Theater. On "Late Night," guest Seth Meyers said the experience was "like watching Charlie Rose if he had a band and everybody was a little bit high."
The city revoked film permits for a second day on Tuesday. The sets of "Smash," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "30 Rock," "Deception" and "Do No Harm" were closed, NBC said, and "Special Victims Unit" won't tape Wednesday. Other series temporarily knocked out of production included "666 Park," "Gossip Girl" and "Person of Interest."
Films forced to stop shooting include Darren Aronofsky's "Noah" and Akiva Goldsman's "Winter's Tale," and the Tuesday premiere of Joe Wright's Tolstoy adaptation "Anna Karenina" was canceled.
ABC's "Good Morning America," NBC's "Today" show and "CBS This Morning" aired live Tuesday with extensive storm coverage, though "GMA" was forced to cancel its planned Wednesday Halloween special.
Daytime shows were less successful, with production called off for "Live! With Kelly and Michael," "Katie," "The View" and "The Chew." ABC said work on all the programs would resume Wednesday.
All 40 Broadway theaters were closed, and while most hoped to open Wednesday, both "The Lion King" and "Mary Poppins" announced that Wednesday's shows would also be canceled.
The thriving downtown off-Broadway community was still assessing the damage and likely facing a longer time off. The superstorm forced the well-respected Vineyard Theatre in Union Square to cancel performances of its world-premiere production of "Checkers," which was to open Wednesday. And the staff of the SoHo Rep, just a few blocks south of Canal Street, was dealing with no power and some flooding in the basement, on a day that was supposed to be the first technical rehearsal of a play about African genocide by Jackie Sibblies Drury.
"You obviously can't do tech without electricity," said Artistic Director Sarah Benson, who added the tight-knit community was helping each other.
"I've already been in contact with other theaters who are offering help and the community is pulling together," she said. "Everyone is going to support one another as best we can."
Two Broadway shows were even offering a special discount -- if you could walk to their theaters. Tickets to the Roundabout Theatre Company's productions of both "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" were going for $20 for Wednesday's matinee and evening shows to customers who show their MetroCards, made useless by the storm.
Many of the cultural institutions of New York remained shuttered. Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center canceled performances and the Metropolitan Opera and Radio City Music Hall were also closed. The 57th St. entrance to Carnegie Hall -- which also canceled Wednesday concerts -- was blocked by a street closure due to the dangling crane. The Metropolitan Opera said Tuesday that it planned to go ahead with its Wednesday evening performance of Thomas Ades' "The Tempest."
The Apollo Theater was forced to postpone its signature show, the Amateur Night finale, from Wednesday night to Nov. 14. Apollo president and CEO Jonelle Procope said finalists weren't able to travel to the event.
The financial hit for touring musicians will depend in part on how long it takes transit and other infrastructure to return to normal, said Gary Bongiovanni of Pollstar, the trade publication that tracks the concert industry. Atlantic City, where a lot of acts perform, was particularly hard hit. New York concert cancellations included those for Journey at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn and a Beacon Theater benefit concert for marriage equality that was to feature Rufus Wainwright, the National and They Might Be Giants.
"Everyone knows there is no shows in New York tonight, but what about Wednesday or Thursday ... when do you make the decision to try and drop things and rearrange your schedules?" he asked. "Financially everyone is taking a hit on this thing, and you make the best of it like any other natural disaster."
Most movie theaters on the East Coast in the path of the storm have been closed since Sunday night and many continued to be Tuesday. Clearview Cinemas said its 47 theaters in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania were closed. AMC Theaters listed some 60 theaters in the area that were closed Tuesday, though some outside of New York could open later in the day. National Amusements, which runs Showcase Cinemas and Cinema de Lux locations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, said its theaters were open, aside from those without power.
Losing several days of box office for such a large area of the country would likely mean millions to Hollywood, although early weekdays are lesser moviegoing days and current new releases -- "Cloud Atlas," "Silent Hill: Revelation 3-D," "Fun Size" -- were already attracting little interest.
Debuting this weekend is the animated Disney comedy "Wreck-It Ralph," the Paramount thriller "Flight" and the martial-arts "The Man With the Iron Fists."
"I think `Wreck-It Ralph' is going to have a huge opening, but if it's less than expected, I think a lot of people are going to lay that on the doorstep of the hurricane," said Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. At the same time, he added: "A film like `Wreck-It Ralph' could be the antidote to the hurricane for families looking for an escape. It's a very escapist, fun movie. We'll have to take a wait-and-see attitude."
Another movie was on the mind of one performer.
With the hashtag of "SandySucks," Lady Gaga tweeted: "I'm never watching Grease again."
