The Show Mustn’t Go On: COVID-19 and the Broadway Shutdown I recently took a masked walk through midtown Manhattan, stepping out of the subway at 42nd Street and strolling through Times Square. A pre-COVID Saturday would have found the square lousy with tourists, theatre ticket buyers, unlicensed costumed cartoon characters, and bristling New Yorkers. This day, there were only a few cops, some folks working for the city sweeping up, and a few kids from New Jersey. The Naked Cowboy was there (God, he’s always there!), donned in his signature cowboy hat and tighty-whiteys with “TRUMP” boldly emblazoned on the ass, plaintively playing his guitar for the pigeons. New York, like everywhere else, has been slammed by the pandemic.