Early Saturday evening, when Manhattan is already brimming with tourists and New Yorkers enjoying the peak of a summer weekend, a blackout hit the city.
Mandatory building evacuations forced hundreds of people onto the street. People had to walk out of Carnegie Hall, Broadway musicals, even a Jennifer Lopez concert.
Then, while the sun set, music began.
The Millenial Choirs and Orchestra was scheduled to play at Carnegie Hall on Saturday. In the wake of the blackout, they continued their show and captured an audience outside of the theater.
The cast of āWaitress: A New Musicalā also kept an audienceās attention, singing to passersby outside.
The āHadestownā cast brought out a trombone and sang about the blackout, prompting people to dance on the streets.
āRock of Agesā whipped out a classic.
And the cast of āFrozenā sang into the night.
The blackout may have had a brief moment of beauty but it wasnāt fun for everyone.
It impacted more than 40,000 customers in the city, shutting off street lights and causing major traffic. The power outage also stalled elevators and subway cars.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was campaigning for president in Iowa, said he believed a mechanical issue caused the widespread power outage.
Con Edison reported that power would be restored to most of Manhattan by midnight.
In the meantime, see what New Yorkās Great Summer Blackout of 2019 looked like from the streets and above.