From Springsteen to Letterman, Sandy disrupts

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 Tuesday, 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.

While Broadway theaters were closed and ready to reopen Wednesday, the thriving downtown off-Broadway community, with most of its theaters in lower Manhattan, was still assessing the damage and likely facing a longer time off. The superstorm already forced the well-respected Vineyard Theatre in Union Square to cancel performances of its world-premiere production of "Checkers," which was to open Wednesday.

Many of the cultural institutions of New York remained shuttered Tuesday. Aside from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center cancelling performances, the Metropolitan Opera and Radio City Music Hall were also closed. Even 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's "The Tempest."

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 Tuesday. 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 says: "With the exception of a few still waiting for power to return, all of our theatres are open."

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.

Any impact on movie ticket sales in the coming weekend is difficult to estimate, said Hollywood.com box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. 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," Dergarabedian said. 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."

AP Global Entertainment Editor Nekesa Moody and Entertainment Writers Mark Kennedy in New York and Lynn Elber and Christy Lemire in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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