“Great Dark Way” (Great White Way + dark) is a Broadway nickname that was used during the 2020-21 coronavirus outbreak, when theaters were forced to go dark (shut down).
 
“The Great Dark Way” was posted on Twitter by norman m canter NYC on March 12, 2020. “The Great Dark Way: Broadway shutdown now extended to May 30 2021” was posted on Twitter by Mark Shenton on October 9, 2020.
 
“Great Dark Way” had been used earlier. “If the fire commissioner and the art society have their way it is predicted that New York’s prominent thoroughfare will soon be known as the Great Dark Way” was printed in the Pittsburg (PA) Press on January 17, 1909.
 
   
Wikipedia: Broadway (Manhattan)
Broadway (/ˈbrɔːdweɪ/) is a road in the U.S. state of New York. Broadway runs from State Street at Bowling Green for 13 mi (21 km) through the borough of Manhattan and 2 mi (3.2 km) through the Bronx, exiting north from the city to run an additional 18 mi (29 km) through the municipalities of Yonkers, Hastings-On-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, and Tarrytown, and terminating north of Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County.
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Broadway in Manhattan is known widely as the heart of the American commercial theatrical industry, and is used as a metonym for it, as well as in the names of alternative theatrical ventures such as Off-Broadway and Off-off-Broadway.
 
Newspapers.com
17 January 1909, Pittsburg (PA) Press, pg. 8, col. 1:
If the fire commissioner and the art society have their way it is predicted that New York’s prominent thoroughfare will soon be known as the Great Dark Way.
         
Newspapers.com
15 November 1917, The Oklahoma News (Oklahoma City, OK), pg. 1, col. 7:
“GREAT DARK WAY” NOW
By United Press
New York, Nov. 15.—New York’s “great dark way” will be born at 11 tonight when all big electric advertising signs along Broadway are extinguished. To save coal the lights will burn only between 7L45 and 11 p. m.
 
Newspapers.com
11 June 1918, Akron (OH) Beacon Journal, pg. 4, col. 3 editorial cartoon:
STROLLING DOWN THE GREAT DARK WAY
   
Newspapers.com
4 June 1942, Greenville (OH) Daily Advocate, pg. 4, col. 2:
Under the most recent black-out orders, New York’s Broadway will become the Great Dark Way.
   
Twitter 
norman m canter NYC
@normancanter
Replying to @MarkHarrisNYC and @TerryTeachout1
The Great Dark Way.
3:19 PM · Mar 12, 2020·Twitter Web App
 
Twitter
Brandon Julien
@TheUpdateBJN
Times Square- the site of the great white way. Or at least for the next month, it’ll be the great dark way.
In another news conference by Governor Cuomo, he announced that Broadway shows would close effective 5pm… https://instagram.com/p/B9pzQXipHub/?igshid=1v4no2njva8ot
8:09 PM · Mar 12, 2020 from Manhattan, NY·Instagram
 
Twitter
Mark Shenton
@ShentonStage
The Great Dark Way: Broadway shutdown now extended to May 30 2021. While the West End sets imminent return — latest greenshoots of recovery include today’s announcements of panto at
@LondonPalladium & @PvtPeacefulPlay at Garrick — B’way delays again. https://broadwayworld.com/amp/c.php?url=Breaking-Broadway-Shutdown-Extends-Through-May-2021-20201008&__twitter_impression=true
5:37 AM · Oct 9, 2020 from Camberwell, London·Twitter for iPhone
 
Twitter
Art Fougner
@sonodoc99
The Great Dark Way
Broadway extends shutdown through May 2021 as Great White Way remains dark
Ticket sales for Broadway performances in the city were suspended through May 30, 2021, extending the Theater District shutdown into a second year, the Broadway League announced Friday.
nydailynews.com
3:40 PM · Oct 9, 2020·Twitter for iPhone