THE HAGUE – This was no contest. Shut down by the coronavirus crisis, Europe’s annual musical spectacular that pits countries against one another instead sought to unite them Saturday.
The Eurovision Song Contest whose final was scheduled for Saturday night was canceled amid restrictions aimed at reining in the global pandemic.
So rather than judging songs from 41 artists from Albania to the United Kingdom and having countries allocate points to elect a winner, organizers created a two-hour show called “Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light” that was broadcast in more than 40 countries.
Underscoring the effects of the coronavirus, the show opened with a montage of videos of the deserted streets of European cities before cutting to an almost