Benjamin Scheuer had planned to spend much of 2020 on the road, touring in support of his long-awaited debut album. The singer-songwriter’s dream was dashed, of course, once COVID-19 obliterated his opportunities to perform before a live audience or join his collaborators in the studio.

Scheuer’s disappointment was shared by legions of singers, actors, musicians and dancers around the world as their professional lives were indefinitely upended when theaters and other performance venues shuttered. He set out to capture that sentiment for posterity with a new single, “Empty Stage,” which became the soundtrack for a short film starring a dazzling corps de ballet.