Curtain up is the moment a performance begins. Curtain up at seven thirty, before curtain up, curtain up on the new season.
It is used as a time — curtain up at half past seven means that is when it starts — and figuratively for the beginning of anything. Many theatres no longer have a curtain at all, and the phrase has outlived the object.
1phrasecurtain upThe moment a performance begins.
“The actors were still putting on their make-up ten minutes before curtain up.”
curtain up is a beginning.
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