first night

Origin of first night

First recorded in 1705–15

She saw Jarvis before the curtain making a first-night's speech.

Bambi |Marjorie Benton Cooke
It was on a muggy December evening that he accompanied Lady Marchsea and her eminent husband to a first-night performance.

Here and Hereafter |Barry Pain
They may be put into two main groups—the first-night deadheads and the other-nights deadheads—and there are subdivisions.

Our Stage and Its Critics |"E.F.S." of "The Westminster Gazette"
But whether, after the first-night criticisms, the piece will do, is a question that must be left to the future for solution.

Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98, April 26 1890 |Various

How did the first-night audience of public, and critics, receive the new play?

Oscar Wilde |Leonard Cresswell Ingleby

first night