opening ***
opening night
curtain raising

In 1949 he was asked to put together a group for a club's opening night.

The opening night is a significant social event for the students, staff and the local arts community.

No one who knew him believed he would check out before his new show's opening night.

For many reasons, this season's opening night was more important than some others in the recent past.

The official opening night took place on June 14, 2011.

I only met her once, the opening night of Brian's play.

On the opening night of the performance, there was a power failure about an hour into the show.

The opening night of the play should have been his compensation.

And now the opening night looked certain to be canceled.

A. We take the stance that the opening night of a performance is news.