command performance

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

command performance (plural command performances)

  1. (archaic) A dramatic, musical, or similar entertainment performed before a monarch or other head of state, especially in a circumstance where that ruler has requested or ordered the performance.
    • c. 1900, Richard Harding Davis, Billy and the Big Stick:
      "I've been giving a ‘command’ performance for the president," explained the actor modestly.
    • 1974 February 4, “People”, in Time‎[1], New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC:
      Following a 1973 White House command performance and a TV special, Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back, Sinatra made his first nightclub appearance in three years at Las Vegas' Caesars Palace.
      (Can we archive this URL?)
    • 1998 October 4, Alvin Klein, “Theater: A Potential New Star For an Ever-Rarer Art”, in The New York Times‎[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 November 2025:
      And he won't let his audience forget that he was part of a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II in June.
  2. (idiomatic, by extension) A task, activity, or other assignment which one undertakes in order to satisfy someone in authority, such as an employer.
    • 2002, Susan Wittig Albert, Indigo Dying, Penguin, published 2004, →ISBN, page 26:
      Some big client of Arthur's is coming to town, and Sally is supposed to entertain the man's wife. She says it's a command performance.

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References

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