command performance

American  

noun

1. a performance of a play, opera, ballet, or the like, given at the request of a sovereign or head of state.

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command performance British  

noun

1. a performance of a play, opera, etc, at the request of a ruler or of royalty

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command performance Idioms  

1. An occasion that one is obliged to attend, as in My boss's invitations to dinner are always a command performance. This term originally (late 1800s) denoted a theatrical or musical performance presented at the behest of a sovereign or head of state. By the 1930s it was also used figuratively for any more or less obligatory occasion or performance.

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Etymology

Origin of command performance

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

Get a command performance out of Vidal, who rushed for 124 yards last week.

From Los Angeles Times

Get a command performance from that array of receivers who put on a show in Brazil.

From Los Angeles Times

I gave what I consider to be a command performance for President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

From Los Angeles Times

But Chenoweth patented this fizzy, morally complicated update of Glinda the Good — one of the reasons it was karmically so satisfying to see Menzel and Chenoweth reunited in the film for a command performance in Oz.

From Los Angeles Times

Ledecky, who has never lost a world championship or Olympic final at 800 or 1,500 meters, also gave a command performance Wednesday, racing out to a body-length lead at 400 meters and adding to that advantage with each stroke.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• world premiere