21.   Everybody knew when that curtain went up that the characters were doomed.

22.   Gradually actors wander onto the stage to stretch and chat before the curtain goes up.

23.   He stood there on stage alone before the curtain went up, and he held this audience utterly rapt.

24.   In Houston, rodeo is major league, and when the curtain goes down on the Astrodome it will really be show time.

25.   It is the best pure play of the five, though whether Marber makes his case convincingly enough is hotly debated by audiences when the curtain goes down.

26.   Once the curtain went up, Ms. Andrews was launched like a flight of the space shuttle.

27.   Quite often, even a veteran actor or actress can come a little unraveled when the curtain goes up.

28.   Revisions cease only when the curtain goes up.

29.   Sierra never wanted the curtain to go down after his homer.

30.   So I do it right before the curtain goes up.