the show must go on

Englisch

Etymology

Originated in the 19th-century circus industry.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Phrase

the show must go on

1. (literally, theater) Regardless of what happens, whatever show has been planned still has to be staged for the waiting patrons.
   • 1990 December 9, Maida Tilchen, “Closer To Near”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 21, page 14:

     Two other very personal issues that Holly discloses are her ongoing struggle to maintain a weight she feels comfortable with, and her virtual breakdown from exhaustion in 1984. Her "the show must go on" martyrdom attitude was painful to read, for her stress-related problems demonstrate the irony that idealistic activists often live exactly the overworked, underpaid life they are hoping to end for everyone.

2. (idiomatic) One must finish what one has started; things must continue no matter what.

Translations

One must finish what one has started.

• Esperanto: la spektaklo devas daŭri
• French: le spectacle doit continuer
• Polish: przedstawienie musi trwać
• Portuguese: o espetáculo deve continuar
• Russian: шоу должно продолжаться (šou dolžno prodolžatʹsja)
• Spanish: la función debe continuar

See also

• business as usual