The story
On each side of a theater stage are spaces hidden from the audience, screened by tall pieces of scenery and curtain. These are the wings. From there, an actor can watch the stage without being seen.
Theaters were calling these side scenes the wings by 1790. It is where performers stand before an entrance, listening for their cue, and where understudies wait in case they are suddenly needed.
Out of that hidden waiting place came the phrase. Someone “waiting in the wings” is ready, close at hand and just out of view, prepared to step forward when the moment comes. It was in use before the 1900s.
Today it can describe a rising star, a backup plan or a successor. Sports teams have players waiting in the wings, companies have leaders waiting in the wings, and storms have a second front waiting in the wings.
