It sold out within a week and was still playing to packed houses when the run ended on 20 December 1930 , despite `` the gratifying knowledge that we could have run on for another six [ months ] . `` Coward ( 1937 ) , p. 312 ; and `` Theatres '' , The Times , 18 December 1930 , p. 12 The first Broadway production opened at the Times Square Theatre on 27 January 1931 with Coward , Lawrence and Olivier reprising their roles and Jill Esmond , who had married Olivier a few months earlier , as Sybil .
Coward closed the London production of “ Private Lives ” .