VSO Plays Prokofiev's Cinderella at the Orpheum

What is on the program

The evening opens with Scriabin's Rêverie, a short and dreamy curtain raiser. Then Kevin Zhu takes on Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto, which the VSO calls a subversive masterpiece of dark beauty. Antony Hermus, chief conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra, closes the night with the Cinderella Suite from Prokofiev's ballet. The orchestra pitches the arc as moving from sinister danger to fairytale enchantment, which is also how plenty of first dates look in hindsight.

The VSO lists the concert at about two hours with one intermission. Use that break well. It is your one chance to compare notes on the concerto before the fairytale arrives, and it is all instrumental, so nobody needs to pretend they caught the lyrics.

Picking your seats

The VSO's seat map lists prices from $26.43 plus $5.57 in fees at the low end to $124.52 plus $10.48 at the top. That makes a pair of the cheapest seats $64 all in and a pair of the best $270. If it were us, we would book cheaper and higher. The Orpheum's painted dome and chandelier are half the reason to come, and you see more of the room from up there.

How we would plan the night

With a 7:30pm start and a two-hour running time, you should be back on Smithe Street around 9:30pm. Eat early or keep dinner light, then walk over to Uva on Seymour Street for a nightcap and a vote on which piece won. If one of you is a concert regular and the other is new to it, this is a friendly program to start with: one short opener, one big concerto and a fairytale finale whose plot you already know.