Was it high-flying Classical Brits star Nicola Benedetti who brought out the Friday night crowds for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra? Or were some of the punters caught by the lure of the concert's title - Forbidden Love.
As it happens, any potentially illicit goings-on were restricted to the second half of the evening.
First up, after interval, were the star-crossed Tony and Maria, whose sorry romance threads through Leonard Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.
Conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya was ineffably hip, with a fetching catalogue of casual gestures to prompt and propel the well-groomed orchestra through this street-savvy musical melange.
The tragic romance of Paolo and Francesca fared less well, their sufferings locked into Tchaikovsky's execrably dull Francesca da Rimini. This is one dreary potboiler, a mix of third-rate tunes and tub-thumping climaxes.
