Paris by Night in St. Paul

Before I married Hubby, and consequently into the Vietnamese community, I had no idea what these words meant: Paris By Night.

Paris By Night is the name of a stage show performed in Vietnamese. It includes singing, dancing and comedy skits. The show is always emceed by the same male-female duo.

Even though all the performers are Vietnamese and all the acts are in Vietnamese, ever since the fall of Saigon, the show has been produced outside of Vietnam.

It plays to sold out crowds in California and tours the United States stopping in cities with a large Vietnamese community.

Every time the show is performed, it is video taped and turned into a DVD. My mother-in-law owns rows upon rows of Paris By Night DVDs and I've spent several hours lounging on her couch with Paris By Night playing in the background.

In fact, I've been to house parties, wedding showers, baby showers and more where Paris By Night is running on the TV background.

If you've never seen or heard of Paris By Night, the thing you most need to understand about it is that

1) It takes place almost entirely in Vietnamese

2) It is dramatic -- lights, make-up, fancy dresses, high heels, dancers, emotionally-wrought duos and ballads.

3) It goes on forever -- as in FIVE HOURS!

And this weekend I successfully sat through my very first LIVE Paris By Night performance.

The Paris By Night show came to Minneapolis-St. Paul. Hubby and I went, along with a bunch of his relatives.

Most of the singers were really very very very good. Even though I don't understand Vietnamese, their voices were incredibly powerful and stunning.

But . . . five hours is just too long to sit still and listen to a show.

I feel like I passed some sort of cultural milestone by going and hearing and making it through the whole darn thing, yet I think that will probably be the last live Paris By Night performance I attend!