Paris By Night

Paris By Night is a popular Vietnamese-language musical variety show, produced by Thúy Nga and hosted by Nguyễn Ngọc Ngạn and Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên, featuring musical performances by modern pop stars, traditional folk songs, one-act plays, and sketch comedy.^[1]

Production

Originally Paris By Night was filmed exclusively in Paris, with its intended target audience consisting of the Vietnamese population in France, which is the most established and successful Overseas Vietnamese community. However, by the late 1980s, demand from the more populous Vietnamese American community for the production to host shows in the United States and the fact that most Vietnamese language performers from the former South Vietnam lived in the country resulted in Paris By Night restructuring its operations to Orange County, California. The first Paris by Night productions in the United States were filmed beginning in the mid-1990s.^[2][3]

Produced by Thúy Nga, the series normally consists of mostly the same staff and crew. However, there are different directors for each region of where the show is filmed: currently there is Richard Valverde in Paris, and Michael Watt in Canada and the US, Victor Fable in the US.

Notable former directors include The Voice (U.S. TV series)'s Alan Carter in the US, who directed Paris By Night 88, Paris By Night 90, Paris By Night 92 to 106, 108, 111, CEO of production company A. Smith & Co. Kent Weed in the US, of Paris By Nights 57, 63, 64, 67, 68, and 71, and NBC director Ron de Moraes who directed PBN 107, 109, 110, 112.

Starting with Paris By Night 34: Made In Paris, Shanda Sawyer has been working as the production's main choreographer for over ten years.

Controversies

As an overseas Vietnamese production and classified as a "reactionary cultural product" by the Vietnamese government, Paris By Night cannot be legally purchased in Vietnam, although pirated copies can be easily obtained in the black market. It sometimes features performances that are related to historical events, critical of the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party. In 2004, in Paris By Night 74, Hoang Oanh sang a song about Operation Passage to Freedom and a video montage was shown depicting beleaguered-looking northern Vietnamese fleeing to the anti-communist south during the partition of Vietnam, where they were met by Ngô Đình Diệm and his government's officials. This performance coincided with the 50th anniversary of the migration. In 2005, Paris By Night 77 was devoted to the 30-year anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, and included songs explicitly critical of communist rule, lack of human rights, accompanied by montages of the closing stages of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, the flight of distressed anti-communist refugees, and interpretative dancing critical of VCP rule, such as throat-slitting gestures. It also included documentary segments on the progress of Vietnamese immigrant communities since 1975, including one segment praising American support for South Vietnam and Operation Babylift—the communist government views the babylift of orphans as "abduction"—and gave awards to Vietnamese humanitarians and American political officials who helped Vietnamese refugees, as well as the Vietnam Air Force fighter pilot Nguyễn Qúy An.

In Paris By Night 91, for the 40th anniversary of the Tet Offensive, one medley involved Quang Lê singing about the beauty of the former Huế, backed by female dancers, before an explosion knocks them and the bridge over the Perfume River to the ground, something perpetrated by the communists during the Battle of Huế during the Tet Offensive. Khánh Ly then proceeded to sing Trịnh Công Sơn's "Song for dead bodies" about the communist massacre at Huế, which killed thousands. A video montage of the massacre, inconsolable relatives and the subsequent exhumation and religious reburial was shown in the background during Khanh Ly's performance.

It is also the subject of some controversies among the overseas Vietnamese population due to what some perceive as its support of the current government of Việt Nam. Paris By Night 40, with the topic of motherhood, featured a song by the composer Trịnh Công Sơn entitled "Ca Dao Me", which was performed by Don Hồ. The song included a reenactment of a bombing during the Vietnam War and showed a mother grieving over the death of her child and her husband. Some were offended by the song's antiwar message while others see this as an indictment against American and South Vietnamese troops even though the scene did not make it clear which side was doing the bombing. After a boycott, Thúy Nga reissued Paris By Night 40 with the bombing scenes removed. Ironically, Paris By Night 40 is the most commercially successful production. The director of the segment, Lưu Huỳnh, later went on to direct The White Silk Dress in Việt Nam, a film with similar themes.

In a recent episode, Thúy Nga Productions's Nguyễn Ngọc Ngạn wrote a skit about a Vietnamese American gay, starring Bang Kieu. This sparked conversations among Vietnamese Americans parents's and their gay children. It helped built more tolerance for Vietnamese American gay lesbian bisexual and transgender community overseas. This proves the company's cultural influence over the Vietnamese American culture, experience and audience.

There has also been increasing recent criticism of the production over-Americanizing its shows, with traditional Vietnamese culture and aspects no longer being emphasized as before, as well as the production largely losing its original French cabaret influence and roots. In fact, Paris by Night has not been filmed in its namesake city since 2003, Paris By Night 70.

The cover of the first Paris by Night video, one of the rarest videos in the world.

List of episodes

Artists

Female

Ái Thanh - Ái Vân - Amy Vũ - Angela Trâm Anh - Ánh Minh - Bạch Yến - Băng Châu - Bảo Hân - Bảo Ngọc - Bé Tí - Bích Chiêu - Cảm Ly - Carol Kim - Châu Ngọc - Dalena - Diễm Liên - Diễm Sương - Hà Phương - Hà Thanh - Hạ Vy - Hằng Nga - Hồ Lệ Thu - Họa Mi - Hoàng Bích - Hoàng Lan - Hoàng Oanh - Hollie Thanh Ngọc - Hồng Đào - Hương Giang - Hương Lan - Hương Thơ - Hương Thủy - Khánh Hà - Khánh Ly - Kiều Oanh - Kim Anh - Kỳ Phương Uyên - La Sương Sương - Lam Anh - Lan Anh - Lệ Thu - Lê Uyên Phương - Lilian - Lynda Trang Đài - Loan Châu - Lưu Bích - Mai Thiên Vân - Minh Tuyết - Mỹ Huyền - Mỹ Lan - Mỹ Linh - Mỹ Trinh - Ngọc Ánh (PBN53) - Ngọc Anh (PBN 96) - Ngọc Bích - Ngọc Đan Thanh - Ngọc Hạ - Ngọc Huệ - Ngọc Hương - Ngọc Lan - Ngọc Liên - Ngọc Loan - Ngọc Minh - Ngọc Thuý - Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên - Nguyệt Anh - Như Loan - Như Quỳnh - Như Mai - Phạm Quỳnh Anh - Phi Khanh - Phi Nhung - Candice Phi Phi - Phương Diễm Hạnh - Phương Dung - Phương Hồng Quế - Phương Hồng Ngọc - Phương Khanh - Phương Loan - Phương Nguyên - Phuong Thuy - Phương Vy - Phương Liên - Quỳnh Vi - Rebecca Quỳnh Giao - Shayla Kim - Sơn Ca - Sơn Tuyền - Tâm Đoan - Thái Hiền - Thái Thanh - Thái Thảo - Thanh Hà - Thanh Lan - Thanh Mai - Thanh Quỳnh - Thanh Thúy - Thanh Trúc - Thanh Tuyền - Thảo Mi - Thiên Kim - Thu Phương - Thuỳ Dương - Thúy Anh - Thúy Nga - Thủy Tiên - Thùy Vân - Tóc Tiên - Trần Thu Hà - Trang Thanh Lan - Triệu Bảo Vi - Trizzie Phương Trinh - Trúc Lam - Trúc Linh - Trúc Mai - Trúc Quỳnh - Tú Quyên - Uyên Chi - Vân Quỳnh - Việt Hương - Ý Lan - Bé Xuân Mai - Ý Nhi - Yến Mai - Yến Phương

Male

Adam Hồ - Anh Khoa - Anh Tú - Andy Vũ - Anh Dũng - Bằng Kiều - Bé Mập - Boney M. - Calvin Hiệp - Chế Linh - Chí Tài - Chí Tâm - Christophe - Đặng Trường Phát - Đình Bảo - Don Hồ - Đức Huy - Đức Thành - Dương Triệu Vũ - Duy Hạnh - Duy Quang - Duy Trác - Duy Trường - Elvis Phương - Giang Tử - Henry Chúc - Hoài Linh - Hoài Nam - Hoài Phương - Hoài Tâm - Hoàng Thi Thao - Hữu Lộc - Huy Tâm - Huỳnh Gia Tuấn - Huỳnh Thi - Joseph Hiếu - Bé Kevin Phan - Khang Việt - Khánh Hòang - Khánh Lâm - Kiều Hưng - Kiều Linh - La Thoại Tân - Lâm Nhật Tiến - Lây Minh - Lê Quang - Lê Tín - Lê Toàn - Lê Uyên Phương - Long Hồ - Lữ Liên - Lương Tùng Quang - Lưu Viêt Hùng - Lý Duy Vũ - Mai Quốc Huy - Mai Tiến Dũng - Mạnh Đình - Mạnh Quỳnh - Maurice Đạt - Ngô Quang Minh - Ngọc Trọng - Nguyễn Hải - Nguyễn Hoàng Nam - Nguyễn Hưng - Nguyễn Huy - Nguyên Lê - Nguyễn Ngọc Ngạn - Nguyễn Thành - Nguyễn Thắng - Nguyên Thảo - Nguyễn Văn Thinh - Nguyễn Vương Định - Nhật Ngân - Nhật Trung - Nhât Trung - Phạm Khải Tuấn - Phạm Long - Philip Huy - Quang Bình - Quang Dũng - Quang Lê - Quang Minh - Quang Tuấn - Quốc Anh - Quốc Dũng - Quốc Hùng - Quốc Tuấn - Roni Trọng - Sunny Lương - Tae Kyung Im - Taiphoon - Thái Châu - Thái Tài - Thanh Bùi - Thành An - Thành Đườc - The Gin-Sen(Spencer&Evan Lee) - The Kings - Thế Sơn - Thiên Tôn - Tiến Dũng - Tommy Ngô - Tom Treuler - Trần Đức - Trần Thái Hòa - Trần Thái Hòa (PBN 86) - Trịnh Lam - Trung Chỉnh - Trường Vũ - Từ Công Phụng - Tuấn Ngọc - Tuấn Vũ - Tùng Châu - Tường Nguyên - Văn Chung - Văn Phi Thông - Vân Sơn

Locations

Paris By Night has been filmed in the following cities:

By country:

Country	No. filmed	Years filmed
France	43	1983–1996, 1999–2003
United States	43	1993–1994, 1996, 1998–2000, 2002–present
Canada	21	1996–2001, 2004–2007
No audience	2	1997, 2001
South Korea	1	2007

References

External links

• Thuy Nga's Forum.
• Thuy Nga France (In Vietnamese, French, & English).
• Thuy Nga worldwide shopping website.
• Thuy Nga - Channel at Youtube
• Thuy Nga Paris By Night Fan's Blog
• A. Smith & Co. Productions
• Nguyen Ngoc Ngan's Vuot Bien Account (In Vietnamese).
• Nguyen Ngoc Ngan's Vuot Bien Account (In English).