The Story of Kieu

I could remember when VHS were still “in” like it was yesterday. My parents and I used to always rent cai luong from the local Vietnamese rentals store (it was my BLOCKBUSTER). We would watch it as a family (minus my brother because he was not into cai luong). We sat around the family room and watched it practically every day during the span between dinner and bedtime. After years of constantly watching cai luong, I was able to predict the actors’ next lines and sing along as young as I can remember.

Looking back, it was a great way to learn Vietnamese while exposing me to Vietnamese art and literature and spending quality time with my family. Sadly, the last time I watched cai luong was probably when I was in the sixth grade (more than eight years ago). I am ashamed to say this, but as the years have passed and the busier I get, I have lost a sense of traditional Vietnamese culture.

Fortunately for me, I was able to watch cai luong again for the first time in ages. I love Broadway and assumed that I would also love cai luong. However, do to the language barrier now because of my lack of using Vietnamese have made it harder for me to speak, read and write the language. If it was not for the play bill, I probably would not have understood what was going on in the story. Furthermore, this kind of theme was different than the usual cai luong stories that I used to watch. I thought this story was kind of scandalous because of all the kind of situations Kieu encountered were extreme. My stories included more traditional, rural Vietnamese peasants rather than warriors.

I recently I lost my relationship that I had with my dad when growing up. So watching cai luong again was kind of a happy moment but depressing at the same time. But overall, I think it was a great experience even though I could only understand 50% of what they say. I enjoyed how elaborate the costumes were and admire the actor’s talent in being able to carry out their voice for so long. Watching these kinds of performances/shows again always gives me goose-bumps because I get excited about it.