Leonard Bernstein's 1944 classic On the Town is currently "packing 'em in" at the Théâtre du Châtelet, in a production brought to the French capital by the English National Opera (ENO).
After Candide and last year's hugely successful West Side Story, this production of On the Town is the third in a series of musicals paying tribute to the genius of Bernstein.
As a quick flick through the programme reveals before the curtain goes up, although the musical is apparently "often named as one of Bernstein's greatest successes....it's rarely staged on Broadway or in London".
Indeed it is the first time it has been performed here in France.
On the whole the French don't appear to be that hot on musicals - or as they call them "comédies musicals". Well certainly not as enthusiastic as the British or the Americans.
It's a genre that undoubtedly works when a home grown-production is staged such as Starmania in the 1970s, Notre-Dame de Paris in the 90s, or more recently Le Roi Soleil.
But they tend to have had a limited life-span in comparison with British and American musicals, and often don't export particularly well. So much so, that when Notre-Dame de Paris transferred to London at one point, it was rather unkindly described by one British newspaper critic as a "load of old bells".
Of course the exception that proves the rule is none other than Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's Les Misérables.
There again, the greatest success of that musical, which opened in Paris in 1980 but was forced to close after six months - has undoubtedly been international. And the two men are hardly household names here in France in the same way that Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice are in Britain for example.
Anyway back to On the Town - evidence perhaps that when a classic of its kind hits Paris, and especially one penned by Bernstein, it can still pull in the public.
The plot itself could be seen by some as thinner than the proverbial rake. But hey, it's a musical, where the real points of interest are the singing and the dancing. And in that respect, "On the Town" doesn't disappoint.
But for those of you who don't know the story line or haven't seen the 1949 film version with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, here it is in a nutshell.
It centres on three sailors, Gabey, Chip and Ozzie, on 24-hour shore leave in New York and ready to do (within the boundaries of decent taste) what any hot-blooded seafarers would do given such a short space of time in a major city
See the sites and wow the gals - not necessarily in that order for all three of them.
Gabey almost instantly falls in love with a poster of "Miss Turnstiles" or Ivy Smith, and the trio make it their quest to try to find her for him, individually racing around New York in pursuit.
In the process, Ozzie hooks up and falls in love with anthropologist, Claire DeLoone, who has in the past been rather "Carried away" in her appreciation of the opposite sex, is now supposedly "reformed" and indeed due to be engaged, but quickly succumbs to his charms.
Meanwhile Chip is scooped up by a rather over-amourous taxi-driving Hildy Esterhazy, intent on getting him to "Come up to my place"
And although Gabey finds and woos Ivy himself, and even arranges for a date that evening, the two - for one reason or another - fail to meet at the agreed time.
That sets the scene for his two friends, plus Claire and Hildy - to take the lovelorn sailor on a trip through some of the city's night clubs, until they eventually find Ivy - cut to the end, and of course the trio are at the dock in a final clinch with their "belles" before boarding the ship and returning to duty.
Curtain falls, applause.
There are of course a few more twists and turns, but really the plot plays second fiddle to the dancing and the singing, for which it is to a great extent simply a vehicle.
In fact what's maybe most striking about this musical is that it had its roots in dance - in the form of the ballet "Fancy Free" - and that can be seen in some of the numbers which are pure....well....ballet.
As well as that of course there are some humdingers of tunes, belted out - only to be expected really from ENO - with true relish.
And although the staging of this particular production might not be the most ostentatious or dazzling, in the end it doesn't really appear to matter to the audience.
The production clips along at a fair pace, there's the odd comic moment, that downright silly plot, but all in all it's a great night out, not in the slightest bit intellectually challenging and proving that actually it's all right simply to be entertained.
And of course, it's hard not to leave humming (at least in the head) probably the show's best-known tune "New York, New York".
On the Town opened at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on December 10 and runs until January 4.
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