Sunday, August 25, 2024

An Escapade to the Napa Valley Country Club and the Musical Sol

Last Night I attended A Filipino-American Musical at the Napa Valley Country Club💚 after eating Dinner in downtown Napa. The Dinner and Musical was a treat from my son Dodie and Daughter-in-law Ruth Carver. Thank You,  Ruth and Dodie for a much welcome escape from my Gilded Cage. 

💚https://www.napavalleycc.com/

The cast of the musical were 99% Filipino-American. Dodie acted as the grandfather, Felipe with a few solo parts and of one of the top 4-leading actors of the musical ( reading, singing and narration). The music was composed by Charlene Alberto and assisted by Melody Habib.   The program is attached below. I also took photos of the Country Club and its beautiful surroundings, swimming pool area and the club house all -around decks with the Napa Mountains in the background. It was an atmosphere of opulence and class. The club house reminded me of our younger years when we were attending the various activities of the Sportsmen Club of Stanislaus County ( SOS) in Modesto California in the late 1970's.   

Dodie and I before the performance, Napa Valley Country Club House

Me Between Song Writer Charlene Alberto💜 and Collaborator Melody Habib. Notice the almost non-Filipino Audience/Patrons  



Ruth informed me this was the second and last performance of the musical. The first performance was in Vallejo. It was also well attended and majority of the audience were Filipino-Americans.   

The Napa Valley Country Club Performance was attended by 90% non-Filipino audience. I was surprise that the humorous and comical episodes of the show written for Filipinos was also well received by the non-Filipino audience mostly country club members. I enjoyed the musical number very much. However the dialog and script needed to be shorten as the musical was over 2.5 hours long with a 15-minute intermission between Act 1 ( Philippines) and Act 2 ( California).  The comical parts acted by grandfathers of the heroine was well acted and well received from the sold-out audience.   

I took some photos of the restaurant in the Club House and all-around decks with a panoramic view of the Napa countryside.



The Back of the Swimming Pool Area from the Deck of the Club House



Parking Lots and Driveways and the well-manicured lawns and Trees




Club House Members enjoying Refreshments from the Bar 


The Entrance of the Club House with Exquisite Landscaping Featuring the Light Pink Crepe Myrtle


💜Hi! For those of you that don’t know me my name is Charlene, aka Cher, and I am a singer-songwriter and playwright in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2020 I created an original musical called “SOL” and this past Summer was able to complete all composition of the music, which has a mix of sounds from the 80s along with origins of Spanish folk music. From a very young age, I’ve always been very moved by music and storytelling and within these last few years I’m beyond grateful of coming into realization that pursuing creative projects such as this is really a dream come true. I was inspired to create this musical to tell a shareable and relatable story including themes of immigration, overcoming family hardships, and representing Island life vs American culture. While creating this project I was able to really get in touch with my roots and create new voices to be heard. This project also represents minorities in theater, and speaks to this moment of AAPI and BIPOC representation and empowerment - a movement we should all embrace.


Meanwhile: Can someone tell me what happened to the Food Truck Dinner Last Night? I know it was Greek Food and I saw the Menu on the Truck before I left for Napa? Was the Food Ok?

No comments:

Post a Comment