Who Are 'The Real Housewives of Napa Valley'?
By Sasha Paulsen
NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — With the imminent opening of Lucky Penny’s new play, “The Real Housewives of Napa Valley,” playwright and director Barry Martin was fielding questions at an interview at Southside Café in Napa.
Who are the real housewives of Napa Valley? Have actual women of the valley inspired his characters? Will we recognize them? Will they recognize themselves?
His short answer: No.
“It is a parody,” Martin explained. “Have you ever watched the show?”
Well, no.
“I thought not,” he said.
Try as I would – not too hard, to tell the truth – I never managed to turn on the television to watch an episode of “Real Housewives,” a reality TV franchise that began in March 2006 with “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” Documenting the personal and professional lives of affluent women, it provided entertainment for many. Then “Real Housewives” went on to inspire 11 different series in the United States, such as “Real Housewives of New Jersey,” as well as 21 international adaptations, including “The Real Housewives of Dubai” and the longest-running edition, “The Real Housewives of Cheshire,” which, as of publication time, had endured for 17 seasons.
And gosh darn, I have missed them all.
But I have my tickets for “The Real Housewives of Napa Valley,” which opens on May 31 and runs through June 16 at the Lucky Penny Community Arts Center in Napa.
Martin, who is an actor, writer, emcee, radio journalist — he is currently host of “Wine Country Live” on 99.3 The Vine KVYN-FM — and former public information officer for Napa, might justly be called the Voice of Napa Valley. In 2009, he co-founded Lucky Penny Productions with Taylor Bartolucci, and in 2015, after a search for performance venues, they converted a former tile showroom into their own “black-box” venue.
Since then, the theater troupe has amassed awards and drawn in talented Bay Area performers to stage a rich variety of shows, musicals, classics and lesser-known new works. They present camps, workshops and productions for the youth of Napa Valley, as well. Their magical black box can expand to accommodate “The Sound of Music” and in the next show draw an audience into a riveting, heartfelt “Glass Menagerie.”
Martin has already poked gentle, if acute, fun at Napa Valley. Which you can do when you have served this community for as long as he has and know it as well as he does.
(For contrast, some years ago a group from Marin rented the Napa Valley Opera House to present their spoof of Napa Valley, which inspired the late, great Pierce Carson to write that after viewing it he wished he had stayed home and cleaned his oven.)
After directing and acting in myriad stellar Lucky Penny Productions, Martin took hilarious aim at tourists and locals with his own work, “The Tasting Room, a Napa Valley Comedy.” He subsequently formed a partnership with a gifted musician, Rob Broadhurst, to create a musical, “A Napa Valley Christmas Carol,” which had the ghosts visiting a parsimonious vintner and had everyone laughing, not just at the cheese-paring winemaker and his zany crew but a little bit at themselves, inhabitants of this interesting place.
They followed this hit with a family show, “Saving Santa,” which has Santa making an emergency landing on Mt. St. Helena.
And now, here come the real housewives.
The idea for “Real Housewives” originated with Bartolucci, who portrays one of the damsels in the show, along with other of Lucky Penny’s most popular performers: Daniela Innocenti Beem, Heather Buck, Sarah Lundstrom and Kirstin Pieschke. The cast also includes Mark and Julianne Bradbury, last seen in “The Great American Trailer Park Musical,” who play Mark and Jules, the onstage producers of the show, as well as a collection of other characters. Olivia Macloud plays the assistant producer and other characters.
The premise: Learning that their show is about to be canceled, the housewives go on the offensive to save it. But can they compete against “influencers”?
“The music is brilliant,” Martin said when pressed for more details. The rest is left to the audience to discover what secrets the production might reveal.
But if by chance any of the characters remind you of anyone whose path may have crossed yours, it is pure coincidence. The secret to creating characters is the gift for pulling threads from all the people you meet and weaving these together into a whole new creation. These housewives are all creatures of the fertile imagination of one of the keenest observers of Napa Valley.
Bartolucci, however, did promise, “If our audiences have as much fun as we’re having putting this show together, it’s going to be a great time at Lucky Penny.”
An X-rated good time, one should add. It is small wonder that tickets are nearly sold out.
Martin is stage director for the show with musical direction by Broadhurst. Choreography is by Staci Arriaga, costuming and properties by Bartolucci, lighting by April George and scenic design by Martin.
Performances are May 31 through June 16 at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday at 1758 Industrial Way in Napa. Thursday performances are pay-what-you-can if seats are available at curtain time. Groups of 10 or more receive a 10% discount. Email info@luckypennynapa.com to arrange a group purchase. Reserved seats for all performances are available at www.luckypennynapa.com or by calling 707-266-6305.
If today’s story captured your interest, explore these related articles:
Lynne Champlin: from flight attendant to beloved Napa Valley storyteller
Valley Players champion mature women and their untold stories
Three Napa Valley women champion arts and community projects
Sasha Paulsen is a Napa Valley-based novelist and journalist.
So glad Lucky Penny exists! Barry Martin and Taylor Bartolucci have succeeded at carving a delightful niche for community theatre in the Napa Valley. They do a wondrous job with so little.
Good story, Sasha! I remember “The Tasting Room” well; it was hilarious.