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Price: $33-$63 (under 21 not admitted to evening shows; Sunday matinees open to all ages) This is a must see when visiting San Francisco. But caution, purchase tickets way in advance because the show has been selling out for years. It is a zany musical spoof of pop culture with extravagant costumes and outrageously huge hats. The Show's immediate popularity forced it to move to larger quarters at Club
Fugazi, a North Beach landmark, where it eventually found a permanent home. Now in its 30th year of sold-out performances, BEACH BLANKET BABYLON is an internationally acclaimed San Francisco institution. BEACH BLANKET
BABYLON in addition to the more than 10,000 performances in San Francisco, has performed for wildly enthusiastic audiences during its London and Las Vegas engagements. BEACH BLANKET BABYLON continually evolves in its
hilarious parodies of popular icons, updating its spoofs and adding new characters, songs, and send-ups throughout the year. Everything is a caricature, from towering bouffant hairdos to those hats, the biggest of which weigh in at more than 200 pounds. If you sit near the stage, the effect is
the theatrical equivalent of watching jet planes take off up close. Some highlights: Martha Stewart belting out " Woman" ; scores of musical jokes, as when " The Lion Sleeps Tonight" segues
into " Born Free" ; and visits from Richard Simmons, Bill Gates and Willie Brown. Most of the 10 cast members do triple duty; in the major roles, Renée Lubin and 17-year vet Val Diamond stand out. The
best way to experience " Babylon" is to follow the advice of Diamond, who told The New York Times, " Actually, the show is much better if you don't think." The hats, by the way, are designed by a man
named Alan Greenspan, who apparently does not share his namesake's worries about inflation. |
