By
Chloe Veltman |
KQED
Sunday, December 22, 2019
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After 45 years, a staple of kitsch in San Francisco is closing. The present Seashore Blanket Babylon ends Dec. 31.
Transcript
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
One of many nation’s longest-running reside comedy revues is closing down in San Francisco on December 31. It is known as “Seashore Blanket Babylon,” well-known for its goofy ship ups of the wealthy and well-known, costumes and hats. This is Chloe Veltman of member station KQED.
CHLOE VELTMAN, BYLINE: Renee Lubin has many fond reminiscences of performing in “Seashore Blanket Babylon” evening after evening for 34 years.
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RENEE LUBIN: (As Tina Turner, singing) What’s love received to do, received to do with it?
VELTMAN: Like taking part in Tina Turner in a feral, two-and-a-half-foot-tall wig.
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LUBIN: (As Tina Turner, singing) What’s love received to do, received to do with it?
(As Anita Hill, singing) What you need, child, I received it. What you want, you already know I received it.
VELTMAN: And leaping into the position of Anita Hill when the information broke in 1991 concerning the sexual harassment allegations towards Supreme Courtroom Justice Clarence Thomas.
LUBIN: I had no concept how humorous it was going to be. I received to tug Clarence Thomas throughout the stage singing “Respect.” That was a blast.
VELTMAN: In a KQED TV documentary from the mid-1980s, the late impresario Steve Silver says he received the concept for “Seashore Blanket” in 1973 after watching a busker ply his commerce outdoors a San Francisco restaurant.
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STEVE SILVER: And I mentioned, hey, wait a minute. Let’s return to my home, put some costumes on that I had from Hire-A-Freak and are available again and do an act, see if we are able to make some cash.
VELTMAN: Silver and his buddies made 25 bucks that evening. The following, they made 80. The next 12 months, “Seashore Blanket Babylon” was born. From the get go, the present was unapologetically foolish.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As Christmas tree, singing) Me and my shadow strolling down the avenue.
VELTMAN: Grainy black-and-white footage from an early efficiency reveals a singing, tap-dancing Christmas tree.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As Christmas tree, singing) Me and my shadow…
VELTMAN: The present quickly turned a San Francisco establishment, with its personal theater and a avenue named after it – Seashore Blanket Babylon Boulevard. Politicians and celebrities – from California Governor Gavin Newsom to David Bowie – had been followers.
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VELTMAN: As had been Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. The efficiency the royal couple witnessed in 1983 featured an actor carrying one of many present’s large signature hats, adorned for the event with a scaled-down duplicate of Buckingham Palace.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
VELTMAN: Through the years, the manufacturing developed a repute not only for its punch-drunk visuals but additionally for skewering cultural and political figures – Democrats and Republicans. Donald Trump has been a “Seashore Blanket” fixture for many years. This is a latest sketch primarily based on the Sound of Music, satirizing the 45th U.S. president alongside along with his complete household.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, singing) So there’s nothing extra to say.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character, singing) Legal guidelines, he’ll change them on daily basis.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS #1: (As characters, singing) T for Trumps, we’re right here to remain.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character, singing) That may carry us tons of dough, dough, dough.
JO SCHUMAN SILVER: My late husband Steve Silver, whose present it’s, mentioned to me, you are going to know when it is the precise time for the present to be carried out.
VELTMAN: That is Steve Silver’s widow, Jo Schuman Silver. She took over producing “Seashore Blanket” after her husband died of issues from AIDS in 1995. She says the revue is closing for inventive relatively than monetary causes.
SCHUMAN SILVER: I simply by no means wished the present to get previous or not be fabulous and standard and on high.
VELTMAN: Quickly after she introduced it was curtains earlier this 12 months, “Seashore Blanket Babylon” bought out the remainder of its run. The ultimate efficiency is New Yr’s Eve.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As character, singing) To inform you…
UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS #2: (As characters, singing) San Francisco, open your Golden Gate…
VELTMAN: For NPR Information, I am Chloe Veltman in San Francisco. Transcript supplied by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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The post Long-Running San Francisco Musical Revue ‘Beach Blanket Babylon’ Nears End appeared first on Down The Middle News.
source https://downthemiddlenews.com/long-running-san-francisco-musical-revue-beach-blanket-babylon-nears-end/
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