Beach Blanket Babylon, San Francisco

The Beach Blanket Babylon show in San Francisco is an absolute must-see when you are visiting one of the world’s greatest cities. During our November visit to California, Ozdane and I had the pleasure of seeing the show with my family. It was our last night there so it was a perfect way to end our trip.

Beach Blanket Babylon is the longest running musical revue in theatre history. It started back in 1974 and has had more than 12,000 performances in San Francisco itself. The London and Las Vegas shows were standing room only. This goes to show just how wonderful it truly is. Beach Blanket Babylon is a comedy musical show always evolving with current events and and popular icons of the day. The costumes themselves are magnificent and the outrageous hats worn by the various performers are the icing on the cake. These aren’t just your typical hats either. When I say outrageous I mean outrageous with a capital “O!”

The San Francisco skyline – in a hat!

The show we saw included hysterical takes on some well-known people in American politics today such as: President Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin and more. Then you had near perfect imitations of Barbara Streisand, Justin Beiber, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga to name a few. It also includes events of our times like the global financial crisis and has an underlying San Francisco theme throughout. We were also lucky this was the beginning of their holiday shows so a Christmas theme was incroporated that made it extra special. No matter what is happening up on the stage you find yourself laughing or at least smiling throughout the entire performance.

“Michelle Bachmann” in show

One of the unique things about Beach Blanket Babylon is the fact you can see it multiple times and you won’t see the same, exact show twice. Well maybe if you went one week after the next you would but who would do that? I saw it years ago and it was filled with different characters and events that were current at that time. It’s constantly changing which means you always know you are in for a unique and fun-filled performance.

The Club Fugazi theatre is located right in the heart of North Beach in spectacular San Francisco. The Fugazi theatre is unique itself providing a cabaret type atmosphere which adds to the fun. With all the Italian restaurants and bars surrounding it you really can’t get a more perfect spot to make it a great night out in the city.

Beach Blanket Babylon shows at 8pm Wednesday and Thursday evenings, 6:30 and 9:30 on Saturdays, 2pm and 5pm on Sunday afternoons. They have a special holiday schedule running at the moment also.

So if you have plans to visit San Francisco or live in the city and haven’t seen the Beach Blanket Babylon show yet, definitely add it to the list!

(all photos courtesy of Beach Blanket Babylon website gallery)