San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | May 25–31, 2014

Plus: Jazz singer Suzanna Smith, ‘Show Boat’ at the Opera, San Francisco Silent Film Festival, the Cure’s Robert Smith

WHAT A BUNCH OF CHARACTERS

40 YEARS OF ‘BEACH BLANKET BABYLON’

By Chad Jones

In all the festive hoopla sur-rounding the 40th anniversaryof Steve Silver’s “Beach BlanketBabylon,” described as thelongest-running musical revuein theater history, let’s spare amoment for the boys (and occa-sionally ladies) in the band.

They don’t wear the famouslygrandiose hats. They don’t spoutthe funny one-liners inspired bycurrent events. But MichaelTilson Thomas, who knows athing or two about bands, says:“Oh, that house band — they’reextraordinary musicians.”

“These guys have what wealways look for at ‘Beach Blan-ket’: talent,” says producer JoSchuman Silver, who took overrunning the show when herhusband, the show’s creatorand impresario, died in 1995.

Tweaked lyricsSince its world premiere on

June 7, 1974, at the Savoy Tivoli,“Beach Blanket Babylon” hasbeen a fast-paced musical affair,with songs piled on songs, someperformed with zesty humorand tweaked lyrics, others per-

formed with more straight-forward gusto.

The demands on the band aremany: nearly nonstop playingfor the show’s 90 minutes —everything from “GangnamStyle” to the “San Francisco”finale — and the ability to addnew songs to the ever-changingshow as it keeps up with seismicshifts in pop culture.

Michael Ashton was in theband and took over the positionof musical director early on in“Beach Blanket’s” record-shat-tering run.

“From the show’s very firstdays, the band has been asmuch a part of the show aseveryone onstage,” he says from

his home in Germany. “At onepoint, we were dressed as poo-dles, and then we were the Vil-lage People. I was there for 16years, and just before I left westarted dressing as the BluesBrothers, which has remainedever since.”

Core playersThe band itself has usually

been composed of four or fiveplayers, with piano, bass,drums and trumpet providingthe core sound. Over the years,there has been a violin and, for ashort while, an organ. Thesedays the core is augmented by asynthesizer and another horn/reeds player.

Bill Keck has been the “BeachBlanket” musical director/pianoplayer going on 21 years. Watch-ing him conduct from behind thepiano at a recent performanceyou’d never guess he had loggedmore than 8,500 performancesof the show. He grins, he bounces— he even seems to laugh at jokeshe must have heard more than8,000 times.

“The band has to have com-plete command,” Keck says one

COVER STORY

‘Beach Blanket’ bandkeeps beat 40 years on

Photos by Russell Yip / The Chronicle

Trumpet player Steve Salgo, who joined the “Beach BlanketBabylon” band in 1985, says “it has always felt like family.”

Beach Blanket Babylon: 8 p.m.Wednesdays-Fridays. 6:30 and9:30 p.m. Saturdays. 2 and 5p.m. Sundays. $25-$130. ClubFugazi, 678 Beach Blanket Baby-lon Blvd. (Green St.). (415) 421-4222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com.

40th anniversary public cele-bration: Noon June 6, City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place,San Francisco.

Band continues on page 17

14 Sunday Datebook | San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | May 25–31, 2014

What a bunch ofcharacters — a ‘BBB’time line in pictures

“CarmenMiranda”and “Mr.Peanut,”1975

“JohnTravolta,”1978

“Cabaret,”1987

“DianaRoss”and“MichaelJackson,”1982

Here’s abetter lookat the char-acters on ourcover whohave keptSnow Whiteand “BeachBlanketBabylon”going strongall theseyears.

“BarbaraBush,” 1989

“Madonna,”1990

“Elvis,”1990

“Tonya Harding” and“Nancy Kerrigan,” 1994

“JerryGarcia,”1995

May 25–31, 2014 | San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | Sunday Datebook 15

Blanket’ performance at theOpera House, I thought PrincePhilip was going to fall out ofthe balcony he was laughing somuch. And the queen actuallylaughed out loud. When PrinceCharles and Camilla were here,I flew in the show as WonderWoman. Being hoisted on thewire over the audience isn’tscary at all. When I got backdown on the ground I said,‘Gimme another go, guys! Letme go again!’ ”

Charlotte Shultz, chief of protocol for city and county of San Francisco

and for California

* * *“My favorite ‘Beach Blanket

Babylon’ memory was walkinginto ACT’s gala last year andrealizing that the indomitable JoSchuman Silver and her teamhad composed a song to cele-brate my 20th anniversary —and there was Rene (Augesen)in a giant ACT-inspired hatsinging hilarious things aboutmy life over 20 years of chaos inthe theater. The ‘Beach Blanket’folks are the most generouspeople on the planet, and Iadore them.”

— Carey Perloff,

By Chad Jones

“Beach Blanket Babylon” hasalways attracted the affectionof prominent San Franciscansin and out of the arts. On the40th anniversary, here are afew fond recollections.

* * *“When I first came to San

Francisco, Ellen Magnin New-man told me that to under-stand San Francisco, I had tosee ‘Beach Blanket Babylon.’She was absolutely right. It’sthe most wonderful, snappiestshow in the universe. It’s irrev-erent, amusing and amazinglywell done. During one partic-ular ‘Beach Blanket’ celebra-tion I got to conduct an orches-tra of poodles playing Strauss’Also sprach Zarathustra.”

— Michael Tilson Thomas, music director, S.F. Symphony

* * *“(‘Beach Blanket’ creator)

Steve Silver was my bestfriend. We got into a lot ofcapers together. We had a lot offun with visiting royalty. WhenQueen Elizabeth and PrincePhilip attended a special ‘Beach

American Conservatory Theater artistic director

* * *“Everything Steve Silver did

was clever. Even if he sharp-ened a pencil, he did it in adifferent way. With ‘BeachBlanket,’ he really createdsomething that captures thespirit of San Francisco. I loveBroadway musicals, but there’sno show I’d rather see than‘Beach Blanket.’ ”

— Dede Wilsey, Fine Arts Museums ofSan Francisco board president

* * *“My favorite memories of

‘Beach Blanket Babylon’ haveoccurred when I’ve served as ajudge for their annual competi-tion for high school kids. And,surprisingly, it’s not talking tothe winners but the ‘losers’that has provided me withgreat memories. Invariably, thetwo kids who don’t win in theacting category either seek meout or I run into them, and Ilove hearing what they have tosay and offering encourage-ment. They’re always open and

full of yearning. Full of thefuture. Always gives me greathope.”

— Tony Taccone, Berkeley RepertoryTheatre artistic director

* * *“I have tons of memories of

‘Beach Blanket Babylon,’ but Irecall the first one, which wasmy birthday party on a Sundayupstairs in the balcony of ClubFugazi when I was about 11years old.

“My parents took about 10 ofus, and I remember every mo-ment of it to this day. I had animmediate crush on NancyBleiweiss.

“About 40 years later I wentagain, thinking perhaps itwould be a trip down memorylane. But it’s the opposite. Jo(Schuman Silver) and her entirecreative team have kept thatshow in mint condition, atbreakneck pace, up-to-the-minute relevant, andsounding and looking fantastic.

“Since then I’ve seen ‘BeachBlanket’ about 20 times andloved every single minute. Myspecial treat is the New Year’sEve show with the tap-danc-ing Christmas trees. It’s one ofthe few theater experiencesthat consistently never fails tomake me genuinely smile.”

— Jonathan Moscone,artistic director,

California Shakespeare Theater

Noted fans recallfavorite memories

David Allen 2004

CharlotteShultz asWonderWoman flew onthe stage to thedelight ofPrince Charlesand Camilladuring a 2004performance.

PhotoscourtesyBeachBlanketBabylon

“MarthaStewart,”1997

“MonicaLewinsky”and “LindaTripp,” 1998

“SpiceGirls,”1998

“OprahWinfrey,”2001

Following is the first re-view of “Beach Blanket Baby-lon,” which appeared in TheChronicle on June 19, 1974.

By Anitra Earle

“Beach Blanket Babylon” isa very funny, very silly revuescheduled for two more week-ends at the Savoy-Tivoli Res-taurant, 1438 Grant Ave.

It’s basically the same for-mat and costuming used bythe Steve Silver Troupe lastFebruary when it brought ina Valentine’s Day show, un-heralded and unadvertised,that had the Savoy-Tivoliregulars hanging from theceiling like bats and tearingdown the goalposts.

Nancy Bleiweiss — blueeyes as big as flying saucersand Carmen Miranda head-dress scraping the rafters —is again holding forth in pid-gin Portuguese: “Summertimeees my fay-borite time of jeer… and de California bitches~ Ilob to son on de bitch!”

A boy and girl in tap shoes,dressed as two outsize M&Mcandies, provide the “yah dada da” vocal support for thistribute to ditties of the past,including “Beyond the BlueHorizon” and classics of latelygreat Frankie Avalon, AnnetteFunicello, et al.

Mary-Cleere Haran does asolid Rita Hayworth numberin black satin, followed by areprise from her baby sisterEithne, who looks a bit terri-fied but sings very nicely.

The gimmicks are at leastas funny as the material, withRoberta Bleiweiss (Nancy’ssister) in a Santa outfit, andSteve Silver costumed as aChristmas tree that goes wildshaking its red and greenmaracas and sheds glass ballsall over the floor.

My favorites are JamesThomason-Bergner’s four-man band dressed as Frenchpoodles, their floppy earsswinging in time to the beat.

Once all the wacky sightgags are used up, though, the

contents proves a little thinfor a one-hour show.

Four hefty and cheerfulladies in grass skirts come onto give the finale a cast-of-dozens effect, after which alifeguard blows his whistleand yells, “Everybody outtathe pool!” And th-that’s all,folks!

You can see the show Fri-days at midnight and Satur-days at 8:30 p.m. and mid-night. In July, the Wing re-turns with its batty impro-vised humor. A

First ‘BBB’ review:Silly, funny, willplay 2 weekends

Beach Blanket Babylon 1974

Sisters Roberta (left) andNancy Bleiweiss starred inthe first incarnation of“Beach Blanket Babylon.”

16 Sunday Datebook | San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | May 25–31, 2014

COVER STORY

By Chad Jones

In its 40 years of wild andwacky performances, “BeachBlanket Babylon” has accruedmasses of fans in the Bay Areaand all over the world. A fewof them share their enthusi-asm on the occasion of the40th anniversary.

* * *“Everyone remembers their

first kiss, their first love andtheir first time seeing ‘BeachBlanket Babylon.’ My firsttime was 25 years ago. I wasliving in Southern Californiaand my boyfriend said he hadplanned the perfect birthdayweekend for me. It included astay at the Washington SquareInn, a romantic dinner inNorth Beach and the bestseats in the house at ‘BeachBlanket Babylon.’ On ourcable car ride later that night,the conductor said, ‘If yourboyfriend really cares aboutyou, he’ll take you to see“Beach Blanket Babylon.” ’‘He must really like me thenbecause we just saw it,’ I said.

Oh, and about six monthslater I married my boyfriend

and we moved to the BayArea. I’ve seen ‘Beach BlanketBabylon’ at least 50 timessince. … It’s our adult Dis-neyland. It’s become part ofwhat defines the city and it’spart of our culture.”

— Dona Nichols, San Jose

* * *“Yeah, I’m one of those

geeks who keeps track of howmany times I’ve seen ‘BeachBlanket Babylon’: 49 times!I’m waiting for a special occa-sion to see it for my 50th visit.Surely it will be soon. Myfavorite ‘Beach Blanket’ mem-ory is of one singular perfor-mance, which really wasn’tthe best day as it was the daySteve Silver died. Havingpurchased tickets well inadvance for that evening’sperformance, I wasn’t surewhether the show was goingto be presented or not, but westill went. The show did go on.Now, every performance of‘Beach Blanket’ has been out-standing, that’s a fact whichcannot be denied. But at thisparticular performance, eachand every actor was ‘on’ to adegree that I had never seen

Longtime fans keepcoming back for more

PhotoscourtesyBeachBlanketBabylon

“NancyPelosi,”2007

“MichaelPhelps,”2009

“LadyGaga,”2010

“Miley Cyrus” and“Robin Thicke,” 2013

“KatnissEverdeen,”2013

“PaulaDeen,”2014

May 25–31, 2014 | San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com | Sunday Datebook 17

evening before a performance,“but it’s fun. Within one num-ber, there may be five to sevensongs, changes of tempo orstyles. The band has to learn tomake those adjustments justamazingly quickly. The wholepoint is that it should sound likewe’re making it up as we goalong.”

When producer Jo SchumanSilver and director Kenny Ma-zlow want to put in a new num-ber dealing with Oprah, theKardashians, Miley Cyrus or thelike, they consult with Keck,who’s responsible for orches-trating whatever song theymight pick and then doing onequick rehearsal with the bandbefore it goes into the show.

“It’s a team effort, and theband has to be good at pickingthings up quickly,” Keck says.“Sometimes we want the newnumbers in yesterday.”

Keck doesn’t perform in every“Beach Blanket” show, but most.He commutes from Sonoma,and on Sundays he’s the organistat Holy Innocents Episcopal

Church in San Francisco’s NoeValley before heading to ClubFugazi to play the matinee.

“I like to say that on Sundays Igo from the sublime to the ridic-ulous,” he says. “I think that’s awonderful balance.”

One of Keck’s trumpeters hasbeen with the show longer thanhe has. Steve Salgo joined theband in 1985. Among the high-lights of his years with the show:falling in love with and marry-ing one of the stars. Salgo andVal Diamond, who was with“Beach Blanket” from 1979 to2009, have been together for 27years.

“My experience with ‘BeachBlanket’ is that it has always feltlike family,” Salgo says before ashow in the North Beach theater.“I know it sounds corny, but thatfeeling helps us play every showas if it’s the first show. We’ve gotto give it our all, and I’ve tried todo that for 29 years.”

One of Salgo’s favorite “BeachBlanket” memories involves a2005 visit to the show byCharles, Prince of Wales, andCamilla, Duchess of Cornwall.Charles came up to Salgo, shookhis hand and said, “I’ll bet youcould use a drink.”

Salgo remembers a moment ofpanic: “We were told if theyacknowledge us, we can ac-knowledge back, so I just turnedto the trumpeter next to me andsaid, ‘If he only knew.’ ”

Salgo was hired by Ashtonand spent 10 of his nearly 30years working with Steve Silverat the helm of the show.

“Steve worked hard, but healways made it feel like therewas a party going on here,”Salgo says. “People ask me if Iever plan on retiring, and I reallylove to play, so you’ll have to prythe horn out of my hand. As longas my chops are OK, I’m good togo.” A

Chad Jones is a freelance writer inSan Francisco who blogs atwww.theaterdogs.net. E-mail:sadolphson@sfchronicle.com

Band from page 14

Russell Yip / The Chronicle

Music Director Bill Keck hasbeen with the band 21 years.

Band playson and on… and on

favorite for me because Ireally look forward to seeingall of the updates that havebeen added each time I go —you never see the same showtwice. And as much as I loveit, I love that I have intro-duced so many people to it —including a couple of SanFrancisco locals — whom I’vemet who had never seen itbut loved it, too, and havenow brought their family tothe show — along with nu-merous friends and familymembers who have joined meon my travels. They are all ascrazy about it as I am.”— Bernadette Carmen, Philadelphia

* * *“I first saw ‘Beach Blanket’

in 1974 with three other re-cently turned-21 friends. Itwas quite the celebration! I’veseen the show 18 or 20 timessince then, and am due foranother visit soon. The showis a favorite because of thepunny topical humor (keepsthings fresh while remainingtrue to the show’s core), thezany musical segues and thetalented performers. Choos-ing a favorite memory is diffi-cult — certainly, Val Diamondsinging anything is high onthe list, as is attending with‘Beach Blanket’ ‘virgins’ andwatching their jaws drop.”

— Ann Winters, San Francisco

before. A beautiful tribute toSteve Silver via putting on thebest show ever. There wasjust something magical aboutthat evening’s performancethat resonates in me still.”

— Ernest Robles Jr., Novato

* * *“I first saw ‘Beach Blanket’

in 2001 on my first visit toSan Francisco. I live in Phila-delphia and travel to SanFrancisco every year, neverwithout seeing ‘Beach Blan-ket.’ The show has become a

David Allen 2004

A highlight for many “BeachBlanket Babylon” fans through the year was ValDiamond singing … anything.