‘Pricey San Francisco’ opens at former ‘Seashore Blanket’ venue

Shana Carroll and Gypsy Snider heard the same complaints about San Francisco over and over again when they returned home to the Bay Area.

“Every time we came back, the friends and family we stayed with so often said, ‘Oh my god, it’s not like it used to be. The soul of the city is gone. It’s changed so much, ‘”says Carroll, who co-founded 7 Fingers, the Montreal-based circus arts company, in 2002 with Snider.”

“The important things about it were still the same. The soul was still there. We really felt the same affection and joy to be back in town and just had this incredible love for it. We always tried to convince everyone when we came back: ‘No, there are still so many beautiful things here. Don’t give it up. ‘”

“Dear San Francisco: A High-Flying Love Story” serves Carroll and Snider as a refutation of these comments. It’s her theatrical love letter to the City by the Bay that combines acrobatics, shadow play, juggling, spoken word, video projections, original music and much more into a circus art production that honors the history of San Francisco.

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 21: The cast of “Dear San Francisco” will hold their final production meeting on the Club Fugazi stage before a rehearsal on Tuesday, September 21, 2021 in San Francisco, Calif. For the first time since Beach Blanket Babylon closed on December 31, 2019, the live theater returns to the famous North Beach Club. (Karl Mondon / Bay Area News Group)

And it sounds like a natural decision to become the first resident production at Club Fugazi in town as Steve Silver’s record breaking 45-year series “Beach Blanket Babylon” ended in 2019.

“Dear San Francisco” will celebrate its world premiere on October 12th at the legendary North Beach Club. Previews now run until October 10th for those who want an early look. (Tickets are $ 35 to $ 89 for regular shows, $ 25 to $ 39; clubfugazisf.com.)

Carroll grew up in Berkeley and started the legendary Pickle Family Circus in San Francisco as a teenager. There she met Snider, the daughter of the co-founder of the Pickle Family Circus, Peggy Snider.

In 1991 she moved to Montreal to attend a circus school. She spent 10 years as a trapeze artist for Cirque du Soleil before founding 7 Fingers with Snider and other circus artists.

The opportunity to produce a resident production at Club Fugazi was a welcome one for the Bay Area locals. It enabled them to take their work home with them to the town they grew up in, says Carroll, and perform for their loved ones.

David Dower, General Manager of Club Fugazi Experiences, shares this opinion. He moved back to San Francisco to run the landmark.

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 21: Junru Wang will perform in a rehearsal of “Dear San Francisco” at Club Fugazi in San Francisco, Calif. On Tuesday, September 21, 2021. It is the first show at the famous North Beach club since December 31, 2019, when the curtain fell on Beach Blanket Babylon. (Karl Mondon / Bay Area News Group)

“It was an incredible gift of grace – for me, but also for Gypsy and Shana,” says Dower, who spent 20 years in the Bay Area before moving to the east coast. “An opportunity for all of us to come home and do something that shows what we did while we were away.”

Showcasing a variety of different circus arts, from tire jumping to Chinese pole climbing, the show touches on historical moments like the gold rush and the 1906 earthquake.

“We wanted to honor the city and show that it has this indestructible soul. That always kept it going, ”says Carroll. “In a kind of kaleidoscopic cubism, we’re trying to honor and relate to the history of San Francisco. But I think it’s more of a metaphor for the constant rebirth (of the city), the different waves of innovation and inspiration and how it shines through again and again. “

Club Fugazi has its own connections to local lore and history – perhaps far more than many people know.

“What a lot of people miss about this venue is that it had an amazing story even before Beach Blanket,” said Dower, former artistic director of Boston’s ArtsEmerson. “Beach Blanket was a perfect thing, and this run will forever be considered an era of San Francisco. (But) before that Thelonious Monk recorded albums here, the first album release party of the Grateful Dead was here, the Beat Poets read from the same stage and all the Italian pop stars and classical musicians played in this room. It has had this incredible story since 1914 that we feel connected to. “

Carroll says she feels incredibly honored and privileged to be in the same place Beach Blanket Babylon has lived for so many decades and feels “a great responsibility to live up to it and live up to her legacy”.

“They were sitting on something that felt very authentic to the locals and loved by the locals, and yet tourists could come in and feel like they were experiencing San Francisco,” she says. “And it wasn’t so esoteric that the tourists would say, ‘Well, I don’t get that.’ We hope we have a similar stride – really doing justice to the city for the locals and making them feel like they really represent the San Francisco they know and love, and have them too, if their uncle dies Visited town, let’s say, ‘Oh my god, you have to see this. You really get a very good feeling for what the soul of the city is. ‘”

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 21: For the first time since Beach Blanket Babylon closed on December 31, 2019, viewers enter the famous North Beach Club for a rehearsal of “Dear San Francisco.” (Karl Mondon / Bay Area News Group)