The campy "Beach Blanket Babylon" musical revue that has been a must-see for San Francisco tourists for 45 years is coming to an end.
Producer Jo Schuman Silver announced Wednesday the show's final performances will be on New Year's Eve.
The show spoofs political and pop culture and has characters in colorful costumes with massive hats, including one with San Francisco's skyline.
FILE - In this June 7, 1999, file photo, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown sweeps onto stage at the Herbst Theatre and proclaims June as "Beach Blanket Babylon" month in San Francisco. The mayor also sang from "The Lion King" during the 25th anniversary celebration of "Beach Blanket Babylon," longest-running show in San Francisco theater history. The campy musical revue show that has been a must-see for San Francisco tourists for 45 years is coming to an end. Producer Jo Schuman Silver announced Wednesday, April 17, 2019, the show's final performances will be on New Year's Eve. (Frederic LarsonSan Francisco Chronicle via AP, File)
The show follows Snow White around the world as she searches for her Prince Charming. Along the way she encounters a line-up of political and pop culture characters. Recent highlights include Donald and Melania Trump, Nancy Pelosi, Vladimir Putin, Beyoncé, Ariana Grande and Oprah Winfrey.
Silver said the show is ending because he felt it was the right time and not for financial reasons. "There was no reason — I just started thinking, 'Wow, how much longer do we go?' " she told the San Francisco Chronicle.
When the show started in 1974, it was scheduled to run for only six weeks. But then it became an international phenomenon and "the quintessential San Francisco experience," she said
There have been more than 17,000 performances that have been seen by 6.5 million people, including Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, David Bowie, Liza Minnelli and Robin Williams.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military's MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft.
The Houthis said they shot down the Predator with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating.
The Houthis described the downing as happening Thursday over their stronghold in the country's Saada province.
Footage released by the Houthis included what they described as the missile launch targeting the drone, with a man off-camera reciting the Houthi's slogan after it was hit: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
The footage included several close-ups on parts of the drone that included the logo of General Atomics, which manufactures the drone, and serial numbers corresponding with known parts made by the company.
Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels counting Thursday's shootdown — in 2017, 2019, 2023 and this year.
Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land.
The drone shootdown comes as the Houthis launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.
Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the rebels have renewed their attacks in the last week.
A Houthi supporter raises a mock rocket during a rally against the U.S. and Israel and to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
