‘Babylon Gone’ podcast takes listeners inside show

When “Beach Blanket Babylon” closes on New Year’s Eve, some of San Francisco’s most talented performers, craftspeople and stage workers will be without jobs for the first time in decades.

Where will they go? How are they feeling about the end of the world’s longest-running musical revue? And with 45 years of history, just how many incredible stories will the artists who made “Beach Blanket Babylon” take with them?

The answers to those questions are at the heart of “Babylon Gone,” the first miniseries in our relaunch of the Datebook podcast. Producers Peter Hartlaub, Lily Janiak and Annie Vainshtein crafted a series that takes listeners inside the show during its final weeks.

“Babylon Gone” launched with “The Wigmaster,” an episode about Tim Santry, the son of farmers who found a home in San Francisco, and the quirky and beautiful wig shop at Club Fugazi in the heart of North Beach.

In the second episode, we hear the most memorable lore from “Babylon’s” longesttenured employees, including unforgettable “the show must go on” stories, and the emotions surrounding the end of the production.

During the final installment, Hartlaub, Janiak and Vainshtein revive The Chronicle’s “Question Man” feature, which was a reader favorite when it ran from the 1950s to 1990s. The new audio version, called “The Question,” gathers the opinions of San Franciscans on a North Beach street corner, then contemplates the future of live theater in the city.

Listen to all three episodes of “Babylon Gone” on the Datebook podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other major podcast streaming services. Or listen to Datebook and other Chronicle podcasts at www.sfchronicle.com/podcasts.

Then you can test your knowledge with The Chronicle’s ultimate “Beach Blanket Babylon” quiz on SFChronicle.com.