When mounting a stage parody of TV’s “The Golden Girls,” it takes really big shoes to fill the roles originated by iconic stars Beatrice Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty. And those shoes need to be even bigger when the four female leads are portrayed by men, says actor Vince Kelley, who steps into McClanahan’s part of Blanche in “Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue” Tuesday, Sept. 3 to Sunday, Sept. 29 at Broward Center’s Amaturo Theater.
“They are so much larger than life than they were on the screen, that when you see them in real life, you got to up the ante,” says Kelley, who’s joined on stage by Ryan Bernier as Dorothy (originated on television by Arthur), Adam Graber as Rose (White’s character) and Christopher Kamm as Dorothy’s elderly mother, Sophia (originally played by Getty). “We could find four women to do a bang-up job at this show. That's just not what our company set out to do. We are an LGBTQIA-owned and operated company Gay men, when they put on a little heel and a little wig, they have so much more authority and permission to say more outlandish things. And that's really what the audience loves. Those are the best jokes that go over when we can display that little bit of risqué, over-the-top comedy. You’ve got to have a female impersonator who's gonna be able to deliver that line.”
“Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue” has played nearly 70 cities since its national tour began Jan. 23, according to Kelley, who two-and-a-half years ago became involved in creating and casting the project for Michigan-based production company Murray & Peter Present. Kelley, 38, says he “debuted the same year” as TV’s “The Golden Girls.” “We both came out in 1985.” The television series, created by writer-producer Susan Harris, ran seven seasons on NBC. “Golden Girls” is now available in syndication, on home video and Disney streaming platforms Hulu and Disney+.
“We like to say they’re now Disney Princesses,” jokes Kelley.
The stage show, “Golden Girls: The Laughs Continues,” is a modern-day parody of the original series. “The parody laws kind of allow you to have a little bit of freedom when you're doing a parody. We do have some trademarks on the name and stuff like that – ‘Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue’ – just so we can make sure all of our t’s are crossed and our i’s are dotted. But the parody law gives you a lot of freedom. Thank God.”
The Fort Lauderdale run is the longest on the tour, about a month. Kelley is confident the 90-minute show with one intermission will do well with 32 performances at the Broward Center’s 584-seat Amaturo.
“When I'm doing press for Mobile, Alabama, maybe some people haven't seen ‘The Golden Girls.’ And I say come out and have a good time. You don't need to know about ‘The Golden Girls.’ It's not like the Marvel Cinematic Universe where you need to watch all the movies first,” says Kelley. “But I think Fort Lauderdale is a little bit different. Everybody knows about ‘Golden Girls’ in Fort Lauderdale. Even if you've seen every episode 100 times, you've never seen this episode. It's like the lost episode. Or the continuation or something.”
As they developed the parody, the creators were fully aware of the growing culture war backlash against drag performers, in Florida and elsewhere across conservative America. A Florida law signed May 17, 2023, by Gov. Ron DeSantis banned children from attending “adult live performances” that feature “the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts.” A month later, a federal district court judge in Orlando blocked the law, saying it could violate the First Amendment speech rights of state residents. In November 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene and reinstate the law. Just to make sure there aren’t legal repercussions in Florida and elsewhere, no one under 18 is admitted to “Golden Girls: The Laughter Continues,” according to Kelley.
“It's more for the language, not necessarily to do with the female impersonation of it all,” says Kelley, adding that he and his co-workers welcome the age restriction. “I don't want to be caught on camera saying something inappropriate in front of a kid, and then all of a sudden it's on Fox News. I don't want that. Our production company doesn't want that.”
The familiarity of “The Golden Girls” has much to do with increasing some audiences’ comfort levels. "'The Golden Girls’ can be the spoonful of sugar that gets somebody who might be like, ‘Ugh, female impersonation isn't for me. I don’t like that, but I do like ‘The Golden Girls.’ So, I guess I'll check it out.’”
The original series “was always on the forefront” of representation, he says, citing a few examples: “Sophia’s son, Phil, was a crossdresser and they talked about it multiple times on the show. Blanche's brother was gay. There was an episode where an old school friend of Dorothy's, a lesbian, falls in love with Rose and they have to handle that. It was always done so lovingly, never to poke fun but to raise the issue,” says Kelley.
In addition, the original series stars were beloved in the LGBTQ community.
Bea Arthur (also TV’s “Maude”) died at 86 in 2009 and bequeathed $300,000 to New York City’s Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBTQ youths. Betty White, who previously co-starred as Sue Ann Nivens on the 1970s “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” supported the Elton John AIDS Foundation and several other LGBTQ organizations, according to gay magazine The Advocate. White died in 2021, weeks before her 100th birthday.
Rue McClanahan, a “Maude” and “Mama’s Family” co-star who died at 76 in 2010, was a frequent attendee at gay pride celebrations and LGBTQ fundraisers. Estelle Getty found later-in-life fame co-starring with Harvey Fierstein as his character’s mother, Mrs. Beckoff, in the original cast of “Torch Song Trilogy.” An LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS activist, she died at 84 in 2008.
“The original actresses – they were just perfectly cast for those roles,” says Norman Extract of Oakland Park, who manages the 1,200-member “Fort Lauderdale LGBTQ Social Meetup. For Singles & Couples” Facebook group. Extract, 65, is planning a group theater trip for 30 to see “Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue” on Friday, Sept. 13. The original TV series, about four older women sharing a home in Miami, is a favorite of many gay men who grew up watching it, he says. “It was my growing up, especially if you're Jewish. It's interesting, that none of those characters were Jewish. But in my generation, coming from New York, all the grandkids came down to Florida to see their grandparents. The way that their grandparents lived was very much like these women live, with the early bird specials and the old lady hairdresser. It's just relatable in every way.”
The characters Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia have always had great appeal in the LGBTQ community, “They don't fit in but they do, and it's kind of like the gay community, especially years back,” says Extract. “And in some ways, they're a bunch of drag queens, even though they were women.” Extract also believes the show will be a local hit. “They're going to appeal not only to the gay community. A lot of straight people really love it, as well.”
“Golden Girls – The Laughs Continue” plays at the Amaturo Theater at The Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW 5th Ave., Fort Lauderdale, from Sept. 3 through Sunday. Sept. 29. For tickets call 954-462-0222, or go to browardcenter.org or goldengirlstour.com.
This story was produced by Broward Arts Journalism Alliance (BAJA), an independent journalism program of the Broward County Cultural Division. Visit ArtsCalendar.com for more stories about the arts in South Florida.
