Celebrating two decades of ‘Golden Girls Live’
SILVER AND GOLD: The girls are back for the holidays. The cast of The Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes includes (from left) Matthew Martin as Blanche, Coco Peru as Dorothy, D’Arcy Drollinger as Rose and Holotta Tymes as Sophia. Photo by Gooch
So much has changed and is changing in the Bay Area theater scene, but here’s something to celebrate: The Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes, the show that makes you wonder why Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and Sophia weren’t played by hilarious men in wigs throughout their seven seasons on NBC, is back for its 20th year of delightfully draggy holiday cheer.
And for a second year, the show that began in the parlor of a Victorian is serving its cheesecake on the stage of the Curran Theatre under the auspices of BroadwaySF. It’s a grand theatrical palace for a show that has grown to be a beloved San Francisco holiday tradition.
Drollinger’s Rose serves up a holiday treat , probably from St. Olaf. Photo by Gooch
The reason for the show’s success is pretty simple: take two episodes of “The Golden Girls” (whether they were holiday episodes or not) and adapt them for the stage and set them at Christmas. Then, let some marvelous performers loose on the material (which already starts strong with the familiar, much-adored characters and guaranteed laugh lines) and let them elevate it to high – and occasionally low – theatrical comedy.
Every year, it seems the show is more polished and more in the spirit of a British Panto, the venerable holiday tradition of hauling out familiar stories dressed up with minor and major celebrities doing everything in their power to delight and amuse audiences of all ages, even if it means hammy performances so outsize they can be seen from space.
The Golden Girls Live isn’t exactly for the kiddies (with lots of nudge, nudge, wink, wink sex talk and the constant slut shaming of Blanche, of course), but performances by these broads are, well, broad. Audiences, bedecked in glittery holiday glamour or the ugliest of ugly Christmas wear, come to love and laugh and sing Christmas songs with Tom Shaw in between scenes where commercials were or if set changes are necessary. The experience is like the song lyric come to life: “faithful friends who are dear to us gather near to us once more.”
24K QUARTET: (from left) Drollinger, Tymes, Peru and Marin perform two classic “Golden Girls” episodes in this year’s holiday show: “What a Difference a Date Makes” and “The Artist.” Photo by Gooch.
This year, once again under the direction of D’Arcy Drollinger, who also plays airhead Rose, the girls unwrap two fresh episodes: “The Artist” (originally aired in 1987 in Season 3) and “What a Difference a Date Makes” (originally aired in 1991 in Season 6) with a smidgen of an actual holiday episode, “’Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas” (originally aired in 1986 in Season 2), thrown in for a little more holiday oomph.
Both episodes crackle with crispy comedy. “The Artist” embroils our three main ladies, Dorothy (Coco Peru), Blanche (Matthew Martin) and Rose (Drollinger), in a battle over an artist who has promised to create a nude sculpture of each of them. Poor Sophia (Holotta Tymes) has to make do with a subplot involving practical jokes, but as silly as it is, it generates some sizable guffaws.
The second episode offers some juicy, dare we say dramatic, moments for Peru and Tymes as Dorothy and Sophia dive into some long-buried mother-daughter conflict involving Dorothy’s no-show senior prom date.
In addition to the caroling Shaw, the supporting cast features brief but animated turns by Michael Phillis, Manuel Caneri and Snaxx. And special shout-out to costume designer Katie Dowse, who magnifies each lady’s personality with every garment and crafts some especially killer looks for Peru.
These deft performers, treasures all, are working on multiple levels. There’s the basic sitcom rhythms, vaudevillian clowning and mugging, finely honed comic timing and genuine bawdiness and sweetness. They honor the original girls, now all sadly departed – Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty – but still manage to make the characters their own theatrical creations.
So, here’s to the next 20 years of top-shelf drag performers celebrating the holidays with an evergreen TV classic blending big laughs and comforting sitcom sentiment as a bridge from our current world to “golden days of yore.” Long may these “Golden Girls” make our Yuletide gay.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
The Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes continues through Dec. 21 at the Curran Theatre, 445 Geary St., San Francisco. Running time: 2 hours and 15 minutes (including intermission). Tickets are $37.44-$141.57 (subject to change). Call 888-746-1799 or visit broadwaysf.com
