It’s a little like getting a new episode of “The Golden Girls.”
That’s how it may feel for fans of the 1985-1992 sitcom with the drag-a-licious national tour of “Golden Girls — The Laughs Continue,” which has a run at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts through Sunday, Sept. 29.
Famously set in Miami and following the comedic adventures of four mature women sharing a home, the now-iconic TV series starred Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak, Estelle Getty as her mother Sophia Petrillo, Betty White as Rose Nylund and Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux.
In the stage comedy, all of those roles are played by men and the story is set right now in 2024. Picture it: Sophia just got out on bail after getting caught by the DEA running a retiree drug ring. Dorothy is dealing with a hot, young, sex-obsessed boy toy. And Rose and Blanche are internet entrepreneurs with their sex app for seniors, CreakN.
During a brief hiatus of the tour, Vince Kelley, who plays Blanche, spoke with the South Florida Sun Sentinel from his home in Detroit. The Q&A session has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: What has been the superfan’s reaction to the tour?
A: Oh, they just love it. It’s such a love letter to the show. All the creators and the actors and everybody just loves the show, and has such reverence. But we have a good time. You know, it’s not a parody. We’re never making fun of the girls. We’re so serious about how ridiculous we are. So that sets the tone. And what’s superfun is that it’s an all-new show. It’s not a retelling of an episode that exists, which, you know, some other drag parody companies do, and total props to them. [Fans] love that ours is all-new. Even if you’ve seen every episode of “The Golden Girls” 10 times, you haven’t seen this episode yet.
Q: What about bringing the storyline into 2024, how do they feel about that?
A: Right out the gate, like, the first joke in the show, is about Sophia’s [being] the El Chapo of Shady Pines. We get you going right from the beginning. We’re using a cellphone, or we’re on our laptop or something. But I think it’s pretty seamless. They buy into it almost immediately … They’re just like, “Yeah, this makes sense,” as if [the TV show] never went off the air. They might have switched from like cable TV to like a streaming site, because you hear a little bit of the more colorful language that the sensors might not have allowed in ’85. They’re locked in from the jump. Plus the curtain goes up and you see the set, and you’re like: It’s the set! We have so much detail and little Easter eggs for superfans.
Q: Speaking of Easter eggs, is there anything you can share without giving away a spoiler?
A: Absolutely. We’ve taken all of the ingredients to put on “Golden Girls,” and we just presented them in a different way. So there are costume Easter eggs, [dialogue] Easter eggs are there … the exclamation mark on the door, the lobster mold, the pampas grass, the cabbage soup tureen from the kitchen. I mean we were all such nuts and fanatics about it that I’ll spend an hour on eBay trying to find the exact coffee mugs that they used on the show. I also costumed the show. So I reached out to a woman who was a costumer on the show as well, and I just asked her for some labels that the women used … and I will clothe us all in the same labels that the girls use, because people just put those things on sale. They’ve emptied out their mom’s closet or something. So, again, we’re super serious about how ridiculous we can be. That’s kind of why we get to get away with all this stuff, because we’ve done all the homework.
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The character Blanche from “The Golden Girls” played by Vince Kelley, who used to watch the TV show as a child with his grandmother. “I called it ‘The Old Lady Show,’” he recalls. (TOBY/Courtesy)
Q: What do you love about playing Blanche?
A: I just love playing her because she is this ridiculous character. I love the sexiness of her. I love the confidence of her. She’s the first one to laugh at herself, which is very much in tune with me. And she has the best costumes, which is a great bonus. I love that she’s this like Tennessee Williams character in her mind, which is, you know, not at all true. Likes to have a good time, and I can identify with that.
Q: Did the cast all know each other before this show?
A: Yes, I love this question, because if you know anything about “The Golden Girls,” … Bea Arthur wasn’t really interested in the show at the time, and Rue really had to kind of pull her and push her into it. And then Betty wasn’t sure, because originally, Betty was supposed to play Blanche and Rue was supposed to play Rose. So they kind of worked it out. So I think in my mind, Blanche kind of had a part in it as I with our show. I was kind of the first one locked in, and all of the other boys were cast by me, or at least I … got their foot in the door. Their talent got them cast.
Q: Why does drag work for this show?
A: You know, it could be female actors, absolutely. I like to say that sometimes it takes a bigger foot to fill such iconic shoes. I think that’s it. You know, they were just so legendary before they were in the show. Each one of these women had a fantastic career. “Maude” (with Bea Arthur and Rue McClanahan) was a juggernaut of a show. Sue Ann Nivens was a two-time, Emmy-winning character on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” So, like, they were already these larger-than-life characters, and then this show kind of catapulted to the next level. So I think a female performer doing an impression, or something like that, is a little harder of a sell. If somebody figures it out and does it, I’ll be the first person in line to see it. We are outrageous in the way that we tell the story, and it is this over-the-top sort of storyline. So I think that when you have a male-identifying performer pick up that mantle, a little bit of the heavy lifting is already done. Because when a man puts on heels, a dress, you’re already locked in for fun and a good time and outrageousness. So we just kind of use that to push it over the finish line.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “Golden Girls — The Laughs Continue”
WHEN: Through Sunday, Sept. 29
WHERE: Amaturo Theater at Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale
COST: $30-$80 (VIP/photo-opportunity experience is additional $25)
INFORMATION: 954-462-0222 (press 1); browardcenter.org or goldengirlstour.com
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Vince Kelley last appeared at the Broward Center in the world premiere of “Pray The Gay Away” in 2019. (TOBY/Courtesy)
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