Stay golden, “Girls.”
OH, SWEET CHEESECAKE: The stellar cast of The Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes includes (from left) D’Arcy Drollinger as Rose, Holotta Tymes as Sophia, Coco Peru as Dorothy and Matthew Martin as Blanche. This year, the holiday perennial has moved uptown (downtown?) to the Curran Theatre. Photo by Gareth Gooch
Talk about a Christmas miracle! Nineteen years ago, a loving drag parody of the TV classic “The Golden Girls” began life in a San Francisco living room. Now it’s on stage at the venerable Curran Theatre. That’s an extraordinary trajectory – something akin from going off-off-off Broadway to the bright lights of Broadway itself.
And it couldn’t have happened to a sweeter, funnier show or a nicer group of girls.
The very good news is that The Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes is ready for its big BroadwaySF moment in the Curran spotlight. Nearly two decades in, this holiday treat is warm, polished and funny in ways that honor the original TV show, take advantage of the drag oeuvre and recall the endearingly hammy acting of vaudeville.
Last year, after the heartbreaking loss of Heklina, one of the mainstays of the show, the cast welcomed Coco Peru to the role of Dorothy (the Bea Arthur part on TV). The addition of this seasoned and sensational performer gave the show a boost, and, happily, she returns this year and is even better. The eye rolls, the disdain, the voice of a coal miner, the incisive comic timing – she’s sometimes more Arthur than Arthur.
Comprising the rest of the 24-karat quartet are returning stars D’Arcy Drollinger (who also directs) as Rose (the Betty White role), Holotta Tymes as Sophia (the Estelle Getty role) and Matthew Martin as Blanche (the Rue McClanahan role). The actors all approach their characters with different styles – Martin and Drollinger continually break the fourth wall to shamelessly milk laughs, while Peru is more method. Tymes’ voice is deeper than Getty’s, but the cadence, shuffle walk and punchline delivery are uncannily similar.
Another bonus for this year’s audience: stage adaptations of two sterling episodes that, while they weren’t actually holiday episodes in the series, have been slightly reconfigured to work in horny Santas, Christmas shopping, a seasonal masquerade ball and holiday loneliness. Act 1 features “Isn’t It Romantic” from Season 2 (original air date was November 1986) and centers on Dorothy’s visiting friend, Jean (Manuel Caneri), a lesiban who has recently lost her partner of many years. Hilarity (and minor heartbreak) ensues when Jean falls for Rose. This was an episode somewhat ahead of its time for its compassionate, almost nonchalant acceptance of Jean and never makes her sexuality the butt of a joke.
SHADY PINES BE DAMNED: The girls, from left: Drollinger, Tymes, Peru and Martin. Photo by Gareth Gooch
Act 2 is “Dorothy’s New Friend” from Season 3 (original air date was January 1988), and the episode is famous for Dorothy telling off a new friend who turns out to be a snobby, bigoted nightmare of a country club creep. As played by the spectacular Michael Philis, this new friend, a mediocre Florida author named Barbara Thorndyke, is lithe, gorgeous and simply oozing evil. It’s a hilarious, scene-stealing performance – and stealing scenes from the likes of Peru, Drollinger, Tymes and Martin is no small thing.
The only drawback to the evening is the awkward pacing of putting a TV script, which is built around commercial breaks, onto the stage. Director Drollinger fills the breaks while the stage is re-set and the actors re-costumed with a Christmas carol sing-along led by Tom Shaw, but some of the scenes are so short, we’ve barely finished singing one carol before we’re back singing another. Shaw is charming, and the audience gets into some of the songs (especially the call-backs in “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”). But it doesn’t do the comic rhythms of the show itself any favors to have so many breaks.
But this loyal audience shows up for festive frivolity, and they didn’t seem to mind at all.
As a surprise treat at Friday’s opening-night performance, Drollinger brought out a special guest at the curtain call: singer Cynthia Fee, the vocalist immortalized as the singer of the “Golden Girls” theme song: Andrew Gold’s 1978 hit “Thank You for Being a Friend.” Fee performed the song, and then, because the theme version is so short, sang it again and invited the audience to join in, which they very happily – one might almost say joyously – did.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
The Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes continues through Dec. 22, presented by BroadwaySF at the Curran Theatre, 445 Geary St., San Francisco. Running time: 2 hours and 15 minutes (including intermission). Tickets are $39-$125. Call 888-746-1799 or visit broadwaysf.com.
