MICAH SANDY: You may have heard the Golden Girls theme song on your TV, but last Tuesday, Chicagoans heard it live on stage as part of the touring production, Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue.
LYDIA PLAHN: We saw it opening night at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, and we have a lot to say.
MICAH SANDY: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Micah Sandy.
LYDIA PLAHN: And I’m Lydia Plahn. This is Podculture, a podcast about arts and culture on campus and beyond.
MICAH SANDY: Okay, so I thought the Golden Girls show was –
LYDIA PLAHN: Wait, shouldn’t we give some background?
MICAH SANDY: Ohhh, yeah, you’re right. If you don’t know, The Golden Girls is a sitcom that originally aired from 1985 to 1992. It starred some pretty good big names including Estelle Getty, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and the legend herself Betty White, as four senior citizens living together in Miami, Florida. Quickly the show became an iconic pop culture moment .
LYDIA PLAHN: I don’t know about you but I went to high school with kids who wore Golden Girls shirts. And, and like as you mentioned, I don’t think you can grow up watching TV and not know the lyrics to the theme song. I personally didn’t watch a lot of Golden Girls growing up, but I still knew the plot and the characters. Like, if I saw those four women anywhere, I instantly would be able to know that they are the Golden Girls.
MICAH SANDY: Yeah definitely. It’s one of those shows you can watch whenever and I’d watch it whenever it played in my house, maybe a few times a month, a few times a week. It’s not one of those shows that requires you to watch an entire season to understand an episode, it just makes it purely enjoyable.
LYDIA PLAHN: Similarly, I would definitely say that you don’t need a lot of background knowledge or need to know a lot about the television show to understand the play version, “Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue,” it was written by Robert Leleux and it’s essentially a parody of the original show that brings a more R-rated style of comedy to the classic.
MICAH SANDY: The play is about Rose, Blanche, Sophia and Dorothy grappling with Sophia’s impending trial for dealing drugs. Yep, you heard that right, dealing drugs. To her senior neighbors at Shady Pines retirement home. This is kind of a recurring bit — the fact that this incredibly tame looking woman in her little purse and glasses, but she was like dealing hard core drugs to her old neighbors. She also has a literal ankle monitor which is funny to see on stage when the lights go off especially and you just see a little green light walking around stage, and it forces you to never forget that she may or may not go to jail. Blanche and Rose are funny enough, starting a dating app for senior citizens that allows them to meet other elderly people. It’s called CreakN.
LYDIA PLAHN: And I think the joke here is like, a super loud creak sound effect happens whenever anyone gets a message on the app and throughout the show everytime the sound effect goes off the crowd loses it.
MICAH SANDY: And another element of this joke is the reference of “CreakN” to either the creak of a rocking chair or the creak of an older person’s knees, which again is a funny built-in pun. That’s right: this play showcases the iconic Golden Girls living it up in 2023. And, after Dorothy having romance troubles, they get her to download the app.
LYDIA PLAHN: And if I can add, right from the get-go, it is clear that the show is really trying to transport you into like 1980s Miami. And in my opinion it nails it. The set is immaculate and if it weren’t for stage lights you could be in someone’s vacation home 40 years ago. The overbearing pink rattan furniture and fake potted plants all scream “Designed by a grandma!”
MICAH SANDY: And the actors do a great job of replicating the TV characters on stage too.
LYDIA PLAHN: One hundred percent, the first time Rose walked on the stage and opened her mouth, I heard the women next to me audibly gasp because of how impressive her voice and character was. The impersonations of the original characters were incredible. And even as someone who is not super familiar with the show, it was clear to me that these voices and mannerisms were being perfectly executed on stage.
MICAH SANDY: For a split second, I thought they’d brought in Betty White to play Rose. He was spot on. And don’t get me started on the makeup and hair. If you do a side-by-side comparison of this cast and that of the original show, the hair is uncanny. From my seat, I genuinely thought Sophia’s character was indeed old. I could never have guessed that it was make-up adding all of those years.
I’d like to warn listeners of potential spoilers as well. If you plan on watching this play, continue with caution.
LYDIA PLAHN: I also want to add that I think the costuming really added to the whole world building of this show. In the best way, a lot of the clothes looked like they could have been found
