Whether or not you remember the famous “Golden Girls” situation comedy television series about the everyday antics of four senior women living together in a Miami home, audiences will laugh heartily as five actors team to recreate the nostalgia of the series in “Golden Girls The Laughs Continue” running now through September 29 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Ft. Lauderdale.
What stands out are the strong impressions made by four male actors, all whom dressed, compliments of the costumes, wigs and strong physical resemblances, as the original four female “Golden Girls”.
The cast did not try to recreate exaggerated stereotypes of the four beloved characters of Blanche (actor Vince Kelley), Dorothy (Ryan Bernier), Rose (Adam Graber) and Sophia (Christopher Kamm). Rather, the cast captured both the look, spirit and the chemistry that the original four actresses had on the series to make them believable as “Golden Girls”.
The appeal and popularity of the famed series led to the tour being booked for four consecutive weeks at the Broward Center.
Written by playwright Robert Leleux and directed by Eric Swanson, the creative team wisely did not rehash one of the original episodes from the television series, but instead updated the antics of Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and Sophia as if they were alive in 2024 and living in the contemporary era of sexual mores and social media.
The play weaves together multiple storylines that involve all four women seeking solutions to their daily problems. The show opens with Sophia being under house arrest for drug dealing to seniors. Dorothy, who is Sophia’s daughter, struggles to understand Sophia’s dilemma while attempting to build a romantic relationship with Burt Reynolds (not the actor, but the Miami school principal) as well as tolerating the antics of her ex-husband Stan. Both Burt and Stan are played in cameos by actor Tommy Favorite.
Two other storylines also connect. Rose accidentally takes one of Sophia’s drugs hidden in a cheesecake with hilarious results. Blanche and Rose team up to create a new dating site app for seniors which lead to several more hilarious antics in the show.
The antics and jokes land successfully because the five actors recreated the familiar situations that made the characters memorable.
For example, the play features constant bantering between Sophia and Dorothy, with Sophia jesting about Dorothy not having sexual appeal to men, scenes in which ex-husband Stan resorted to blackmail to win Dorothy’s love, scenes in which Rose believed in her fairy tales about life in her hometown of St. Olaf and scenes in which Sophia resorted to cursing the other women to solve her problems.
All these scenes were nostalgic because they were all recreations of dialogue from the original “Golden Girls” series.
The show is also interactive and spontaneous in poking fun at the characters and the locale. Blanche (Kelley) mentions onstage that “Wilton Manors really loves us girls” in reference to the large gay population residing in the Wilton Manors suburb of Ft. Lauderdale and the funny reference of Sophia and the other characters “as being at least 120 if you are all alive in 2024.”
There are also more explicit jokes about the sexual antics of the four women in the play that are more contemporary than in the original television series.
The five actors (especially Kelley who created the costumes and wigs for the actors), director, playwright and the many behind the scenes staff responsible for the set design, lighting and music all deserve praise for creating the nostalgia to go with the laughs.
MORE INFORMATION
Actors Ryan Bernier, Adam Graber, Christopher Kamm and Vince Kelley star as the four senior women of the “Golden Girls” television series in “Golden Girls The Laughs Continue”, running now though September 29 at the Amaturo Theater of Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave. in Ft. Lauderdale. Tickets range from $30-65. on Wednesdays through Sunday. Show time varies by day, with matinee shows added on Saturday and Sunday. To order tickets and for more information, go to browardcenter.org or call 954-462-0222.
