Last Saturday I invited David, Alaina, Anil, Jason and Silas along to what turned out to be the most fun thing I’ve been to since I moved to New York a year ago: “The Golden Girls: LIVE!”
Four men play the girls in a reenactment of two (soon to be three) of the best episodes from the show’s seven seasons. You can see them at Rose’s Turn in the West Village (on Grove Street, a minute away from the Christopher Street 1/9 subway stop) twice a night on Fridays and Saturdays until December (when they move to another venue and start performing eight times a week), but make sure to call a few days in advance to make reservations as they’re always sold out. Peter Mac, John Schaefer and Darren Polito are excellent as Sophia, Dorothy and Blanche (Schaefer with make-up in profile looks uncannily like Bea Arthur—but then again, she’s always looked like a man in drag!) while Desmond Dutcher’s Rose still needs a little work, but “The Golden Girls: LIVE!” is hysterical and I guarantee you’ll enjoy it.
If you’ve already been to the show (or are just an insane fan) you can download mp3s of the musical moments they play in between scenes courtesy of some kind souls who put together “Meet the Golden Girls!” My personal favorite is “Miami Beach”, which has been playing in my head—complete with Blanche’s escalating “Girls!”—for the better part of the past week.
Those of you on the West Coast, rejoice, the show will be visiting L.A. and San Francisco for two month runs next year so you can see it then.