Chicago, a city with a vibrant gay cultural scene and bragging rights for launching the concept of staged sitcom reenactments with The Real Live Brady Bunch at the Annoyance Theatre in the early 90s, is the perfect spot for a couple of multi-week sit downs by Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue, currently in its second year of touring.
Now running at Broadway Playhouse, with a return engagement scheduled for mid-May, this parody of the beloved cult sitcom about four disparate retirees living together in Miami is by far the raunchiest show I’ve ever seen booked downtown by Broadway in Chicago. When these versions of Blanche, Sophia, Rose and Dorothy talk BBC, they are not referring to British newsreaders.
Graphic content notice aside, this is a funny, big-hearted show that delivers more zingers than a Hostess truck. Performed in exquisitely accurate drag by spot-on interpreters Ryan Bernier (Dorothy), Vince Kelley (Blanche), Adam Graber (Rose), and Christopher Kamm (Sophia), the original story plays just like a real episode of the show in terms of character beats. But it also includes 1,000 percent more sex jokes, judicious fourth-wall breaking, a running gag about just how old these characters must be in the 2020s since the series ended in 1992, and an intermission that exists solely to sell merch and margaritas.
The setup: Sophia, Dorothy’s spitfire mom and the oldest of the girls, is facing felony charges for dealing all manner of illicit drugs to fellow retirees. Meanwhile, Blanche and Rose have launched CreakN, a hookup app for seniors that’s making them filthy (really filthy) rich, and Dorothy has warily used it to break her long sexual drought with a much younger man. When the two plot lines intersect, hilarious chaos ensues.
Bernier and Kelley go at each other in what amounts to a comedic heavyweight bout in silly wigs and sensible shoes where the audience is the only winner. Graber and Kamm nail their supporting roles with relish, not to mention some psychedelic cheesecake.
Should this show be cut down to a tight 60 minutes with no intermission? Sure, but Golden Girls gotta eat, so belly up to the bar and grab a t-shirt on your way back to the seats.
Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue runs through February 25 and then from May 14 through 26 at Broadway Playhouse.
For a full roundup of reviews of this show, visit Theatre in Chicago.
Photo by Murray and Peter Present
