Thank You For Being A Friend

Last night Sam and I headed down to Royal Oak to watch The Golden Girls – The Laughs Continue. It had been too long since we had a date night and this was the perfect solution. As I mentioned in a previous blog, we heard that the show was a bit more … “adult.” It was, and in between the raunchiness, there were times I laughed out loud.

Before I go on, I mentioned that Sam was teasing me about “costumes” that we were going to wear to the show. Thankfully, I did not have to don a dress or a wig. She bought us T-shirts (mine was a bit snug).

When we left the parking garage and walked to the theater, there was a line all the way around the building! I had no idea that there were so many Golden Girls fans. It was crazy. The show was for 18 and older, and it was obvious that all ages were represented.

When we walked in there was a guy snapping photos in front of pictures of the actors. It made the process quick and easy.

I had no idea how good our seats were. I purchased them online and thought they would be further back from the stage than they were. They ended up being pretty good seats. Once the lights went down they began the Golden Girls Theme Song and the entire audience sang along. Then the stage lights came up and the played one of those little “scene change” musical snippets from the show and the actor who played Dorothy walked on stage.

Keep in mind that all the characters were played by men in drag. The thing that blew me away from the get go was that this guy actually sounded like Bea Arthur!! Actually, all the guys sounded just like the characters they played. The voices and the mannerisms were dead on, especially they guy who played Blanche. They were so good, I forgot they were guys.

I won’t go into the plot or anything, but I will say that it was a bit raunchier than I expected. I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. My co-worker who took his wife the night before told me that there were some elderly ladies sitting in front of them and his wife was embarrassed for them. During intermission, I was in the rest room and a guy in a stall behind me was talking about how “inappropriate” some of the dialogue was and how they “didn’t have to take it that far.”

That said, there were many times I truly belly laughed. I’ve always been amazed at the work that goes into a play. Quick costume changes, scene changes, and all the lines that they have to memorize. These guys were very good.

One thing I really enjoyed were the little subtle nods to Broadway shows and the actresses and the shows they were in. There was an obscure reference to Mame, which Bea Arthur appeared in on Broadway with Angela Lansbury, which only a few people got. Rose, the Betty White character at one point says she had a weird dream that she was on The Mary Tyler Moore Show (she was). Later, while Sophia is talking about some rap singer, Blanche says something about being in the “3-1-3” (Detroit’s area code) and how she should be talking about Eminem!

Another thing I loved was how many times the actors broke the fourth wall. Nodding to the audience or acknowledging the audience or pointing to an audience member – you know, things that aren’t in the script, but make you know they know you are there. My favorite instance of this was when the Sophia character tells Rose (Betty White) that she KNEW that she was going to outlive all of them. The audience roared at this and each of the actors looked at the audience pointed upward and paid homage to Betty White. It was pretty cool.

The play never felt like it was dragging on. It was about a two hour show and a fun night out for Sam and me. We drove home afterward and decided we were hungry. (There were a lot of times cheesecake was mentioned in the play.) I won’t lie, I was amazed at home many places were closed by 10 on a Friday night. There were places that were open until midnight, but the kitchen closed at 11. It would be closed by the time we got there. So we decided on a stop at Taco Bell.

On the way home, Sam asked me something that really made me realize how much our lives have changed since having the kids. She said, “Can we go home, sit on the couch, eat our nachos and watch something that IS NOT a kid’s show!?” That hit me hard. Before kids, we spent so much time watching TV together on the couch. Now it seems that the TV only plays kid shows.

She found the very first episode of House, M.D. with Hugh Laurie. We sat snuggled up together eating and watched it together. Afterward, we called it a night and went to bed. It really was a perfect night.

As a bonus, because the kids stayed at Nana’s, we got up and had coffee together. We sat on the porch and enjoyed the quiet time and cool weather. Then Sam reminded me of the cheesecake mentions in the play and how a slice would be perfect for breakfast. I wasn’t about to argue, so I ran up to the grocery store and bought one! It was delicious and a sweet way to wrap up an amazing day/night with my wife!