4 actors in drag bring raunchy revival of 'The Golden Girls' to Royal Oak Music Theatre

What’s one difference between “The Golden Girls” sitcom and the “Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue” stage show that runs through Sunday at the Royal Oak Music Theatre?

The sauciness of the content, which is clearly labeled as being for those 18 and older.

”Honey, it is so much sauce, you need the biggest pot in the kitchen,” says Vince Kelley, who plays Blanche. “It is a lot of sauce and the sauce is spicy. We’re not on network television anymore. We’re HBO.”

The main difference is that four men are taking on the characters of Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and Sophia, the defining quartet of the Emmy-winning NBC hit that lasted from 1985 to 1992 and lives on through cable reruns and streaming.

Back then, “The Golden Girls” was ahead of its time in taking on issues like homophobia, gay marriage, sexism and ageism. Maybe, just maybe, a raunchy “Golden Girls” revival is what we need in 2023 — a time of rampant intolerance — to unite us in focusing on laughter instead of hate.

“We are gay men who are putting on wigs and are doing this show, but by no means are we freedom fighters, are we throwing bricks at Stonewall,” says Kelley, a Michigan native. “We are actors who are given a script and we go out there. So while our pure presence on that stage is a political action, what we aim to do — and I know it’s such a cliché — is (demonstrate) that ‘Golden Girls’ has the ability to bring people together.”

According to Kelley, the show is great because it doesn’t have an agenda. “If you enjoy laughter, then our show is for you, regardless of what side of the aisle you are on or which way you decided to cast your ballot. .... Everybody in the audience gets to laugh and enjoy this wonderful, nostalgic TV show. “

Comedic drag versions of “The Golden Girls” tribute shows have been welcomed for 20 years or more by fans nationally and here in southeast Michigan.

"Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue,” produced by Murray & Peter Present, written by Robert Leleux and directed by Eric Swanson, stands out for being larger in scale. It already has played multiple cities.

In the new version, the characters are given life updates that, indeed, are more raunchy than a broadcast network would approve. Sophia, who’s the boss of a drug ring for seniors, is out on bail. Blanche and Rose are the creators of a sex app for their peers called CreakN. Dorothy is cougaring it up through her fling with a much younger lover.

This is not your grandma’s sitcom, yet it’s still in the same spirit.

”The ingredients might be different, but it’s the same recipe they used on the show,” says Kelley. “We like the tongue in cheek. We like the double entendre. ... We’re not just up there saying the f-word because it’s funny.”

The show was performed in Baltimore about a year ago. Since then, it has been fine-tuned and traveled to Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, Washington, D.C., and the Boston region. "We’re hitting our stride,” says Kelley.

For the actors, all of whom have Michigan ties, getting into their characters was a process of researching and exploring their personal and family memories of the series.

For Ryan Bernier, who was born in Florida and lives in Detroit, taking on Dorothy, so perfectly portrayed by Bea Arthur, presented a vocal challenge.

"I think the biggest thing that folks have been looking for is Bea Arthur's voice. It's celebrity-defining. You always know when Bea Arthur is in a room because you hear her first and then you see how tall she is. And, luckily, I was already tall," says Bernier.

Adam Graber, who re-creates Betty White's innocent Rose, is originally from the Upper Peninsula town of Kincheloe, which has similarities to the character’s hometown of St. Olaf, Minnesota.

“Rose Nylund has been a real joy to step into because I think, Betty White is such an icon to so many people herself,” says Graber, who views Rose not as ditzy, but as someone whose every intention is pure and loving. “Approaching the character with love paints a more honest picture, and the comedy comes after.”

Kelley calls Rue McClanahan's Blanche “the original Samantha,” referring to Kim Cattrall’s sexy, free-spirited character from HBO’s “Sex and the City.” But he finds the key to Blanche not in her lusty nature, but her internal confidence that's worthy of a Southern steel magnolia.

“They can call her a dumb slut and she flicks her hair, owns it, and is like: ‘Yeah, of course I am. That’s me. That’s who I am. That’s what I do.'"

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Rounding out the quarter is Christopher Kamm, who brings Estelle Getty's cranky, verbally filter-free Sophia to life. “People that I work with, all my friends, they don’t see a difference between (her and me) because so much just comes out naturally,” Kamm says. “I’m just playing my grandmother. She was a wisecracking old Italian lady. I grew up in the kitchen with her. This is like kismet.”

The continuing power of the "Golden Girls” sitcom can be seen in events like the Golden-Con fan convention, which held its second annual gathering in Chicago earlier this year and features events like a costume competition. More than 1,000 devotees of the series attended, some coming from halfway around the globe.

But the outpouring of love for "The Golden Girls" co-exists with current culture wars that have prompted the introduction in state legislatures of more than 400 anti-LGBTQ bills so far this year, according to figures from the American Civil Liberties Union. It adds up to a climate that Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia, all live-and-let-live advocates, never would have embraced.

The  cast of “Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue” honors the legacy of the original actresses and writing team. Says Kelley: “The writers of that show and those four women, they are the ones that paved the way.  They  did the work. ... We’re just kind of riding their coattails.”

The pull of the original sitcom is so strong that audiences for the stage show immediately buy in to the concept. “The second the theme song (“Thank You for Being a Friend”) starts, the entire audience is singing it,” says Kamm. “They are, from the get-go, for this world.”

The stage show even has introduced some people to live theater. Kelley discovered this during meet-and-greets after the performance that allow people to talk to cast members and take pictures of the scrupulously revived set. “We heard multiple times that this is people’s first play, point blank, period. The fact we have the opportunity to bring people into a space that they might not have seen themselves in, that they might have felt was inaccessible to them or they wouldn’t be interested in … is kind of this great equalizer.”

It might even heal a few rifts. Adds Kelley, “In order to fix anything, everyone has got to be in the same room first.”

It makes sense that the actors involved here are "GG" fans, just like the audiences they attract. Kelley, who was born in 1985, used to watch the original when he stayed with his grandmother. “I would be like, ‘Nana, I want to watch old lady show.’ That’s what I thought it was called. And I loved it. ... I didn’t even get the jokes, but she was laughing and I thought that was fun.”

Graber says “The Golden Girls” stands the test of time. “I’ve rewatched almost every episode twice now, once for research and twice because of pleasure. “

It’s impossible to know exactly what Arthur, White, McClanahan and Getty, who have all passed away, would think of “Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue.” But given their sitcom’s pushing of envelopes,  the actors are confident that would have been fine with it.

“They probably would have written a dirtier one and they would have taught us a few things,” says Kelley.

'Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue'

Doors at 7 p.m. Thu.-Sun.

Royal Oak Music Theatre

318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak

Tickets start at $33 for the ages 18 and older show and can be purchased at royaloakmusictheatre.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 'Golden Girls' parody due in Royal Oak has men in drag, raunchy laughs