Having begun in a living room nearly two decades ago — and after more than a decade at a scrappy Mission District theater — San Francisco’s beloved holiday drag re-enactment of a classic 1980s sitcom has gone legitimate.
“The Golden Girls Live: The Christmas Episodes” opened Friday night at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre, bringing out hundreds of fans in tacky holiday sweaters for two lightly adapted and slightly extended episodes of the series, plus a dozen sing-along musical interludes during the frequent costume changes.
After the mostly queer audience was admonished not to shout any punchlines on punishment of being sent to Shady Pines Retirement Home, fans got a surprise treat after curtain call. Cindy Fee, who sang the original show’s theme song, “Thank You for Being a Friend,” performed the number to raucous approval — twice.
Created in 2005 by four veteran stage performers — Heklina, Cookie Dough, Matthew Martin, and D’arcy Drollinger, San Francisco’s inaugural “drag laureate” who also owns SoMa drag club Oasis — the show has gradually expanded into a full-on theatrical production that varies up the source material over 10 performances every December. Holotta Tymes took over the role of Sophia Petrillo from Cookie Dough after her 2015 death, while Miss Coco Peru has played Dorothy Zbornak since Heklina’s untimely death in April 2023.
It cannot be overstated how well the four leads perfected their impressions of the original cast. Miss Coco Peru has Bea Arthur’s crotchety vocal inflections and lethal comic timing down pat, while the ever-charismatic Matthew Martin captures Blanche Devereaux’s insatiable lust and breezy lack of self-awareness. Holotta Tymes may not be quite as short as the diminutive Estelle Getty, but she’s close enough to land every stroke-addled zinger, while D’Arcy Drollinger’s good-natured mugging plays up Betty White’s eternal sweetness along with every double entendre.
A smattering of actors play secondary roles, with San Francisco multi-hyphenate performer Micahel Phillis transforming Dorothy’s pretentious novelist friend Barbara Thorndyke into a peacocking villain.
While the set lovingly re-creates the four older women’s palm-filled, pastel Miami home, and decks it out with gaudy holiday cheer, the costuming is the real joy. Seizing every opportunity to show a little leg, characters rotate through multiple looks, from satin robes and twin sweater sets to ’80s power suits armed with shoulder pads that could scrape a Pyrex baking dish filled with cheesecake.
Although the tradition of post-performance photos with the cast is now a VIP add-on that must be purchased in advance, the upgrade from the ailing Victoria Theatre to the much-larger Curran works well. It means more merch for sale than in years past, plus a few fun additions like hawkers dressed as Santa’s elves patrolling the aisles to sell $12 tequila cocktails in test tubes. (Try one if you dare.)
The original series has been off the air for more than 30 years. Its entire cast is gone. Betty White, who died in late 2021 a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday, is now on a postage stamp. But San Francisco will never get enough of this wacky holiday staple. Because like White herself, “The Golden Girls” is forever.
- Date and time
- Through Dec. 22
- Price
- $39-$125