Classic ’80s sitcom The Golden Girls is seemingly more popular now that it was when it was actually on the air some 30 years ago. These days, it seems the internet is replete with Golden Girls parodies and homages of every sort, with even action figures and Funko POP! dolls popping up for sale. And every day there seems to be something new that relates to everyone’s favorite friends.
Now—thanks to Entertainment Weekly—we’ve learned a new way to celebrate Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia has arrived with the debut of the live That Golden Girls Show, which features the girls brought to life again as puppets. Kind of like Avenue Q, only with more cheesecake.
The show is set to open next week off-Broadway in New York, and according to the show’s official site, you should “get set for an evening of cheesecake, laughter, Jazzercise, shoulder pads, sex, and the elegant art of the quick-witted put down.” Sounds like a perfect night out if you ask me.
You can even watch a puppet version of the show’s opening credits down below:
So what else made the girls so special? Well, first off, unlike most sitcoms of that era, it was actually witty and funny, and not pandering and stupid. Writer/director of the show, Jonathan Rockefeller—in an interview with The Huffington Post—also hit the nail on the head when he said of the girls’ enduring popularity that, “they were talking about race, religion, sex, gender — all these things – and I think that’s what made them interesting. They were talking about gay marriage back in 1985, and now we’ve just got that in the past couple of years.”
Look, as a child of the ’80s I can tell you, the sitcom humor of popular shows of the time like Facts of Life, Punky Brewster, and the like were pretty lowest common denominator laughs. Golden Girls’ sharp put downs and verbal barbs are still funny 30 years later—and just what the doctor ordered at 11:30 PM on Sunday night with a bowl of cereal.
That Golden Girls Show opens Oct. 3 at the DR2 Theatre.
Are you going to make the trek to New York to see the girls brought to life in full puppety glory? Let us know in the comments.
Image: Jonathan Rockefeller / That Golden Girls Show
