Thank you for being a friend.
One of television’s most beloved sitcoms is being reimagined for the stage in Golden Girls – The Laughs Continue, which comes to Lethbridge later this month.
The all-new live show runs Jan. 22-23 at the Yates Memorial Theatre and imagines a world where The Golden Girls never went off the air.
Actor Vince Kelley plays Blanche in the Canadian touring production, presented by Murray & Peter.
Kelley’s nana used to refer to the sitcom as the “Old Lady Show.”
“Blanche was always my favourite. Our show takes place current day. It’s 2026 in our show. It’s as if The Golden Girls never went off the air. They just kind of kept on being friends and kept living together. The house is the same. The clothes are the same. What comes out of their mouth is a little different,” Kelley adds.
Kelley has been part of The Golden Girls live stage production since its beginning.
“It’s super fun to see the trajectory of how far we’ve come and still how far we have to go.”
Kelley notes the idea for the show emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, when viewership data showed a resurgence in the sitcom’s popularity.
“Everybody was watching it. It was a comfort, and it was making this huge comeback. It started new fans, and the old fans still loved it. We thought there’s something going on here. The Golden Girls are where it’s at,” Kelley says.
Kelley adds the cast and crew have embraced touring in Canada after early success in B.C.
“We decided to tiptoe into Canada with a very small tour like Kelowna and Vancouver. It was such a hit, and the people are so nice. Every stereotype about you guys is true. You’re such lovely people.”
Kelley says the live show allows for more freedom than network television once did.
“Something fun about our show is — when they were on television, with standards and practices they could only go so far. They had to use a lot of innuendo and had to be a little cheeky. We don’t have standards and practices on live stage. We just kind of say what The Golden Girls probably would have said. It’s as if our show is like The Golden Girls moved from network television to a streaming service,” Kelley explains.
“They’re HBO Golden Girls,” Kelley jokes. “They’re Crave Golden Girls in Canadian terms.”
Kelley adds each performance is tailored to the city where the show is playing.
“We’re on the bus and we’re on our way to Lethbridge. We’re on the Internet and we’re looking up what’s going on in Lethbridge. What are the people dealing with there? What’s popular there? Then we try to find ways to incorporate that into the show. The audience is sitting there saying, ‘this show is about us,’” says Kelley. “We want to make it seem like it was handcrafted just for you.”
The production is recommended for audiences 18 and older. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. and include a 20-minute intermission. For more information about the tour, visit online at GoldenGirlsTour.com.
Check out visitlethbridgearena.evenue.net/events/GG for tickets.
