The Golden Girls' Broadway Connection

 The Golden Girls' Broadway Connection

Lately, I've been enjoying a binge watch of The Golden Girls which is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary!

As I've been watching, it strikes me just how much of a connection to Broadway this classic sitcom has. Of course, there's the obvious Beatrice Arthur (Dorothy) who famously originated the role of Yente in Fiddler on the Roof and won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Vera Charles in Mame. Estelle Getty stole the show as Sophia, Dorothy's mother, played Harvey Fierstein's mother in Torch Song Trilogy and earned a Tony nomination in the process. The lascivious Blanche was played by Rue McClanahan, and she appeared on Broadway in seven shows, including California Suite, The Women and as Madame Morrible in Wicked. Even the guy who played Stanley, Dorothy's yutz of an ex-husband, had a Broadway career. Herb Edelman was a Broadway 3-timer, including a role in Chita Rivera's musical Bajour, and in the original production of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, a part he also played in the film version.

But it is on the guest stars list where the real treasure trove of Broadway connections lies. Here are but a few:

Dick Van Dyke (Tony winner: Bye Bye Birdie): He played Dorothy's lawyer boyfriend who leaves the bar to join the circus! (above left)

George Clooney (Tony nominee: Good Night and Good Luck): A young Clooney played an undercover cop who stays at the girls' house to spy on their criminal neighbors. (above center)

Jerry Orbach (Tony winner: Promises, Promises; among his credits: the original casts of The Fantasticks, 42nd Street, Chicago): Orbach played a former lover of Dorothy's who has finally left his wife and tries to win back Dorothy's heart. (above right)

Barney Martin (Chicago's original Mr. Cellophane): He played a gangster on the run named "The Cheese Man" who woos Rose (Betty White) in order to get to her boyfriend, who snitched on him to the Feds.

Brenda Vaccaro (three-time Tony-nominee for Cactus Flower, The Goodbye People, and How Now, Dow Jones): She played the widow of Sophia's son, the cross-dressing Phil. They butted heads over a $47 dowry check that bounced! (above left)

Hal Linden (Tony-winner: The Rothschilds): He played the guy who stood up Dorothy for her senior prom, and years later took her to the local high school's prom as a chaperone. Turns out he didn't stand her up, her mother kicked him out for dressing like a "hood." (above right)

George Hearn (Tony-winner: La Cage aux Folles, Sunset Boulevard): Former Sweeney Todd famously played Foxy Loxy in the girls' elementary school production of Henny Penny when the kids are quarantined.

Mario Lopez (A Chorus Line revival): In a timely (timeless?) episode, he plays a student of Dorothy's who gets deported for being an illegal alien. A rare sad ending for the show. (above left)

Inga Swensen (Two-time Tony nominee: Baker Street, 110 in the Shade): She played Rose's gold-digging sister Holly.

Polly Holliday (Tony nominee: Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (revival)): She played Lily, Rose's older sister who was learning to live as a newly blind person.

Marian Mercer (Tony winner: Promises, Promises): She played Stan's cousin, Magda, a staunch communist refugee from Czechoslovakia. (above right)

Like I said, these are but a few... I didn't even mention Bob Hope and Mickey Rooney!