Retro TV News

Golden Girls-themed show sashays to Dallas on smash nationwide tour

Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue will be at Wyly Theatre, January 30-February 4.

Photo courtesy of Murray & Peter Present

After a successful run across the country in 2023, the theater productionGolden Girls: The Laughs Continue will expand to 40 more cities in 2024, including a stop at Wyly Theatre in Dallas, January 30-February 4.

The production is making its first visit to Dallas after traveling to 14 cities throughout 2023. Dallas will be the second stop on the tour in 2024, following the opening show in Houston, January 23-27.

The show, put on by Murray & Peter Present, brings Miami’s sassiest seniors to the stage for one more hurrah. Sophia is out on bail after being busted by the DEA for running a drug ring for retirees. Blanche and Rose have founded CreakN, a thriving sex app for seniors. And Dorothy is trying to hold it all together with help from a new (much) younger sex-crazed lover.

Written by Robert Leleux, the show features an all-male cast, including Ryan Bernier as Dorothy, Vince Kelley as Blanche, Adam Graber as Rose, Christopher Kamm as Sophia, and Jason Bowen as Stanley/Burt.

Tickets for the production, which will have eight performances, will go on sale at ATTPAC.org on Friday, October 13. Ticket prices start at $40; a special VIP photo experience add-on includes photos with the actors on the Golden Girls set after the show.

Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue 2024 dates

Jan 23 - 27: Houston, Texas, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
Jan 30 - 4: Dallas, Texas, Wyly Theatre
Feb 6 - 25: Chicago, Illinois, Broadway Playhouse
Feb 27: Madison, Wisconsin, Overture Center for the Arts
Feb 28: Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Paramount Theatre
Feb 29: Peoria, Illinois, Peoria Civic Center Theater
Mar 1 - 2: Columbus, Ohio, Southern Theatre
Mar 3: South Bend, Indiana, Morris Performing Arts Center
Mar 5: East Lansing, Michigan, Wharton Center for Performing Arts
Mar 6: Akron, Ohio, E.J. Thomas Hall at the University of Akron
Mar 7: Toledo, Ohio, Stranahan Theater
Mar 8: Cincinnati, Ohio, Aronoff Center
Mar 9: Erie, Pennsylvania, Warner Theatre
Mar 10: Lexington, Kentucky, Lexington Opera House
Mar 12: St Louis, Missouri, Stifel Theatre
Mar 13: Huntsville, Alabama, VBC Mark C. Smith Concert Hall
Mar 14: Birmingham, Alabama, BJCC Concert Hall
Mar 15: New Orleans, Louisiana, Saenger Theatre
Mar 16: Baton Rouge, Louisiana, River Center Theatre for Performing Arts
Mar 17: Jackson, Mississippi, Thalia Mara Hall
Mar 19: Pensacola, Florida, Saenger Theatre
Mar 20: Fort Myers, Florida, Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall at FSW
Mar 23 - 24: Tampa, Florida, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Mar 26: Louisville, Kentucky, Brown Theatre
Mar 27: Atlanta, Georgia, Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
Mar 28: Memphis, TennesseeOrpheum Theatre
Mar 29: Kansas City, Missouri, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
Mar 30: Bowling Green, Kentucky, SkyPAC
Apr 1: Charlotte, North Carolina, Belk Theater
Apr 2: Spartanburg, South Carolina, Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium
Apr 3: Durham, North Carolina, Durham Performing Arts Center
Apr 4: Roanoke, Virginia, Berglund Performing Arts Theatre
Apr 5: Knoxville, Tennessee, Knoxville Civic Auditorium
Apr 7: Dayton, Ohio, Schuster Center
Apr 9: Richmond, Virginia, Dominion Energy Center
Apr 10: Syracuse, New York, Landmark Theatre
Apr 11: Concord, New Hampshire, Capitol Center for the Arts
Apr 12: Hartford, Connecticut, The Bushnell
Apr 13: Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts
Apr 14: Providence, Rhode Island,Veterans Memorial Auditorium

theater performing-arts

Movie Review

Daniel Craig searches for elusive new bond in audacious film Queer

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

movies film