For “Golden Girls” fans, this is a must-attend. So put down that cheesecake and come in from the lanai.
Picture it: “Golden Girls: The Ultimate Fan Experience” debuts at noon Saturday, March 14 in the Abdo New River Room at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale. The performance includes a drag-a-licious parody play (with trivia contests, bingo and sing-alongs thrown in) as well as a Q&A session with creatives and other behind-the-scenes folks connected to the game-changing sitcom, which — by the way — was set in South Florida.
“I wanted to create something that was so memorable and was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” says event creator Nicole Halliwell. “Because it’s nothing that’s been done like this in Florida ever. And it’s odd because Florida is the centerpiece of ‘The Golden Girls’ universe, you know, in Miami.”
Premiering on NBC in 1985, the situation comedy aired 180 episodes through its last season in 1992. The laughs centered on the adventures of four mature women sharing a home in Miami. Its four stars — Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White and Estelle Getty — won Emmy Awards. And even though they have all passed away, the show is still a powerhouse in cable TV reruns and on Hulu.
The fan experience will be hosted by Jim Colucci, author of the New York Times best-selling book “Golden Girls Forever: An Unauthorized Look Behind the Lanai.” And sharing some of their off-camera stories during the event will be “Golden Girls” co-producer Marsha Posner Williams, scriptwriter Stan Zimmerman and script supervisor Isabel Omero, as well as Wayne Williams, the show’s official photographer; Dan Watt, Bea Arthur’s personal assistant; and Richard Weaver, Estelle Getty’s personal assistant.
“We’re trying to double it up and create the ultimate fan experience,” Halliwell says. “This really, really is a once-in-a-lifetime event. These people may never do this again. This is a big undertaking, especially because I want to respect these people. They’re Emmy Award-winning producers. These people have shaped the industry that we’re watching today. They set the groundwork for what comedy has become on television.”
A word of caution: Don’t be late. Seating for the 12 p.m. show will start at 11 a.m. Once the performance starts, no one will be allowed into the Abdo New River Room.
“As we say on the website: If you’re not in before the doors close, you’ll be listening to the applause outside,” Halliwell says. “Out of respect to the performers, as well as the incredible guests who have given their time to be with us, we ask kindly that you enter during the seating period. We just don’t want any interruptions, especially because we’re trying to land these jokes without people walking by with popcorn, you know, interrupting everything. Please be on time out of respect for all the incredible folks that have shown up. And our drag queens can be cranky if you don’t.”
We had an opportunity to speak with Halliwell, which is the stage name of the female impersonator who is the owner/producer/director of Fort Lauderdale-based Drag Events Unlimited. Here is more about the fan event in an interview with Halliwell that has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Since you produce shows throughout the state, you could have staged this event anywhere in Florida. Why Fort Lauderdale?
A: We tested the show in Fort Lauderdale in 2024 and it was at the Sunshine Cathedral and we sold it out and it was great. This is the next iteration of it, which was actually taking it to the next level, making it a dual experience. So [fans] come in, they see the tribute show and now they have a chance to meet the people that created the television show. So we thought this is the right area. Broward Center is a very prestigious venue. We’re very centrally located to the large portion of the LGBTQ community. So I thought this is it. This is the place.
Q: How did the parody tribute show come together?
A: I’ve been playing Blanche away from this show for many, many years, and I was making appearances at different venues and so forth. Just showing up as Blanche and then doing, you know, all of her schtick. I happened to run into someone that I wanted to hire for my “Hocus Pocus” show, and this person also was playing Rose in a different “Golden Girls” tribute show, which she was leaving. So I thought, “Hmm, that’s interesting. Maybe I’ll have her come over and play my Rose with my Blanche.”
Then I’m standing on the red carpet for “Hocus Pocus 2,” and I meet this very tall Winifred Sanderson impersonator. We became friends. I look at his Instagram. He plays Dorothy. And then his best friend plays Sophia … And I said, “Seems like the universe is trying to tell me something here. I should probably listen to it.” A week and a half later, I got an email from a company called Bucket Listers who does the official Golden Girls Kitchen, which they had in Miami, and now they’re touring it around the country. This is in 2023, mind you. And they said, “Do you have a Golden Girls impersonator group?” And I said, “Yes, I do.” So we had nothing at that point. We just, you know, put it together with some glue and hope it sticks. We had such incredible chemistry and it was just kismet. It just came together instantly. And here we are now in 2026 with 37 consecutive sold-out shows.
Drag Events Unlimited
The drag parody “Golden Girls: The Tribute Show” debuted at the Golden Girls Kitchen event in 2024. Now the comedy will be the first part of “Golden Girls: The Ultimate Fan Experience” at the Broward Center in for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale. (Drag Events Unlimited/Courtesy)
Q: What makes your “Golden Girls” parody different from other similarly themed shows out there touring?
A: We stand apart from all the other “Golden Girls” tributes because we are series-accurate. We are very much involved with staying as true to the original source material as possible, whereas other “Golden Girls” tributes are taking them into current day or they’re making them into too-campy of a drag parody. The feedback we were getting from them was: This is not what we’ve expected. We came here for nostalgia and we’re seeing something that’s too far off-base.
Q: What made you take on the ambitious idea of adding such a rounded-out panel of former “Golden Girls” creatives and staffers?
A: I thought this is the birthplace of the “Golden Girls” universe … now I need to bring something else into the mix. Originally, it was supposed to be just one of the writers. And then we thought, OK, well, since we have him on board, let me call her and see if she wants to do it. Then let me call him and see if he wants to do it. And they all said yes … at once. We weren’t expecting that.
I thought, people love this so much, but they always are talking about all the behind-the-scenes. They’re always asking questions. We’re seeing all these television specials that never kind of answer all the questions we wanted to know about the show. I thought … I wish there was a way that we could connect with the people that actually produced the show and bring it to people on stage where they can sit and talk to them in person.
Drag Events Unlimited
Seating for “Golden Girls: The Ultimate Fan Experience” begins at 11 a.m. for the 12 p.m. show. Latecomers will not be seated during events on the stage. “Please be on time out of respect for all the incredible folks that have shown up,” says Nicole Halliwell. “And our drag queens can be cranky if you don’t.” (Drag Events Unlimited/Courtesy)
Q: What can you tell us about the actual parody play that will take place during the first half of the fan event?
A: So the title of the show that they’re going to see is “Golden Girls: The Tribute Show.” That’s the name of the show itself, which is apart from the rest of the experience. The girls are planning a fundraiser to rebuild Shady Pines after a mysterious fire, and that’s the premise of our story. Their guests will come in and … hilarity ensues, as to be expected, because the girls have a number of obstacles along the way. There’s also some really fun substories as well … because there’s always that B story that kind of plays along with the primary episode. This is an interactive parody show. We’re doing “Golden Girls” Bingo and Trivia. There’s music performances, there’s sing-alongs and there’s audience interaction.
There’s great care and love put into this production because of the level of nostalgia and how important the show is to us. It’s one thing when you have a group of actors that’s just playing characters, but we grew up on this television show. Some of us still watch it on a regular basis, almost every day sometimes. So it is an opportunity for us to be able to associate with these people who created something that we love so much, and to do it in a way where we also get to be the character that we identified with so much.
“Golden Girls: The Ultimate Fan Experience” is set for noon Saturday, March 14, in the Abdo New River Room at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Cost: $93.74 for general admission and $134.60 for VIP Meet-&-Greet passes. Visit browardcenter.org or goldenfans.net, or call 954-462-0222.