There are not many certainties in life and when a sure thing is discovered we all should enjoy it. So, just in time for the Halloween season, Hell in a Handbag Productions has concocted a hilarious farce and sendup of two beloved American shows with The Golden Girls Meet the Skooby Don't Gang: The Mystery of the Haunted Bush. This production was written by artistic director David Cerda and directed by Frankie Leo Bennett, and it is my favorite out of the Golden Girls spoofs.
Cerda and the Handbag ensemble take the characters of Rose, Dorothy, Blanche, and Sophia over the top with drag done the way it should be. I compare them to how the Monty Python characters make their female characters hilarious by not doing an "impersonation" but embodying them. Cerda's Dorothy is an homage to Bea Arthur's dry humor and facial expressions. I started laughing when Rose (Ed Jones) entered with that cotton candy hair and ditzy farm girl mannerisms. Grant Drager has perfected trampy Blanche's mannerisms seemingly always on vibrate.
Rose's nephew from St. Olaf is Fred (Tyler Anthony Smith) from the famous teenage sleuths with the groovy van. Smith is always hilarious but gets to shine as Fred down to the doll hair and orange ascot. Caitlin Jackson is fantastic as the bookish Velva complete with the pleated skirt, soup-bowl bob, and glasses. Daffy (Elisabeth Lesinski)is the glamorous girl everyone wanted to be when we thought Fred was straight and they were dating. Josh Kemper is perfect as the eternally stoned Skaggy (with his faithful pup Skooby—Ben Meneses).
Sophia (Ryan Oates) and her friend super-sleuth Nancy Drew (Danne W. Taylor) stir up plenty of trouble. Taylor is hysterically funny as the frisky and up-for-anything Nancy Drew. If you have ever ridden the 147 bus in Chicago, you have seen this Nancy Drew. Her hair is platinum white in a bob from the late '60s. She wears a Chanel knockoff jacket and a slip. She appears to have forgotten the skirt. Taylor sits gap-legged wearing frilly ankle socks and does unspeakable things with Skaggy as a traumatised Skooby looks on.
A giant bush begins haunting the Miami idyll and it looks just like one of the ridiculous creatures that the criminals on Scooby Doo who gets unmasked and complains about how they would have gotten away with it were it not for "those pesky kids." Be prepared for your illusions to be shattered, as Velva and Daphne explore the love that dare not speak its name. Nancy Drew has a serious drug habit and blew out her veins in the '60s. Blanche always wears crotchless underwear and thinks that Velva is Lebanese and not lesbian. Scott Sawa shows up as Dorothy's schlub of an ex-husband Stan. Be prepared for Stan's trivia questions in between costume changes.
The Mystery of the Haunted Bush blends the sitcom and the cartoon so well that it is a great farce in addition to a spoof. Some walls turn, secret doors are entered, and slapstick collisions with '50s-style movie screams. The mystery is not a surprise but is perfect for this meeting of television classics. Marcus Klein's scenic design is complemented perfectly by Liz Cooper's lighting design. Keith Ryan's wig designs deserve an award. Syd Genco's makeup captures the essence of each character. A special shout-out to costume designer Madeline Felauer for capturing the animation style and bringing the Golden Girls off the small screen and onto the stage.
I highly recommend The Golden Girls Meet the Skooby Don't Gang: The Mystery of the Haunted Bush. It's a fun evening of laughs, double entendre, and perhaps how we imagined the Scooby Doo gang to be as we got older. Remember that Shaggy used to eat the Scooby snacks as well. How stoned did he have to be? Also, look for some hilariously sentient moments from Skooby. It's an adult Halloween treat that may give you a bellyache from laughing..
The Golden Girls Meet the Skooby Don't Gang: The Mystery of the Haunted Bush is playing at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St.. Shows are Thursdays through Sundays until November 3. Please visit http://www.handbagproductions.org/ or https://bit.ly/hauntedbush for tickets and more information about Hell in a Handbag Productions.
For more information on this and other plays, see theatreinchicago.com.
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