It’s been nearly 26 years since “ The Golden Girls” went off the air, but the classic sitcom has proved its staying power in syndication, as well as a board game, a puppet parody, a coloring book and a New York restaurant, among other tributes.
The show’s iconic theme song recently got a touching, albeit cheeky, redux courtesy of drag queen Alexis Michelle. The “RuPaul’s Drag Race” veteran, whose real name is Alex Michaels, performed the song last year as part of the cabaret act, “It Takes A Woman... An Evening With Alexis Michelle,” as seen in the above video.
If you think you know all the words, think again: “Thank You for Being a Friend,” which was originally written and performed by Andrew Gold in 1978, has an unusually morbid bridge that was omitted when the tune was adapted for “The Golden Girls” in 1985.
Since coming in fifth place on the ninth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” last year, Michelle has become a fixture on the Manhattan cabaret circuit. She’ll return to the concert stage Feb. 21 for “Alexis, I Am!,” performing songs that Madonna, Lady Gaga and Dolly Parton, among others, made famous. (Spoiler alert: “Thank You for Being a Friend” will be on the set list, too.)
“The best I can do – as a gay man, a queer performer and a drag queen – is live my life honestly, openly and authentically, and let that authenticity be reflected in my performances,” Michelle told HuffPost in May 2017. “I really do believe that if we all live authentically, that behavior in and of itself has the power to change the world.”
No doubt these ladies would agree with that sentiment.
Alexis Michelle will perform “Alexis, I Am!” on Feb 21, March 21 and April 18 at Feinstein’s/54 Below in New York.
