ONSTAGE WITH BEA ARTHUR'S JUST BETWEEN FRIENDS

BUENA PARK, CA (March 13, 2002)—For longtime fans as well as twenty-something newcomers drawn to reruns of Maude and The Golden Girls, Bea Arthur On Broadway: Just Between Friends has been an essential point of pilgrimage. Since opening on January 29 at the Booth Theater near Times Square, this show simply features the actress and her reminiscences of famous friends and landmark moments gathered over more than fifty years in show business.

Bea Arthur Sings on Broadway

Elegant and imposing, from her silvery mane to her bare feet, Arthur scatters plenty of music throughout the show as well. Though not a classic warbler, she delivers 17 titles in her familiar husky baritone, with a kind of no-nonsense sprechstimme that defies nitpicking criticism. Most of this material is delightfully offbeat, ranging from Cole Porter's "I Happen to Like New York" to a riveting recreation of the Lotte Lenya performance of "Pirate Jenny," from The Threepenny Opera. (For a while she even tackled Bob Dylan's "The Times, They Are a-Changin'," though this anachronism was eventually dropped.)

She also performs "Fifty Percent" and several other songs written by Billy Goldenberg, a longtime friend, Emmy-winning composer, and Broadway legend. He's planted behind the S4 grand that Yamaha provided for the show. For Goldenberg, who owns an early S series piano, this is a perfect perk. "I wrote all my best music on my piano, because it just seemed to flow from it," he says. "It's so good, it's almost like it came from Mars!"

Arthur noticed the quality of the instrument as well, from their first rehearsal at the Booth. More than that, she detected a certain familiarity to what she had experienced when practicing with Goldenberg at his Manhattan flat. "She spent years working with me on my S," he explains, "so when she heard this one at the theater, she said, 'Billy, it sounds like your piano!' And I said, 'I know. Why shouldn't it? After all … they're related."

Just Between Friends will close on March 31, but plans are being explored to reopen with the same cast—Bea, Billy, and the S4—later this year.