By Megan Fitzgerald

If you can’t make it to St. Olaf this Valentine’s Day, Sunshine Cathedral has the next best thing—welcoming The Golden Gays™ on February 14, 2025. I had the opportunity to talk to Jason “B.E.A.” Schmidt ahead of everyone’s favorite Golden Girls’ return to South Florida.

Megan Fitzgerald: What can fans expect from your upcoming show at the Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale? Is there a new twist or something special you’re planning for this performance?

Jason “B.E.A.” Schmidt: This is our original Golden Girls-inspired musical, which premiered Off-Broadway six years ago! It features songs from the infamous Rusty Anchor episode and many more fabulous hijinks. What’s most exciting is that our company has grown exponentially, and we’ll have an all-new cast for this run. Well, all new except for our star, Ms. Beatrix Eglantine Aurthurson, aka Jason B. Schmidt.

Megan Fitzgerald: For those who haven’t seen The Golden Gays™ live, how would you describe the experience to them?

Jason “B.E.A.” Schmidt: It’s Golden Girls, it’s Broadway, it’s Pitch Perfect, it’s The Three Stooges, it’s RuPaul’s Drag Race—Old Stars! We take the characters and stories you love from The Golden Girls, we musicalize them, and we make them just a teensy bit GAYER!

Megan Fitzgerald: The Golden Girls has such a special place in people’s hearts. How do you capture that magic, and what do you think makes the show so timeless?

Jason “B.E.A.” Schmidt: We capture the magic by incorporating our own friendships into the characters we play. We hire actors who already embody the best aspects of each archetype—and then we add songs! The show is timeless because of those clearly defined archetypes, the brilliance of the writing, and the casting.

Megan Fitzgerald: As “The Dorothy,” you embody a character with such wit and sass. What’s your favorite thing about playing Dorothy Zbornak?

Jason “B.E.A.” Schmidt: What I love the most is that Bea Arthur was a shy and reserved person, but once she put on the role of Dorothy (or Maude, or Vera, or anyone), she came alive with the most sardonic essence ever captured on stage or screen. I truly identify with that. Jason loves to be quiet and reserved and stay home by himself (with the dogs), but Jason as BEA as Dorothy will read the room house down boots and give you that loooooong deadpan glare! Dorothy says the things Jason is thinking.

Megan Fitzgerald: The Golden Girls had a unique dynamic. How do you bring your own flair to Dorothy while honoring the legacy of the character?

Jason “B.E.A.” Schmidt: Well, despite what some people have said, Jason is not Bea Arthur, so I bring my own “Jason-ness” to the part, as do all of our actors. What’s great about hiring an actor who already embodies a Dorothy-type is that the spirit of the character is there, but also intermingled with that actor’s own life experience. We also create our own actorly dynamic between each other in rehearsals and as we travel the world. You want to create a dynamic? Travel to 10 different cities in the United Kingdom together via planes, trains, and automobiles!

Megan Fitzgerald: What’s the most unexpected thing you’ve learned about yourself while performing as Dorothy?

Jason “B.E.A.” Schmidt: I actually didn’t know how introverted I really was. By playing her, I unlocked that bit about myself. I also didn’t know that I could do the audience work that I do, and “read” people. I was a polite little Texan gay kid trying not to get beat up.

Megan Fitzgerald: The show’s fans are incredibly passionate. Have you had any memorable fan interactions that stand out to you?

Jason “B.E.A.” Schmidt: Thankfully, we’ve had all sorts of experiences! As the headliners of The Golden Fans at Sea Cruises each year on Celebrity, we get to spend time with the superfans one-on-one. We hear so many wonderful stories about watching the show with their grandmothers or parents, etc. We find out why they identify with each of the girls. I also get ALL of the “I met Bea Arthur…” stories, which usually involved Absolut Citron Vodka, neat. We’ve been incorporating a meet-and-greet ticket with our shows since the beginning, which has allowed us to meet the fans face-to-face for almost eight years! That’s a lot of stories. We’ve also met many of the people who worked on the show—producers, writers, script supervisors, etc. That’s a whole other set of stories!

Megan Fitzgerald: The Golden Gays’ shows have a mix of humor, heart, and nostalgia. How do you balance those elements while keeping the show fresh and engaging for every audience?

Jason “B.E.A.” Schmidt: Doing this for as many years as we/I have, we’ve learned that the fans hold the material and the characters very dear to their hearts, so we honor that. We toss them the raw meat (as one persnickety reviewer once said of my one-woman Bea show), meaning we give them their favorite moments, but we also punch them up with songs that fit seamlessly into the storylines. It’s old, it’s new, it’s Blanche after a day at the spa… with Dirk… set to music.

Megan Fitzgerald: If you could sit down with the real Dorothy Zbornak for coffee, what would you ask her?

Jason “B.E.A.” Schmidt: Can I sit down with Bea instead??? If it was Dorothy, I would love to help iron out some of the plot holes the fans have discovered over the years, like WHO IS THE BABY THAT YOU HAD 38 YEARS AGO? It can’t be Michael or Kate because they are both portrayed as younger than 38. I would love to know who gave her the Chanel earrings, since a certain “fan” pointed out to me, “How would a substitute teacher afford those?” I’d love to ask Bea about her relationship with Betty.

Megan Fitzgerald: What’s one thing about The Golden Girls that people might not know, but you think is essential to its charm?

Jason “B.E.A.” Schmidt: While the feel of the show was such lighthearted (though sometimes deeper) fun, the actors were all actor’s actors, meaning they took the job very seriously. They took the comedy seriously. It’s in the seriousness that we are able to laugh. Rose really does take things at face value, and Bette portrayed that perfectly. Because she did that so well, the other girls could react in honesty and get the big, big laughs.