THEATRE NEWS Golden Girl Bea Arthur live in Johannesburg August 12, 2003 Almost everybody remembers Bea Arthur's piercing stare in her 1970s sitcom Maude. Her role as Dorothy Zbornack in The Golden Girls made her a world-wide household name. A few drag queens sought to emulate her and she has become a gay icon in most English-speaking countries. Many however do not know that Bea is actually more confortable on stage. Especially in musicals. When asked by Barry Ronge in a radio interview this weekend what her ideal role would have been she answered without thinking the role of Gypsy Rose in the musical Gypsy. Bea Arthur's long showbiz career has included major Broadway roles in Kurt Weil's The Three-Penny Opera, Fiddler On the Roof and the campy Mame. Just Between Friends is a retrospective of her career, and everybody's favorite golden girl uses music, conversation and laughter to reminisce on six decades in the entertainment business, recalling many of the now legendary stars that she has worked with. It includes a piece from a drag queen friend of hers who died of Aids. It has been said that good comedy is about perfect timing. Bea Arthur is one of the very best when it comes to comic timing - knowing when to deliver the penetrating look. Snuggled into a plush armchair, perched beside a grand piano or holding forth from center stage, she brings her rich memories to vivid life - even treating audiences to a sonorous "Shady Pines, Ma!". Arthur opens with a straight faced and absolutely hilarious recitation of a recipe for leg of lamb (and closes with what to do with the leftovers) that could be a master class for would-be comic actors, demonstrating that anything, yes, anything can be funny in the hands of an old pro who has been paying attention all these years. Interwoven in the tapestry of glorious stories and personal insights of someone who has performed with some of the greatest figures in American show business history, are 17 songs - comic numbers, defiant anthems and sad ballads - presented with a raw intensity which is utterly compelling. One of the most memorable moments comes when she pays tribute to Lotte Lenya with a haunting rendition of Pirate Jenny from Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, a theatrical tour de force that is charged with menace, passion and longing. No Bea Arthur show would be complete without Bosom Buddies (Mama) and she sensibly insists that the other half of the song belongs to Mame co-star Angela Lansbury. Just Between Friends is on at Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre, William Nicol Drive, Fourways from August 12 August - Sunday 24. Book at Computicket. Tel: 511 1818. Bea Arthur web site