Images: 
Total Rating: 
**3/4
Previews: 
January 29, 2002
Opened: 
February 17, 2002
Ended: 
April 14, 2002
Country: 
USA
State: 
New York
City: 
New York
Company/Producers: 
Daryl Roth, Ostar Theatricals & Bev Bartner
Theater Type: 
Broadway
Theater: 
Booth Theater
Theater Address: 
222 West 45th Street
Phone: 
(212) 239-6200
Running Time: 
90 min
Genre: 
Solo Bio
Author: 
Beatrice Arthur
Review: 

Demi-goddess Bea Arthur has subtitled her autobiographical solo, "Just Between Friends," an apt description of a show in which she casually offers bawdy jokes, novelty songs, show-tunes, and once-over-lightly career recollections. It's all charming, amusing, and just a little dull. Even if Elaine Stritch weren't seven blocks away giving a one-woman show for the ages, this look at the Arthurian legend would be disappointingly thin. For example, with her trademark croak-voice, the Golden Girl gets a big laugh by saying Jerome Robbins was "a genius.. Pure genius.. And a terrible human being" - but she doesn't provide a single anecdote as proof. (Compare that to Stritch's hang-on-every-word memories of Brando, Noel Coward, and the original cast of The Women!).

With the adorably muppetlike Billy Goldenberg at the piano, the tastefully arranged songs are generally pleasant, with a strong "Pirate Jenny" the best and a rickety "Some People" the worst. Ultimately, one wonders how a woman who once played a TV character billed as "anything but tranquilizin'" could be so mundane in the flesh.

Parental: 
risque humor, profanity
Cast: 
Beatrice Arthur, Billy Goldenberger (piano)
Technical: 
Prod Sup: Mark Waldrop.
Critic: 
David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed: 
February 2002