Thank you for being a friend! When it comes to musical adaptations of pop culture touchstones, Idina Menzel only has one TV show in mind: The Golden Girls.
The Broadway veteran confessed as much during an appearance on Friday’s episode (May 20) of The Kelly Clarkson Show when she stopped by to surprise Barlow & Bear, the composer duo behind the Grammy-winning The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical — which began its life as a mere TikTok challenge and ended up beating fellow nominees by Andrew Lloyd Webber (Cinderella), Bob Dylan (Girl From the North Country) and more at the 2022 ceremony in the musical theatre album category.
Eventually, host Kelly Clarkson turned the conversation to Menzel to ask which TV show she would choose to adapt, and she had her answer ready. The reason? “I’m always trying to get roles that I know I’m going to grow into,” she quipped, though she didn’t specify which of the four Golden Girls — originated by the late, great Betty White, Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur and Estelle Getty — she envisioned herself playing on the Broadway stage.
As for Clarkson, she was on a similar wavelength to the Wicked star. “See, I thought we were like the same age, ’cause mine was Designing Women! I just want to hear that Dixie Carter monologue in a song form,” she joked to Menzel before acknowledging that the young composing duo between them had probably never seen either show.
Earlier this year, Menzel also participated in another TikTok trend, hilariously resurrecting John Travolta’s “Adele Dazeem” gaffe at the 2014 Oscars for the viral “Not My Name” challenge.
Watch Menzel gush over The Golden Girls below.
