When Jeffery Roberson answers his phone at his home in New Orleans, he’s not sure which personality to express with the reporter on the telephone.
“Am I supposed to be talking to you as Varla?” he asks. “I’m still in makeup because I just got done shooting a video, but my voice is tired.”
That’s the life of Roberson, the handsome (and very hunky) professionally trained singer and actor who created the character of Varla Jean Merman in the early 1990s. What began as a fun way to express himself in the bars of New Orleans has turned into a full time gig that led to a show on LOGO, two performances at the Sydney Opera House in Australia and appearances on Project Runway and Ugly Betty.
While he lives in New Orleans most of the year, Roberson spends parts of his summer in Provincetown, where he performs a wildly successful show. Luckily for us, though, we don’t have to travel up the eastern seaboard to check out his take on drag and comedy. Roberson, as Varla, will headline St. Pete Pride’s Laughter in Paradise at the Sirata Beach Resort on Sunday, June 20, at 8 p.m. Also appearing is ChristineOleary, who appeared at Laughter in Paradise in 2008.
“I’ve done a lot of Prides before and I’ve hosted New York City Pride a couple of times, but this will be my first experience with St. Pete Pride,” he says. “I haven’t done a Pride in awhile because that’s the time of year I’m always getting my P-town show ready. So I’m really looking forward to this trip.”
Roberson wasn’t always an actor and performer. In fact, he had a regular 9-5 job until 1998, when he quit his well-paying job with an advertising firm to pursue his passion.
“Varla’s been performing for 10 years times two now,” Roberson says. “This is my career and this is what I’m supposed to do with my life.”
Roberson has seen St. Petersburg before. He performed at Georgie’s Alibi and fell in love with the area when he was put up in a resort overlooking the water. While Laughter in Paradise is a St. Pete Pride event, Roberson won’t be on hand for the St. Pete Pride Street Festival and Promenade on June 26.
“The Provincetown Film Festival is that weekend and I’m working up there for that, so I’ll miss the street festival,” Roberson says.
But anyone attending Laughter in Paradise will walk away with a large understanding of the larger-than-life Varla Jean—whether they have seen her perform before or not.
“I’m going to do some greatest hits and I’m going to do a lot of video stuff,” Roberson says with a hint of Varla reappearing in his voice. “There’s a lot in this performance that people haven’t seen yet and things from my brand new show. It’ll be a Varla Pu Pu sampler—a platter of everything.”
For the uninitiated, Varla Jean Merman claims to be the product of the unsuccessful, 38-day marriage between songstress Ethel Merman and actor Ernest Borgnine. When she was introduced to the bars of New Orleans, Roberson knew he had a hit on his hands.
“In New Orleans, people dress up in costume for any occasion and drink for no reason,” Roberson says. “That breeds a lot of creativity and some glittery hangovers. Being around so many outrageous characters has influenced me, and now I’m one of ‘em!”
The following he has cultivated has brought about countless music videos (check out Varla Jean’s YouTube channel) and film and television offers from around the world.
“I’m fortunate to go to so many places all of the time,” Robertson says. “I get in on their jokes and I get to meet some incredible people. Australia is amazing and it actually feels far away. It’s this weird America in a different dimension.”
But America is where Varla Jean is the most well known and doing Pride events like the one in St. Pete comes with the territory of being an LGBT icon—although she wouldn’t mind it being somewhat cooler in June.
“In New Orleans it’s too hot to be proud in June,” Roberson says. “It’s hilarious, for a long time we didn’t have Pride here and we had it in October. But I understand the connection between June and the Stonewall Riots. It makes sense and I respect that.”
Despite all of his travels, the actor is happy to call New Orleans home and he plans to stay there throughout his life. In fact, he owns a home there and says the LGBT community there is thriving.
“After Katrina, the LGBT community never really left,” he says. “The tourists left in a lot of ways but we have stuck it out here and that’s why New Orleans has come back.”
Add personalities like Roberson’s into the mix and you have a thriving, entertaining community that has become and LGBT destination.
“I’m always out of town during Southern Decadence,” Roberson says. “When I come home on the Monday after, it’s all about the hangovers. I went out last year and everyone looked not-so-fresh. Oh, and if you’re out on Ash Wednesday, forget it. No proper lady goes out then. You can’t be drinking hand over fist with an ash mark on your forehead.”
While Roberson is talkative as himself, his female counterpart was itching to discuss her upcoming appearance at Laugher in Paradise. For that interview, pick up the 2010 St. Pete Pride program wherever Watermark is distributed.
For more information, visit StPetePride.com or VarlaOnline.com.
see+hear
What: Laughter in Paradise
Who: Varla Jean Merman and ChristineOleary
When: 8 p.m., Sunday, June 20
Where: Sirata Beach Resort,
5300 Gulf Blvd., St. Pete Beach
Tickets: StPetePride.com
