Varla Jean Merman (AKA Jeffery Roberson) has concocted his best crafted spoof of pop culture in years, this time delightfully skewering children's musical television shows. A Merman show hit all the bases — from groan-worthy, saucy vaudeville-style one-liners ("What do you get when you cross a skunk and a raccoon?") to hilarious video clips, silly song and dance, inane prop gags, and costume changes galore. Unlike many of her drag compatriots, Varla Jean's material doesn't linger in the gutter of constant sexual entendres. Her songs, like "Put an ING On It!” (“Single Gerunds”) are witty and original. With her stated intention to "educate not entertain," Merman delivers faux serious tomes on the problems of jaundice with a parody of Olivia Newton John's "Have You Ever Been Mellow" (substitute mellow with yellow!) and the dangers of making love with a black widow in “Black Widow." Nancy Reagan's “Just Say No” campaign of the mid ‘80s is updated in Merman's warped mindset into "What Are the Side Effects," a clever statement on the current overemphasis on prescription drugs. Sidekicks Ricky Graham and Brooks Braselman add delightful counterpoint to Varla Jean's eccentricity and get deserved solo time with a parody of White Christmas's "Sisters" – dressed, of course, as wicked nuns. Merman plays the innocent ingénue with a dark inner consciousness to perfection — the look of surprise when an intended self-deprecating joke hits the audience, the girlish giggle or the devilish sly smirk. It all works in this intelligently produced spoof that has become Varla Jean's stock and trade.
Steve Murray
Cabaret Scenes
April 7, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org
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