CULTURE Drag STORY Scott Kearnan
Keeping her material current is important to Varla. She’s in the special camp of queens who kicked off uncommonly long-running careers before “RuPaul’s Drag Race” arrived as a TV-based catapult to instant mainstream fame. Varla Jean Merman [OPPOSITE] Winter Rendezvous, Stowe, Vermont. PHOTO Brianne Paschen
Ski Bunny Alert Varla Jean Merman brings fresh fan fave ‘Big Top’ to Winter Rendezvous at Stowe Drag legend Varla Jean Merman has been clearing out her storage unit. Along the way, she’s been coming across a treasure trove of costumes, each a reminder of a different act in the dazzling showgirl’s storied career. Sure, she admits, not all of the threads fit—but then again, “even Cher can’t fit into all her old costumes,” says Varla, tittering a happy laugh over the phone. Still, the purging process has been gratifying for a much more important reason: When she walked away from a career in advertising in the late-’90s to pursue life as a performer, Varla (or rather, Jeffery Roberson) could never have imagined amassing so many amazing
76 | BOSTON SPIRIT
memories—from cutting her teeth in Provincetown to filling the seats at Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House. “Without drag, it never would have happened,” says Varla. Here’s hoping she procures some winterready parkas from that cleaned-out cargo. After all, she’ll need them on Friday, January 24, when Varla takes her act to Stowe, Vermont, for Winter Rendezvous (Wednesday–Sunday, Jan. 22–26.), an annual LGBTQ ski week that turns the quaint Green Mountain State enclave into a merry, gay gathering filled with postmountain mixers, pool parties and live entertainment.
Varla will bring to Stowe her circusthemed show “Under a Big Top,” and she hopes that, like any three-ring extravaganza, it will provide audiences with a sense of “escapism” from the lessentertaining ludicrousness that we see in America right now. (“Elect a clown, expect a circus,” sighs Varla.) What you won’t get: heavy-handed politicking. What you will: Varla’s always endearing, boundlessly entertaining persona, plus spoofy songs like “Don’t Speak,” which reimagines the No Doubt ballad as being about a love triangle between mimes, as well as “Tijuana,” a twist on the recent Camilla Cabello hit “Havana.” Keeping her material current is important to Varla. She’s in the special camp of queens (see also: Lady Bunny and Coco Peru) who kicked off uncommonly longrunning careers before “RuPaul’s Drag Race” arrived as a TV-based catapult to instant mainstream fame. “It’s an industry now,” says Varla, who built a brand through working the circuit, word-of-mouth and critical love (from the limited media that took drag art seriously). “Back in my day, we were considered to be sexual deviants—nobody wanted to be around us. We came out at night, like rats and roaches.” While Varla says some of the newer queens may be “more famous than they are talented,” she’s also happy the “Drag Race” has given a wider platform to outstanding pros like Bianca Del Rio, BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon, who were “old hookers before they ever got on
