Talking 'A Little White Music' with Jeffrey Roberson (aka Varla Jean Merman)

You know we've hit a new low when even Varla Jean Merman was shocked by Donald Trump's boasts of sexual assaults. "Even my standards go above that," says Jeffrey Roberson, the actor behind the drag superstar when asked about Trump's infamous Access Hollywood video.

That's saying something considering Merman's claim to fame was squirting Cheese Whiz down her throat while trilling octaves in her polished coloratura.

"It is just so crazy that 'grab them by the pussy' came out of the mouth of a candidate," continues Roberson, who invented his drag persona Varla more than two decades ago as the illegitimate daughter of Ethel Merman and Ernest Borgnine and has been astounding audiences ever since with his quick mix of quick wit and raunch.

"Even if someone said what Trump says in that video on stage at a drag show, you might raise an eyebrow. If Bianca Del Rio said it, you might think she went too far. That's what is so insane."

The Trump phenomena

It was the Trump phenomena that helped inspire Roberson to come up with the idea for "A Little White Music," his latest show which he premiered in Provincetown this past summer at the Art House to full houses and brings to Feinstein's/54 Below on April 5 and 6. For details and ticket information, visit the Feinstein's/54 Below website.

Its politically-barbed humor is something of a switch for the usually apolitical Varla. "I have my own beliefs," says Roberson, "but Varla is a little self-absorbed and self-absorbed people don't really care about the world. Do you think Kim Kardashian is watching the debates?

"Varla wouldn't be involved in politics all that much, so my point is that if she is getting involved in politics, things must be really, really bad. And that's the way it is."

It was Trump's entry into the race that got Roberson thinking about a politically themed show that he would perform in Provincetown and then tour. "This show came about when 'Make America Great Again' came about and people saw it as code as 'Make America White Again.' I just started to think that there are so many jokes about every other race, but white people have just one joke -- we're boring. People haven't really poked fun at white people. And I thought about music and it's funny, no one listens to white music but white people. I remembered all the songs I heard on the radio when I was kid and realized that it wasn't really very good, but it made up a genre."

All about white music

In the show Merman offers a survey course in the cultural meme of white music, paying homage to such icons as Julie Andrews, Taylor Swift, Anne Murray and Britney Spears. He even references Jesus. ("If this guy asked you to follow him, you'd call Homeland Security," Varla jokes). And offers a revisionist theory about Jeannie from the 1960s sit-com "I Dream of Jeannie," whose origins are hilariously deconstructed.

But just as Roberson was completing the show, the country became embroiled with further racial strife, which led him to have second thoughts. "I wondered, 'what have I done?' I have this show called 'A Little White Music' when the racial tension in this country is so high? So I spoke to my director and realized that there is nothing in this show that is crazy racist more than any show I have ever done. And I think the point of the show -- that the blending of cultures and celebrating diversity makes for a more interesting life -- is something good.

"I also think it's interesting to explore how people feel more comfortable around people that look like them, that sound like them, that talk like them, that have the same interest. It's human nature. People feel safer, so you can capitalize on their fear to feel safe. All these different things came together in putting together the show. But don't forget that in the end I am still just a man in a dress dressing up like the Pillsbury Dough Boy."

Wearing a burka

That Pillsbury Dough Boy costume is one of the inspired comic visuals that Roberson uses in the show. At other points he appears as a giant cracker ("Call me a saltine," he says.) and drives a car -- an Uber that hits a stroller. Roberson credits his New Orleans-based costume designer Cecile Casey Covert for the inspired creations that fit into four suitcases to allow the show to travel with ease. "She had a field day with this. I told her I am doing a show about white music, and she said, 'what?' And I said, 'think Lawrence Welk. Just think as white, high-collared and ruffled as possible.'

"And she did an amazing job. I can pack the car that I wear with suspenders and the giant cracker in the same suitcase. I like to tell a story about Cecile. Years ago when Osama Bin Laden was alive I called her and said I wanted to do this number where I come in on a camel on suspenders with a squirt gun in so it spits on people. I also want to be wearing a burka-ish thing that when I turn around it would reveal Osama Bin Laden's head. I heard a pause, then Cecile went, 'What color burka?' There was like no, 'what?' All she said was 'what color?'"

In one of the many funny bits in the show Varla appears in a full burka, which Roberson sensed left some audience members uncomfortable. "People freak out with burkas. I tried out this number in New Orleans and discovered it is a very sensitive thing. I had to realize the timing of when to come out in it and not to be in it for too long before I explained myself. I use to come out and sing a whole song in it and it was way too much. People get nervous, but that is the point of wearing it. It makes people so nervous. I don't care how non-judgmental you are. For a second, you think, 'oh, burka.' That's how it is."

The Ptown experience

His point for wearing the burka is comes in a commentary about "I Dream of Jeannie," the 1960s sit-com in which Barbara Eden became famous as playing a sexy, blonde and blue-eyed genie. When he began working on the sequence Roberson realized that Jeannie is from Baghdad. "Then I realized this is insane: they claim she's from Iraq yet she's white, blue-eyed and blonde. In the first episode she speaks in Farsi even though he found her in the South Pacific. And there are flashbacks and they show her father and of course he's evil, so he is made to be dark. And I thought this is hilarious. There are no blue-eyed, blonde women running around in harem pants and bikini tops. But in a white American fantasy we believe that would occur."

Roberson has been performing in Provincetown for the past 18 summers, then spending the off-season in cities throughout the country and abroad, as well as on cruise ships. Many have told her that he's crazy to introduce a new show in Ptown where bad word-of-mouth can sink a show in the matter of minutes. "You get 100 people coming to your show and they go out on the street could easily tell their friends that your show isn't very good. But Provincetown is also a place where I can completely get a show together because I do so many shows a week.

"In other cities I do the show a couple of times a week; but when you do the show as often as I do there, I get to find that stuff that pops into my head that I can texture in the show. I also get to layer it and layer it and layer it and cut, cut and cut. That's why I love Provincetown. I did seven shows a week this year -- two with the 'Orange is the New Black' thing and five a week of my show. And with five shows a week, you remember your changes. It's funny at the end of the season, I have a script, then I film one of the last couple of shows, then I give it to my friend who works at a law firm and she does a transcript and I completely redo the script because by the end of the summer it is so different than where it started out. All these little nuances."

Vote. Vote. Vote.

Joining Merman on stage for "A Little White Music" is accompanist Gerald Goode whose enthusiasm and charm lends much to the show's success. He came into Roberson's orbit when his long-time accompanist Tom Judson wasn't able to join him. "Gerald happened to in Provincetown and was interested in doing the show," Roberson explains. "And he really not so much an accompanist; he was keyboardist for a band and doing his own stuff. But I never worked with someone who worked so hard to sound perfect. He learned to be an accompanist in a very short time. And every year he's gotten better and better. He knows the show so well that he can underscore things that I cannot convey to somebody else if I need another pianist what he does. I don't even know what he is doing, but he just makes it sound so perfect. He knows the show and cares about it and enjoys it."

"A Little Night Music" with Varla Jean Merman comes to Machine on Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22 at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, October 23 at 5 p.m. Machine is located in the Ramrod Center for the Performing Arts, 1254 Bolyston Street, Boston, MA. To purchase tickets, visit this Facebook page.

"A Little White Music" with Varla Jean Merman comes to Feinstein's/54 Below on April 5 and 6. Feinstein's/54 Below on April 5 and 6. For details and ticket information, visit the Feinstein's/54 Below website.