Girl with a Pearl Necklace: An Act of Love
starring Varla Jean Merman
by Jeffery Roberson
with Jacques Lamarre
Directed by Michael Schiralli
Tuesday October 25 - Saturday October 29
“An indisputable force of nature who displays the dazzling force of a cyclone touching down in a sequin factory,” says the
The Los Angeles Times. Newly expanded and boasting a sold-out engagement at the Sydney Opera House, Varla Jean Merman’s
Girl With A Pearl Necklace: An Act Of Love now comes to Boston.
Varla’s biological clock is ticking and she is desperate to get married.
Will Varla be institutionalized in a state of matrimony or installed in a state institution? Will the girl with a pearl necklace find that special someone who will get under her skin and see through the Vermeer?
» EDGE Boston: Varla Jean Merman on "Girl With a Pearl Necklace"
Jeffery Roberson (Varla Jean Merman) recently won rave reviews as Miriam in Hush Up, Sweet Charlotte in San Francisco this past June at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. This past February Varla Jean Merman's Girl With A Pearl Necklace played the Sydney Opera House, the Perth International Arts Festival and the Forum Theatre in Melbourne. Jeffery shared the 2003 Outfest Film Festival "Best Actor" Award and the Aspen HBO Film Festival "Best Actress" Award for his featured performance as Varla in GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS (Sundance 2003) directed by Richard Day. Jeffery also made his network television debut on ABC's All My Children in the recurring role of lady of the evening Rosemary Chicken. Last November he appeared at the Long Wharf Theatre in Hartford Stage's production of THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP performing the roles originally made famous by Charles Ludlam. Jeffery has also appeared on Broadway in the role of "Mary Sunshine" in the revival of CHICAGO. He recently wrote and starred in the short Improve Your History with Varla Jean: Stonewall which is can be seen on the television network Logo.
Other film and TV credits include HBO's Dragtime, E!'s Fashion Emergency, E! Goes to Cannes, MTV's True Life: Mardi Gras, and Francesca Page with Rossy DePalma. Jeffery has appeared in many TWEED Fraktured Classiks productions, including The Mailman Always Comes Twice, Screen Door and CAGED! with Lily Tomlin, Joan Rivers and Isabella Rossellini, Lypsinka is Harriet Craig, The Miracle Worker (with Charles Busch) and Varla Jean Merman is The Bad Seedling. Jeffery has opened for Jennifer Holliday in Provincetown and has also shared the stage with Betty Buckley singing excerpts from the notorious Broadway flop Carrie as part of Ms. Buckley's cabaret act at the Bottom Line.
Jeffery wrote and starred in The Very Worst of Varla Jean Merman, which played at Joe's Pub at the New York Public Theater, The Soho Theatre in London and the Renberg and the Hudson Avenue Theaters in Los Angeles (Garland Award for Best Performance in a Musical Award). Jeffery also wrote and starred in the hit show (GLAAD nominated) Enough About Me: An Unauthorized Autobiography that ran Off-Broadway for five months and in San Francisco in 2000 - 2001. Jeffery made his Carnegie Hall debut with Varla Jean Merman: A Christmas Concert.
Varla Jean Merman's Under A Big Top began in Provincetown and has played at Symphony Space in New York, the Renberg Theatre in Los Angeles, the City Theatre in Pittsburgh and the Dallas Out of the Loop Theatre Festival. His Christmas show Varla Jean Merman's Holiday Ham has played to sold-out crowds at Joe's Pub in New York.
Jeffery's brand new show Varla Jean Merman's I'm Not Paying For This! had a sold-out run in Provincetown this summer and earlier this month it was presented for a two week run at the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco. I'm Not Paying For This! will be performed at Joe's Pub at the New York Public Theater on December 6th and 7th and at the Renberg Theatre in Los Angeles from Jan. 19th - Feb. 5th. Please visit www.varlaonline.com for more information.
Michael Schiralli (Director):David & Jodi & David & Jackie (Culture Project), Jackie Hoffman:The Kvetching Continues (Time Out NY Award), Varla Jean Merman’s Holiday Ham, Enough About Me (GLADD nomination), The Very Worst of Varla Jean Merman (N.Y./London/L.A, Theater West Award), Coco Peru Is Undaunted (2004 GLAAD Award, Best Theater LA), The Vendler Television Playhouse starring Kim Zimmer(Guiding Light Players), Jackie Hoffman’s Valentine’s Day Massacre (Drama Dept.), Nothin’s Easy and Nobody’s Happy with Colette Hawley (MTW, HBO Workspace), Gas, Food, Talent (West Bank Theater), Darlene Love’s True Love (N.Y., L.A.), Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World (HHPAC), Janeane Garofalo & Strangers with special guest Caroline Rhea (Ars Nova), Damaged Care (U.S. House of Congress). MTW’s Holiday Extravaganza with Kristin Chenowith and Chris Sieber. Michael directed segments for HBO’s Anything But Standup, Toyota Comedy Fest. Workshops include: Laura Nyro Project (MTC), Julia Cameron’s Medium At Large, Blow- Up World with Kristine Zbornik, Tower Of Babble (NYC Fringe Festival), and Born Again, Again! with Tammy Faye Starlite (Ars Nova).