THEGAYUK

Search results for: “ ”

  • Watch This Amazing Marriage Equality Video: ARMAGAYDDON

    A brilliant parody video has emerged about the future results of same-sex marriage in Ireland circa 2017.

    The video, which was produced by like:minded productions in association with LGBT Noise, shows what life could be like for two non-gays in Ireland two years after gay marriage.

    The video has already been seen by over 180,000 people.

    Currently same-sex couples can be civilly partnered under the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010.

    A discussion about the legal recognition of same-sex marriages in the Irish Constitution has grown in Ireland recently. This amendment is due to be discussed in February to April 2015.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Odd Shaped Balls, Etcetera Theatre, London

    ★ ★ ★ ★ | Odd Shaped Balls, Etcetera Theatre, London

    After a four-week run at The Edinburgh Festival with stellar five star reviews and award nominations, Miller Theatre Productions returns with Odd Shaped Balls for a limited run at the Etcetera Theatre in Camden.

    Odd Shaped Balls is a new play exploring the difficulties faced by gay sports stars through the eyes of a young rugby player. Brothers, Richard D Sheridan (playwright) and Chris Sheridan (actor), forged the show after witnessing a real life incident of homophobic bullying in the sport that they love.

    When rising rugby star James Hall is publicly ‘outed’ by his ex, his life becomes a struggle of dealing with increased media attention and the pressures of being labelled a role model on and off the pitch, while trying to adapt to changes in his personal relationships. The show takes an honest and often comical look into the changing room banter of male sports teams and their relationship to their fans and how it can intimidate players to live a lie.

    With rave reviews and a fascinating subject matter, this play looks like it’ll be well worth checking (as does Chris Sheridan, judging by the publicity shots).

    Odd Shaped Balls is on at the Etcetera Theatre from 18th to 20th of September.

  • Kellie Maloney’s mum think she wears too much make up

    Trans Celebrity Big Brother contestant Kellie Maloney has revealed what her mother said when she first saw her as Kellie.

    Kellie Maloney, who came out as trans recently, has spoken to George Gilbey in the Big Brother house about what her mother thought about her transition.

    George and Kellie were chatting by the pool when George asked how Maloney’s mum took the news and Kellie admits she was ‘fantastic’ and said, ‘You’re still my child, no matter what you want to do’, George replied that it’s was a ‘lovely’ story and Kellie then described the first time she met her mum as Kellie and she said, ‘I think dear, you’re wearing too much make up!’

    Earlier in the week, during a conversation with Bad Girls’ actress Claire King, Kellie admitted that thinks she will be a heterosexual male mentally.

    Celebrity Big Brother continues tonight on Channel 5 at 9:00PM

  • Modern Family Star and Margaret Cho Star In Weird Al Tacky Happy Parody

    “Weird Al” Yankovic is back and taking on the biggest song of the year, Happy, with a host of stars.

    Wearing Lime Green trousers, Eric Stonestreet stars in a new video of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s parody of Pharrell Williams’ Happy called Tacky. The video also stars Margaret Cho.

    Eric Stonestreet, who stars in Modern Family as gay father Cam, dons an eye-popping pink blazer and lime green trousers. The parody has been viewed over 2 millions times on YouTube already.

    Along with Stonestreet and Cho the video stars: Aisha Taylor, Kristen Schaal and Jack Black, whose twerking leaves little to imagination.

  • INTERVIEW | O Town

    They were the last of the boy-band gold rush back in the day. Finding fame on MTV’s Making The Band, O-TOWN became an overnight talking point with their debut single Liquid Dreams. So when we heard that 11 years later the lads had teamed up again to tour and release a comeback single and album, we had to find out about their nocturnal secretions.

    So how are you finding London?
    Erik: Well we brought the LA weather with us! [But unlike LA our weather changes daily!]

    Have you been to the UK much?
    In the past yeah, we were in the UK all the time. But it’s been about 12 years though!
    Yeah it’s been a while since we’ve been back.

    So it’s been a while since you last put out a record, has the music industry moved on much?
    Trevor: Yeah definitely! There’s a lot that has changed, business wise and musically with us and our band just in general. I mean with Twitter, Instagram and social media, we can really put ourselves out there and you don’t have to rely so heavily on radio play, a lot of things have changed and we’re taking it in. We’re taking it in our stride and learning as we go, but it’s a cool process, because we’re doing everything internally, the 4 of us. We don’t have the big machine or Clive Davis this time – it’s very grass roots. Picking the album cover, the logo design… Everything we’re doing is our stamp, so that’s what’s really cool this time around that we didn’t have last time – and we’re older and maturer. (laughter).

    This maturity, how is it manifesting itself – especially with artistic disagreements?
    Jacob: There’s always artistic differences and disagreements, but we’re more mature in handling it. We’ve kinda got our business practices set to alleviate any kind of stress like opinions on music – now it’s what’s best for the song and whose voice is best for the part. We’ve been pretty diplomatic about doing that and knowing that we’re not being personal. We all do love each other’s voices and song writing, but we’re trying to do what’s best for O-Town. So far it’s been happening really smoothly.

    Are you getting new fans or are you reconnecting with old fans?
    Erik: We like to call them the Town Folk. (They) are the fans that have been around since the beginning, but hopefully now that this new song (Skydive) is out that we can garner some new fans. Everything is just so new.

    Have you noticed any of the old faces in the crowd?
    Dan: Yeah! Yesterday we got off our flight at the airport and we saw a bunch of faces that we recognised that were just 10-years older. They were showing us pictures they had from 10 years ago. People got to know us from our TV show, Making The Band, and they’re personally invested in our struggle because they’ve been there. They saw the ups and downs. So that’s why they’re there. They’re still interested in what we’re doing. If along the way we can bring some more people who weren’t aware of us the first time – that’s awesome, because we think we do okay sometimes! We think we’re alright! So it’d be nice to get some more people interested.

    Do you write your own music now?
    The first album was done so quickly; it was done in less than two months. It was already pre-chosen predestined for us. The second album we had a little bit more say in, but I don’t think as writers we were there yet. I think the beautiful thing about this process is that we’ve had 10 years to become individuals and really hone in on our different talents. As much as we were all about writing before, I don’t think we’re all necessarily so into the writing process now. I know that Dan for the most part is really personally a lot more excited about the design of everything, so everyone’s education has set us up to take our specialities, the things that we’re good at and really explore them and bring them out. I’ve been writing, Jacob’s been writing – so we submitted a bunch of songs on this album. Anything that’s not submitted by us definitely has our thumb print on it.

    If you were superheroes:
    Jacob: I just wanna fly. I don’t even care, I just wanna fly.
    Dan: I would like to be invisible, because I don’t like all the extra attention, I prefer to go unnoticed. I’d just take off the invisibility cloak when it was time to go on stage and then I’d put it back on.
    (ha ha … that’s so true.)
    Trevor: First off I’d say flying, but Jacob already said that so, my second choice, I’d be Batman, he has so many cool gadgets and toys…
    Erik: I’d be Iron Man. I pick Tony Stark, because he’s just the best. He has a cool suit and he always dresses really well…

    When you split first time round there was an email to all your fans saying amongst other things there were financial difficulties – what happened there?
    Dan: It’s pretty well documented that we were heavily involved with Lou Pearlman, so there was a lot of things going on with him and our contracts were tied to him. It was never really about financial troubles with us, but our contracts were such that we weren’t really getting a fair shake at things sometimes. So when we had the opportunity to get out of our contracts and just move aside, we felt it was a good time to do that. We were all just so worn down by the grind of the years we had put in which were just hectic, we worked so hard. It was probably the hardest I ever worked in my life those four years. Four years of not a lot of time off and a lot of travel.
    Erik: And it was the end of an era. When we knew we were going to end, we knew we were the last boy-band out of the box. When we were on the 2nd album, Justin (Timberlake) was already on his solo career. The whole movement was at an end. The fact that we actually had success during the time we did when that whole movement was coming to an end we felt lucky to have that. We knew that if we were ever going to do it again it would have to be on our own terms. We didn’t think it would be ten years later – or at least I didn’t, at least we’re staying true to our word – because 10 years later it is on our own terms.

    Is it easy to make money from music now compared to 10 years ago?
    Jacob: You have to be a lot more creative I think. To compete with the majors if you’re not with a major, if you have a smarter business plan. We’re doing a lot of the work here ourselves by hiring outside consultants to do our radio and our merchandise. When it all boils down it’s interesting. We haven’t done a show in 11 years, the last time we did a show we had All Or Nothing on radio, and now 11 years later by doing a lean operation like we are, we’re able to make about the same amount of money as we were back then, which is just shocking.

    Your first single, Liquid Dreams, was an interesting concept… Are you still having liquid dreams and who are you liquiding about?
    (Laughter) –
    Trevor: I am a man. So I’m liquiding about Katy Perry,
    I think our liquid dreams this time round would be a little different.
    Jacob: Emily Ratajkowski (the girl from Blurred Lines video)
    Dan: I’m still liquid dreaming because I have a kid. It’s not a dream, it’s very real, (laughter), It’s very very very real…
    Erik: Jennifer Laurence, Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé…

    In our new album on one of the songs there’s a portion where we do touch on who our current liquid dreams are, so if you buy the album you can hear our current liquid dreams.

    You can read the FULL interview in our latest issue of TheGayUK Magazine. Subscribe today for ONLY £1.99. Available on Apple and Google Play stores.

  • ALBUM REVIEW | Lines And Circles, O-Town

    ★★★★ | Lines And Circles, O-Town

    O-Town’s decade out of the pop limelight is a long time. In fact, some might say it’s a lifetime. Countless wannabes have flounced in and out of the charts, Mega stars have been created and wasted, sales have plummeted, and everything is starting to sound like everything else. The music industry is nothing like it was back in 2003. It was before the iPhone and iPod. People still bought CDs, and a band, arguably the last ‘out of the box’ boy-bands, O-Town went their separate ways, breaking the hearts of girls and gays worldwide.

    Well, boys and girls, they are back, with their best, most honest and commercially viable album for a world that is unrecognisable since their last output.

    What you’ll notice is that Lines and Circles is a straight-up pop record, crafted with strong melodies and a grownup sensibility in its production. No tricks needed. These guys have spent the last 10 years honing their craft and each of these tracks is a gem and deserves radio play in its own right. Their voices, with ten years of living, have become soulful, chilled; yet still retain a power and sexiness that made the lads successful in their formative years. They are back and this time it’s on their own terms.

    If you’re looking for teeny boppery hyped up crap, this album isn’t for you. If you’re looking for boy-band or rather man-band 2.0, then O-Town have excelled in bringing this to you in the shape of Lines And Circles.

    Highlights: The epic Skydive, the stripped back and unexpected Buried Alive and the anthemic Lines And Circles.

  • Obituary: Film Maker, Producer and Actor Richard Attenborough

    Since the death of Richard Attenborough was announced yesterday, we have been reminded of the prolific work of this British theatrical and film genius, which scooped up endless awards over his very long career.

    (more…)

  • FILM REVIEW | Obvious Child

    ★★★★★ | Obvious Child

    The movie opens with a very confident Donna in the middle of her stand-up comedy routine in a small nondescript bar in New York. She is extremely funny and disarmingly honest as she talks candidly about the absurdities of her own life.

    The small audience loves it and applaud her enthusiastically when she finishes her Set. All that is except her boyfriend who had been standing at the back of the room listening to a stream of highly personal jokes made at his expense. Then minutes later the two of them are together in a rather busy unisex bathroom and he dumps her. Not for the jokes but because he has been sleeping with her best friend for some time now.

    Suddenly life doesn’t seem quite so funny for this part-time comedian so she takes to her bed with a large bottle of wine and her phone. The more she drinks, the more she leaves a series of ugly voicemails on her (now ex) boyfriends machine.

    Days later she’s back on stage and recounts this new development that resulted in her being a reluctant single again but she is so bitter and angry that she totally alienates the dwindling audience. This calls for more drinking in the bar afterwards and when she is well-plastered allows herself to be picked up by Max a clean-cut preppy business studies graduate who seems a fish-out-water both in this Dive and also in Donna’s bed where he ends up later.

    Fast forward a few weeks and Donna discovers she is pregnant. She knows that the baby is Max’s but, as she tells Nellie her roommate, she doesn’t know how it happened. She was sure they had condoms and that she had even helped Max open the packet, but she was unsure if in their drunken stupor they had actually used them.

    What Donna has no doubts about is that she will have an abortion, but when in a series of coincidences, she keeps running into Max again, she feels an obligation to at least share the news with him. The trouble is she never knows how too. She tries to confide in her puppet-making very supportive father and even in her rather cold micro-managing Professor mother but she fears losing their support. Naturally, when she does break down and break the news they are in her corner anyway and back her choice completely.

    But still left with having to deal with Max, she invites the unsuspecting (and very sweet) man to watch her perform at the Bar the night before the ‘procedure’ is scheduled, the date is February 13th. She is brutally upfront with all the details regarding the unwanted pregnancy and her chosen route and has her slightly shocked audience laughing along with her. Except, Max who runs out into the cold.

    This wonderful, refreshing, heart-breaking comedy that bravely dares to tackle the oft-taboo subject of abortion head on is the work of director and co-writer Gillian Robespierre and is based on the successful short film she had made a few years earlier. Both Donna and Max are very believable characters, thanks to a combination of some excellent writing and great performances, and even though they are so totally opposite on many levels they are a good fit. This is, despite the plot I have outlined so far, a romantic comedy after all. There are still some moments of great pain and struggle as Donna wrestles with the finality of her choice and I think it is also very important to note that even with its very honest and open approach to abortion, no-one in this story treats the subject glibly.

    There is also a rather wonderful unexpected ending that so refreshingly steered cleared of all of the usual cliches but as it includes spoilers I have omitted covering it here.

    This is indie movie making at its best and I loved it now just as much and when I first saw this at Sundance.

  • FILM REVIEW | Man At Bath

    ★ | Man At Bath
    Emmanuel is a man of very few words, a hustler and the live-in lover of Omar.

    They live in an apartment in a tower block in Gennevilliers, a working-class suburb of Paris. When Omar announces that he is going to New York for a week to work on a film project, an angry Emmanuel punishes him by brutally sexually assaulting him. After that, as Omar goes to leave, he tells Emmanuel to move out of the apartment by the time he returns from his trip.

    Emmanuel wiles his way seemingly having sex with half of the men in his neighbourhood, some for money, and others just for the hell of it. It’s hard to tell as he is one very emotionless cold fish. He does have the idea of trying to contact Omar in New York but as he is so detached from real life, he somehow thinks that the only way to do this is by the defunct Telegram system.

    Omar, on the other hand, is traipsing around New York videoing his friend Chiara Mastrioniani (playing herself) promoting her latest movie. Along the way, he manages to pick up a skinny Canadian film student who becomes an obsession for both his sexual appetite and his camera too.

    Despite trying to desperately read between the lines trying to discover any deep or disguised existentialist meaning, that sadly is the total sum of it. The movie is the latest from French filmmaker Christophe Honoré whose somewhat indulgent output in recent years has gone from quite bizarre (Beloved) to downright bad (Let My People Go) and this one fits neatly in both camps.

    I’m not sure if the whole affair was meant to be a vehicle to ‘legitimise’ the gay porn star Francois Sagat’s move into mainstream films because if it was, it was a complete and utter failure. I kept thinking back to Manhola Dargis of The New York Times when she once wrote about Janet Jackson: ‘how can I put it gently? She is a woman of very limited facial expressions!’ Ms Dargis has evidently not seen Mr Sagat on the screen, as he has none!

    When the very short muscular Sagat strips his clothes off every other scene despite his erect penis he fails to imbue the act with any sexuality at all, which doesn’t make this even a half-decent piece of soft porn.

    Evidently, the whole project had been commissioned by the writer/director Olivier Assayas on behalf of the Theatre de Gennevilliers, and Honore took his own inspiration from a local Impressionist painting entitled Man at Bath. The end result is hardly something that would make me want to visit Gennevilliers, or even sit through another Honore movie in the near distant future.

  • COLUMN | Growing old (dis) gracefully

    I have concluded that I am officially growing old. The use of my reading glasses is causing a massive internal struggle between resistance to ageing and the reality that they really do make a difference. Equally middle aged spread is spreading rather too rapidly and the hair on my head is getting thinner, whiter and further back and even my beard is showing signs of salt and pepper colouring. But most of all, it is the fact that I seem to be turning into my mother. Now, I do not mean that in any derogatory way at all, but, scarily, I can see so many of her ways starting to emerge in my own behaviour.

    Recently, I went to the theatre in Manchester. My first realisation of the day was standing at the kitchen sink, filling a water bottle with orange cordial to take with me, as I couldn’t see the point of paying for a bottle of pop to take into the theatre. As I glanced at my reflection in the kitchen window, I could see my face morph into my mother’s face; staring back at me and giving me a wry smile.

    On the train journey over the Pennines, there were three young girls on the table opposite who spent the majority of the journey complaining about a faux hangover (they were far too young to drink), preening themselves with make-up which was applied whilst using the back of their iPhone as an impromptu mirror and talking giddily about grown up things like how exciting the sixth-form was. The way that they were talking, anyone would think that they had invented doing A-Levels and going out and getting drunk. My days of college tuition and wondering if I looked old enough to get served at the bar seemed a very long way away. This was coupled with my ongoing old(er) person’s amazement at the progress of technology. I was actually sat on the train using my mobile phone, which is not that much bigger than a box of Swan Vesta, to send a birthday message to my friend in Australia and knew that it would be there in a matter of milliseconds. The Atari 2600 was never like this.

    Over the course of the day, there was a plethora of further realisations of my progression in life. The value of the Tupperware in the pound shop. Discussing how I would much rather stay in on a Friday night with a bottle of wine and a DVD than go out to a pub. Standing in a shop listening to thrash metal blare out over the speakers, whilst, in my head, being able to hear my mother’s voice saying in unison with mine “how on Earth can you call that noise music?”. Insisting on using the toilets in Debenhams as “at least you know they will be clean”. Baulking at the youngsters over the top / borderline pornographic displays of public affection. And finally, bemoaning the fact that that I would not have bought any of the olives from the street market, because they were in open baskets and everyone had been coughing and spluttering over them all day.

    But the final realisation came as I left the theatre; given that I had been the first person on my feet, singing and dancing awkwardly in the narrow space between the rows of seats at the finale, without recourse to what anyone who was seated behind me and viewing this disturbing spectacle actually thought. The thing was, I didn’t actually care. I used to sink into my theatre seat, wholly overcome by shame and embarrassment, when my mother used to shout “He’s behind you” at the pantomime when I was younger.

    But here I was, doing exactly what my mother would have done – dancing and clapping along like a demented loon in the theatre and I was thoroughly enjoying myself.

    As I headed to the train station, I glared at the young things heading out for their night out on the town, when all I could think about was getting on the sofa for a nap. But I happily felt comfortable and content in the knowledge that, as I entered the station and got on the train, my bottle of wine and DVD was waiting for me at home… and comfortable and content in the knowledge that I wouldn’t want to swap their evening for mine. This growing old thing isn’t so bad after all.

     

     

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • INTERVIEW | Varla Jean Merman

    For the past 15 years THE GAY UK’s British/American movie critic Roger Walker-Dack has hot tailed it to spend his entire summer in Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod.

    A lot has changed since the first Brits landed there when the Mayflower docked in 1620. They only stayed five weeks then before sailing on to their final destination at Plymouth Rock, and they really don’t know what they missed. This captivating beautiful small seaside town has been an artists’ colony, a Portuguese haven, and now it is an enchanting gay mecca that each summer sees the all-year round population of less than 3000 swell to over 60000 people.

    In a series we are calling POSTCARDS FROM P.TOWN, Roger Walker-Dack will introduce some of the people and things that create the magic that make this such a ‘must see’ destination for gay people from all over the world.

    VARLA–JEAN MERMAN actress, performer, chanteuse and the biggest redhead ever in a dress.

    Jeffrey Roberson is a strapping 6’2″ strikingly handsome guy whose addiction to doing ‘Cross Fit’ is clearly evident with his muscle bound body that gets his fair share of attention on the streets of P.Town. What most of these admirers don’t know is at night this adonis straps on stilettos and squeezes into a slinky dress to become the infamous and celebrated brassy redhead chanteuse Miss Varla Jean-Merman who has been making audiences scream with laughter for almost 20 years now. To call Jeffrey a ‘Drag Queen’ is a great misnomer as this multi-talented performer has a star-spangled career that makes one dizzy just reading about it. From sell-out One-Woman Shows that he both writes and performs, to starring on Broadway, singing duets with Betty Buckley, ‘opening’ for Jennifer Holliday, and a recurring role in TV’s All My Children and so much more. And each year he decamps to P.Town for the summer and stars in his latest solo show full of wicked song parodies that he belts out in his operatic voice and that we all lap up. And if that is not enough, on his nights off his appearing in another play or two, as the crowd here cannot get enough of this show-business phenonenon

    It helps too that he is an exceptionally warm person and the sweetest of men, something that I found when he sat down with me one day to give this exclusive interview for The Gay UK.

     

    RWD: How did you get into performing in the first place?

    JR: I was raised by Southern Baptist parents and so any sort of performing was strictly forbidden, but that never stopped my urges. Later on when I was in New Orleans I used to hang around with a bunch of drag queens, and I met this guy who made these somewhat silly and disgusting videos a la John Waters and we played them in the background in bars. And that led to me starting to perform live a little bit, but I wasn’t a good singer or particularly keen on doing the usual old routine. Then a friend from N.Y. told me about a Drag Queen called Miss Coco Peru that he had just seen doing a monologue whilst playing opera diva Éva Marton singing a Wagner’sLiebestod.

    I said ‘you’ve got to be kidding me!’, as at the time in New Orleans every single queen was just lip syncing to Mariah Carey, so I really couldnt believe that anyone could do anything other than this in drag.

    So I hopped on the first plane out of there and had the good fortune to meet Coco who was performing at the West End Theater doing her own unique blend of beautifully constructed monologues and stories. I fell totally in love with her/him and he blew my mind. I knew I couldn’t do the same, but it put the whole concept of drag performing on an entirely different level for me, and he very generously helped me find my own path.

    RWD: And this led to your ‘Varla-Jean Merman’ personna being born?

    JR: Not exactly. There was a talent show in Baton Rouge where I went to college and I had just read the autobiography of the Broadway Star Ethel Merman. When I came to the part where she said she had been married to the actor Ernest Borgnine and I turned the page and it was totally blank! (laugh) I thought it was so hilarious and amazing and it set my crazy imagination off. And I started thinking that if she had a child she would have probably given it away as she would not want to be reminded of this relationship in any way. And so I became the ‘lost’ child that she could have had. I’ve stuck to my story even though many people today haven’t the faintest idea of who ‘my father’ was.

    Up to that point in my show I had wanted to emulate the great Divine, but becoming Varla got me singing in my ‘mother’s’ loud raspy voice and made me evolve more into a lady a la Merman style.

     

    RWD: Varla consumes you on stage but unlike so many other performers you leave her bold brash persona behind in your daily life and are almost the total opposite privately. In fact no-one ever recognises you in civies in the street as you couldn’t possibly look any further removed from a drag performer than if you tried.

    JR: Some performers like Bianca del Rio (winner of Ru Paul’s Drag Race) are Bianca off the stage too, as that is who he is. That’s not my style at all and ‘Varla’ never ever comes home with me. I will NOT live with that Lady! (laughing loudly)

    I have a very simple rule at home: NO drag in the house anytime anywhere. What is not being used in my current show is in my storage unit in New Orleans.

     

    RWD: Many years ago I saw you perform in Joe’s Pub in N.Y. and Kristine Zbornik an actress doing a one-woman show on your ‘mother’ Ethel Merman came in and the two of you spontanteosly performed the gay anthem Enough is Enough totally in character and I literally cried my eyes out. You’ve played in N.Y. many times though, haven’t you?

    JR: Yes, my first big ‘showbiz’ break was in 1996 when I played Mary Sunshine in ‘Chicago’ on Broadway. But the one job I loved just as much, or maybe even more, was when I was in ‘Lucky Guy’ on Broadway with Leslie Jordan and I was giving the Stars’ Dressing Room and William Ivey Long (the multi Tony Award winning costume designer) was such a gentleman and treated me so graciously as he fitted me with a wardrobe that cost over $100000!

     

    RWD: Did you get to keep them?

    JR: NOOOOOO! But I did grab the wigs! (laughs)

     

    RWD: And when did you start performing in P Town?

    JR: In 1995 I opened for Lypsinka at Town Hall. I was so fat at the time… about 300 lbs… that people actually thought I was a real woman. (laughs) And then Phyllis Schlosberg from The Post Office Cabaret came to see me in NY and booked me for my first season for the following year. By the time I arrive back for that show I had lost 100 lbs, so there I am on stage really thin but showing my videos of the ‘old me.’ I was exactly like Parker Posey in the movie ‘Adam & Steve’ where she was a comic that had lost a ton of weight BUT was still doing fat lady jokes on stage. And that’s when ‘Varla’ really started to kick in as I simply just couldn’t do fat jokes anymore and I needed a new shtick.

     

    RWD: Tell me about your love affair with P Town itself.

    JR: Coming to P Town, even to perform is being on one long summer vacation like when we were back in school. When you come here nothing else that may have been going in in your life really matters. I can’t wait to get here, but come Labor Day I can’t wait to leave: summer is just the perfect length of time. I have always loved this town no matter how backward it may seem like years ago when there was no Laundromat and we had to drive the 30 miles to Orleans each week just to do laundry, and yet we all still came in droves.

     

    RWD: Many of us here still have very fond memories of you and some opera singers performing the utterly unique ‘CLASSICAL VARLA’ Benefit Concerts which were THE highlight of Carnival Week then.

    JR: I had a friend who was HIV+ who couldn’t afford any medication at the time and my Manager Mark Cortale and his partner were part of the management of the AIDS Support Group who provided the drugs for my friend, and for many others in the same situation. They desperately needed more donations so Mark suggested the Concert as a fundraiser, and I said ‘why not, it will be fun to do’. Turned out to be TORTURE.

    RWD: But we loved it.

    JR: Don’t get me wrong I loved doing it and torturing myself too. But once I set these goals up for myself, I immediately freak out and say why did I do that! But I love classical music and I love the challenge of trying to sing it. And performing with those amazingly talented singers was such a real thrill. I also love the fact that everyone is still talking about it now.

    RWD: It was a joy being in that audience with this overflowing feeling of love of people wanting you to succeed and proud of the reasons why you were doing this. It felt good to be part of this sense of community that P Town is so good at fostering.

    JR: It was great for the few years that we did it, but it felt right to stop on such a high, and I would actually like to do something else in the future, as these guys still desperately need all our help.

    RWD: Your voice training at The Julliard Schooldid you in good stead as you went on (as Varla) to take the leading role in Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera The Medium.

    JR: Thank you BUT I was never at Julliard.

    RWD: Really are you sure? As the word around town is that’s why you sing so well.

    JR: Thank you, then just let the rumor spread. (laugh) But I did so loved getting involved in The Medium and we got to take the production to N.Y. where it was also a great success too.

     

    RWD: There is another rumor about you that your show at The Art House this summer is your last? Is this true?

    JR: It’s a Farewell Tour in the Cher tradition: hence the title ‘Varla-Jean Relieving Herself’ is billed as my Cherwell Show.

     

    RWD: (laugh) So you will be back next year?

    JR: Yes, in some form or another. Performing a one-woman show on a stage can be a lonely thing and so I am constantly looking for new challenges. One of the things I will be doing soon for the first time is acting in a play as a man, which I am so looking forward too.

     

    RWD: I am curious to know how does your Manager pitch you to people? As an actor, or a singer or as Varla?

    JR: I’ve been so very lucky my whole career as I always had people offer me such great opportunities that I have never ever had to look for roles. I love working with Ryan Landry appearing in his wickedly funny parody plays for example. I did ‘The Phantom of the OPRAH’ with him in P Town and Boston, and then last year starred in ‘Mildred Fierce’. I love to do his stuff even though the rehearsal process is very very INTENSE (laughing). We work and work and work and he never stops or even let us take a break… everyone is screaming at him ‘OMG Can we JUST go to the toilet! (laughing).

    RWD: And then you go from scruffy Fringe theatres to performing your one-woman show at the Sydney Opera House!

    JR: That was totally crazy and a real highlight in my career to date, especially as they invited me back the following year to do a new show.

    RWD: Wow!

    JR: But London was and is my big love. I’ve been there four times to perform, and I will always remember my debut there for the most inauspicious of reasons. The day I landed was 9/11. It was the most depressing time ever, and then for a complete contrast my 2nd visit was the time of both the Jubilee and the World Cup, and so was the craziest happiest time.

    RWD: So you got good word of mouth for people to come and fill the Soho Theatre?

    JR: Yes, including a few celebrities like Elton John and Andy Bell. I did a Late Show so I always had to perform my act on whatever stage set was being used by the play that was running earlier. One time is was some sort of Irish Trainspotting drama set in a dingy low-rent apartment, which included a toilet. And for some reason which totally escapes me now, I dressed in full drag I decided to sing the Roy Orbison ballad Crying totally straight but sitting on the toilet, which had Elaine Paige snorting so loud that all her fellow audience members eyes went from her to me and back in disbelief (laugh)

    RWD: And then you go from scruffy Fringe theatres to performing your one-woman show at the Sydney Opera House!

    JR: That was totally crazy and a real highlight in my career to date, especially as they invited me back the following year to do a new show.

    RWD: Wow!

    JR: But London was and is my big love. I’ve been there four times to perform, and I will always remember my debut there for the most inauspicious of reasons. The day I landed was 9/11. It was the most depressing time ever, and then for a complete contrast my 2nd visit was the time of both the Jubilee and the World Cup, and so was the craziest happiest time.

     

    RWD: So you got good word of mouth for people to come and fill the Soho Theatre?

    JR: Yes, including a few celebrities like Elton John and Andy Bell. I did a Late Show so I always had to perform my act on whatever stage set was being used by the play that was running earlier. One time is was some sort of Irish Trainspotting drama set in a dingy low-rent apartment, which included a toilet. And for some reason which totally escapes me now, I dressed in full drag I decided to sing the Roy Orbison ballad Crying totally straight but sitting on the toilet, which had Elaine Paige snorting so loud that all her fellow audience members eyes went from her to me and back in disbelief (laugh)

More posts