BWW Interviews: Ben Vereen on Broadway at Town Hall - Back with a Bowl of Cherries

Ben Vereen is back. And he's brought his bowl of cherries. On February 18, 2011, the legendary song and dance man will perform his concert, Stepping Out With Ben Vereen, at Town Hall in celebration of the release of his corresponding album. In the concert, recorded live during its recent Hartford engagement, Vereen highlights his stage career and delivers American Standards with his signature "razzle dazzle" as only he can.

Vereen won the Tony® Award for his renowned performance in Bob Fosse's Pippin, and has also starred on Broadway in Wicked, Fosse, Chicago, Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair, Jelly's Last Jam, Grind, A Christmas Carol and I'm Not Rappaport. He recently guest starred on How I Met Your Mother and has previously appeared on Grey's Anatomy (Prism Award), Law & Order: CI, and starred in the Hallmark movie An Accidental Friendship (NAACP Nom.). Recently he starred in the new play Fetch Clay, Make Man, directed by Des McAnuff, which is rumored to be Broadway-bound as early as next year.

Vereen generously opened up to BroadwayWorld about the genesis of Stepping Out With Ben Vereen, what he plans to do with it, and why the experience has been so sweet.

Stepping Out Live is a live recording of your Hartford concert. Let's rewind a moment. How did the concert develop?

I've been developing and performing the concert for a while. The concert is the foundation of the one man show I've been working on, From Brooklyn to Broadway - that's the Working Title, that I hope to take around the world and play on Broadway one day. In the concert, I take the audience through the journey of my career and the people who helped and influenced me, like Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr., for example, and their cultural influences. I have these great musicians. And it's fun. It's a fun evening. Ultimately, these elements will be expanded upon in From Brooklyn to Broadway, and I perform more of the music of Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra in tribute and things of the like, and incorporate a more insight into the times in which I grew up and developed. The show will go deeper into my head and more elaborately reveal what's going on around me, living in this country - in the world - in my time. In From Brooklyn to Broadway, you'll see through my eyes more deeply.

Are you writing From Brooklyn to Broadway yourself or are you collaborating with other writers?

Nelson Cole is writing the new music but I have pretty much arrange the format of the show. I have people come in and contribute ideas, however.

How did you pick and choose what sort of material to include in this concert? Is it a show of your favorites? Talk a bit about your process.

The concert is comprised mostly of my favorites, yes - songs from shows that I've done and ones that have touched my life. For example, I played the Wizard in Wicked and I include the songs "Wonderful," which was mine, and "Defying Gravity," which was actually Shoshana Bean's song as Elpheba but I included because I was so drawn to it. I also include Stephen Schwartz's "For Good" because I just love the lyrics. I also include songs from Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar. And on the other side, to get in songs that touch my heart, I include Sammy Davis Jr.'s "Ol' Black Magic," and "A Lot of Livin' to Do." From Frank Sinatra I like "My Way," "Under My Skin" as part of the medley of songs that I admire from his career. The show has a format, but it really is an expression of my heart.

Do you have a favorite concert moment - a favorite of the favorites, so to speak?

[Laughs], they are all my favorite. The moments are the moment. Each is like a breath. And in each, I breathe deep and enjoy it. They each have their own posture and their own expression.

You have such an appreciation for music from genre's past. How do you feel about the "rockier" style that is infiltrating theater now?

Everything evolves. But the mood is still the same. The foundation is still the same. Each era has its own expression of what it needs to hear. And I'm thankful that I have mine. [Laughs] I'm ancient, I've been there and watched this whole transitional phase. But you've still got cats who are writing some marvelous things like Stephen Schwartz and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Sondheim is still around, writing marvelous stuff, and they're still praising Duke Ellington and Mercer and all of those greats. So there's still the foundation. But I certainly celebrate and appreciate the rockers that come along and put their spin on it.

Is the concert still evolving?

No. What is evolving is the one-man show that will evolve from the concert, which will definitely include more monologues and more multimedia.

Often, performers of one-man or one-woman shows will frequently say that they are performing because "they have something specific to say." Do you? Is that your intention with this one-man undertaking?

Absolutely and it's that ‘life is just a bowl of cherries.' You're going to hit the pits, but it's important to remember that it's just the pits. And one can always just spit the pits out and keep on going. With my show, I hope I can inspire somebody to believe that whatever adversity life throws at them can be overcome. And it can be overcome with colors. We all have the authority to paint our worlds the way we want to. That's the premise.

There's something greater than the business. And that's the people. They're the people who come. There are times when I hit the wall so bad and I look up and there were three or four people who are in the audience. And for those three or four, I got up. Because those three or four will go back and tell their family and then next time there will be six or seven, eight, nine, ten people in the audience. Because they came, they said we believe in you, we have faith that you can do this-I got up.

What concerns me about live theater today are the economics. I fear that we're going to price ourselves right out of our audience. Our audiences should be young people, at least up on the balcony somewhere. I was that kid. LeVar Burton was that kid, whose school brought him to see Pippin and it changed his life. I was that kid who was a cub scout and whose cub scout teacher took me on a trip to a show and it changed my life. We need to give the kids that opportunity. If prices have to be hiked, I hope people remember the youth because they're going to keep theater going. And let's stay true to the art form that brought us this far and give that to the children.

Can you talk a bit about the relationship you strive to develop with audiences? You've done drama, comedy, tragedy, song and dance etc. You're certainly no one-trick pony. Do you connect with audiences differently when performing different genres?

The thing about an audience is we're all in this together, and we're breathing together and I feel their presence. It's a privilege to know that they're allowing me to saying "okay, here I am, give me what you got." I try to be sincere about that and I'm very sensitive to that. I'm also very protective of my audiences. If somebody's loud in the audience, I'll say something, because somebody else out there paid a lot of money to have this moment. I got that from Carmen McRae. I remember many years ago as a kid I was walking through the Village and I saw this woman said she had Carmen McRae performing inside and I had heard about her so I snuck in. I stood in the back and she was doing a set when some guy was talking in the front. So she stopped. I was shocked. She just stopped the show and said "Hey! When you're finished, I'll continue." I thought ‘Wow, you can do that?' She showed such respect for the people who came to hear her. How dare someone talk while this woman's performing and all of these people came to hear her and take it upon themselves to have a full, blown-out conversation in the middle of a slow song? And so now, like her, I protect my audiences. As long as they're bouncing when they walk out because something in the show made them feel good is the rise I look to get. And it's nice because I've seen it. I've had people come up to me and say that a moment in my show - something I was living through - had changed their life and made them go down a path for their greater good. So that's why I keep doing the work. It's so important to let the work do its thing.

How different do you expect the New York incarnation of the concert to be from the Hartford installment?

Well, this is New York. It's its own new vibe. Hartford was Hartford, that's a whole different vibe. So I change the energy according to the environment. Since I'm from Brooklyn, it's going to have a New York taste and be far more personal. In Hartford, I had to explain things to the audiences because most of them didn't know the city. But here in the city, I'm from the streets and the audiences will be able to relate. So in that sense it will feel like a different show.

After New York, is the concert, scheduled to go elsewhere?

We plan to do Canada, and some places in the Midwest. The main focus, though is to work on the concert's evolution into From Brooklyn to Broadway that will hopefully come back to sit down on Broadway and/or tour.

Is there a particular place, or region, for which you most prefer performing?

Everywhere. Where the people are is where I like to be. No matter where you are, let me in. I'm going to entertain you. I'm going to say something and try to warm your heart because it warms my heart. The reality is that in my journey to this point - and I have skinned my knee, bumped my head, slammed in the walls - this business has always sustained me. The people have always been there. They've watched me, they've watched me fall, they've watched me get up and pull myself back up by the straps. So I'm really blessed. So being at Town Hall is going to be wonderful.

How has the challenge of building this concert - and subsequent show - compared to the challenges of tackling a role from a script in a larger production?

When you do a whole show on your own, it's your own expression. It's different from sitting down with a book writer and saying their words and making a mural. Or singing someone's songs and making a mural. When you have a whole team around you, you're developing something different. It's a whole different thing. I enjoy both experiences. For example when working with Des McAnuff on Fetch Clay, Make Man and all of The Players taking Will Power's words and making them my own, the challenge was to express what my character, Stepin Fetchit was going through. That requires a whole different head as a performer. When I'm doing my act, that demands a head that I'm familiar with, so it's more second nature.

Have you ever worried in the process of creating your own show that you won't have enough to say?

[Laughs] I don't have enough time. There's too much that I want to do and say! I love what. But there are time restraints that I have to respect. After all, people have to go to the restroom and eventually go home.

Of course this concert and From Brooklyn to Broadway is your big focus, but if a role came along in the near future, would you consider taking it?

Well, I'm certainly on the path to getting this up. But, if it was a good role in a limited run, I'd probably take it just to keep that exercise going. So yes, I would consider that.

Have you ever had the urge to do something else in another industry? Has there ever been a profession that has captured your attention?

Well I'm involved with the ministry, which I'm drawn to because it serves the people. My efforts there are unorthodox, and non-denominational. They're encompassing of all the religions, or as I call them, paths to the high ground. If I can help somebody get to the high ground, then my living was not in vain. It is for this same reason that I perform - to achieve the same for people.

Now that you're in a period of reflection of your career as you're putting this show together are you finding that there's some specific insight you had now that you wish you had had a long time ago?

Of course there are lots of moments I reflect on where I say "I wish I'd had, I wish I'd heard, I wish I'd listened, maybe I would've..." but woulda coulda shoulda. It was my journey. And anything that I learned I believe I was meant to learn at the time I learned it. Mistakes are part of my learning process. And the bumps and knots on my head are there to remind me not to do it again. I just keep on setting one foot in front of the other. That's how you get to Mount Olympus. Point in that direction and go.

What is it about this CD, this concert, that anybody and everybody, whether it's their preferred type of music or not, can enjoy?

The fun. I hope that's what audiences take away from it. We have people of various tastes out there and this is my thing - this is my little light in my corner of the world that I'm giving. If it works for you, great. If it doesn't work for you, give it to somebody else.

Is there anything else that we should know about upcoming projects?

I'm doing a recurring role on How I Met Your Mother. Neil Patrick is amazing, as is Wayne Brady. I play Wayne's father and that's fun. And I'm looking forward to doing more TV and so I'll be exploring more opportunities there. But my life is the stage. I'm moving into a directorial phase and am looking to bring a few things back to the stage. My ultimate goal is to one day bring the original Pippin back, here or elsewhere. I'm also involved with a group called Entrée. Entrée is a food and support service organization out in Los Angeles that Larry Washington, the drummer, started. It's amazing. On Thanksgiving last year and Christmas, we served over 7,000 people. Thanksgiving we served over 2,700 people. In addition to feeding people, the organization teaches them how to get jobs, hold a job, and get their lives back together. So I'm working with them. It's called do unto others as you would have them do unto you. One step at a time.

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For more information on Stepping Out With Ben Vereen, visit www.the-townhall-nyc.org.