Interview: The Legendary Ben Vereen, Back at 54 Below

We all know Ben Vereen can rouse an audience with just the opening notes of "Magic to Do." But holding them rapt (and close to tears) with a plaintive rendition of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" or a similarly impassioned "Misty," accompanied only by a drummer playing without sticks? He does that, too, in the show he's brought back to Feinstein's/54 Below this week.

Vereen has revamped the set list since he performed at 54 Below last March, though he of course opens with selections from Pippin, Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar--with some Wicked sprinkled throughout as well (he's done all those shows on Broadway). He gets the audience on their feet chanting "Stand up for the arts" during the refrain of "Stand by Me," and salutes his mentor/idol Sammy Davis Jr. with "Candy Man," "What Kind of Fool Am I" and "Mr. Bojangles."

But the most stirring numbers are the quieter numbers: Charles Aznavour's "I Didn't See the Time Go By"; "My Funny Valentine," with bassist Mike Boone providing the sole accompaniment; "At Last," for which pianist David Loeb does the same. It takes the combination of showmanship, ardency and longevity that perhaps only the living legend Vereen possesses to deliver them as he does.

Vereen's first performance of the current 54 Below engagement was Monday, when members of the Broadway community could attend at a discount on their night off ("I wish I could have them for free," says the star). He has additional shows Wednesday through Saturday, Jan. 27-30, all with a 7 p.m. start time. Last Friday, Vereen was one of the surprise special guests in the BroadwayCon opening. And somewhere in the midst of all this, he gave BroadwayWorld a few minutes of his time for an interview.

From the very start of your show, you have such an emotional connection with your audience.

My show is my gratitude for my audiences sticking with me and giving me the life I've had. We're spreading love and spreading the message of the arts and how important the arts are in our life, and getting people to support the arts, 'cause the arts need our help now more than ever. And we're just going to celebrate.

You are often described as "iconic." What's that like?

Give me a job. It's wonderful to be an icon, but keep me working. So I can continue to give. We all have a song inside of us that we sing, whether we have a voice or not. But [while] that song is playing, it's called a life.

You would like to shape your club act, Steppin' Out, into a Broadway production, right?

Yes. We're having a reading, a matter of fact, next week. Joe Calarco is writing the book. Stephen Schwartz is going to do some songs, I spoke to Lin-Manuel [Miranda], hopefully he'll lend me some songs--and some other people as well. I'm excited about it. I miss being on the boards.

What's the story behind the hat you wear that says "Spiritual Enforcer"?

I have an organization called WTA, Wellness Through the Arts, which is a program that tries to put the arts back in schools. We started in San Diego, we're in Sacramento and Tucson. What we do, we have kids living with diabetes, obesity, low self-esteem or bullying write an essay on "the day my life changed for the better"--a two-page essay or a two-minute video--and we give five winners $500 apiece. We put them with a dramatist and a composer, and they put together a little show for 10 minutes. Then they give them the Ben Vereen Awards in San Diego. If I go to the [participating] city, I give a concert and teach a master class. The idea is, one, to promote the arts but also to open up dialogue about these issues that our young people are going through. So the Spiritual Enforcer is, we are people who want to enforce love upon the planet through the arts--or you just want to enforce love upon the planet. You can find these hats on benvereen.info. [According to the website, "Spiritual Enforcer proudly donates all profit to dwindling arts programs in schools around the country."]

How did you discover the arts when you were growing up in Brooklyn?

Somebody said, "Come this way." Dr. Hill, a teacher. I knew nothing about the arts, because I was from what they call the ghetto. And then my principal Benjamin Raskin said, "You should go to the High School for the Performing Arts." Which I thought was in another country: It was in Manhattan. So I went there, and it changed my life.

Do you ever go back to Brooklyn?

Yes, I do. It has changed tremendously. They have a thing there called Dumbo now. I lived there for a while. I was living there when 9/11 happened, and I went across the bridge as a volunteer. I watched the whole thing happen, in our country, in our city--in my city--and I was furious.

How have such tragedies--including the personal ones you've suffered--affected you as a performer?

It's all part of my journey. It's all part of our journeys. We all have misfortunes, or we slip or we fall. But the idea is to get up. If you fall on your back and you're looking up, get up. It's a steppingstone towards your greatness. It's been my lessons in life--and there'll be many more. I'm not looking forward to the disasters, I'm looking forward to the wonderful times, but here's the thing: You have to go through that to get there. You learn those lessons as you go along in life if you're awake, alert and alive--the triple-A club.

What are the key lessons you wish to impress upon your students when you teach?

My classes are a little different. I go from the inside out, not from the outside in. That's the way I teach. And it's wonderful to watch the transformation, and watch them touch that excellence that's inside of them--get that light to go off, and they use it and grow. That's my satisfaction. When I have the WTA workshop, there's singing, dancing, acting, music, but also I add the component of teaching them how to read contracts, an accountant to teach them how to take care of their money, a physical therapist or doctor to talk about the wellness of the body--so that we have a whole, rounded person coming into this business. That's what I feel [has been] lacking, and that's what I want to bring to them in my journey.

And you're now also a director, right?

I just finished directing Hair in Venice, Florida. I redid it--reexamined it--because it's a show that asks you, "What have we done?" I used media to show where we were and where we are today. I had this vision of Hair, and the Venice Theatre said, "We'll let you do it." It was like my laboratory to work it out. It's not your clap-hand, feel-good Hair; it's a thinking Hair. Hopefully I can get to do it again.

What have you enjoyed recently as an audience member?

I loved Lazarus, a wonderful piece downtown. I want to thank David Bowie for leaving us something in the theater. That was his legacy--he said, "Here, take this." I saw View From the Bridge, which is brilliant. The actors are brilliant. And of course my favorite's Hamilton. Certain stories touch your heart, you know? The other night I went to the show again, because I love it. There are so many messages in the show, but one particular one I've been listening to is "living with the unimaginable" [from "It's Quiet Uptown"]. I'm going to start working with that when I tell my story. He [also] has a line in the show "We must be conscious of this. History has its eyes on you." Lin-Manuel said something very important about what's going on now. Like with the Academy Awards. What are you saying--we, in this industry--that in 2016 we're still having this conversation?

What can be done about the Oscars situation?

What can be done? I want a job. Give me some work. [Laughs] Also, the people have to say enough is enough. The industry's only going to feed you what they think you want; as long as you buy it, they're going to continue to feed it to you. It's time for the people to stand up and say, "This is wrong. We stand with you." The arts is about the people. The arts is about diversifying. It doesn't have to be [just] African-Americans, but the American people are not represented in the Academy.

Your latest movie was just released a few months ago.

I have a movie out on demand, Time Out of Mind, with Richard Gere, who worked with this movie for eight years. It's about the homeless. Oren Moverman, the director called me, and I couldn't wait to do it. Living in those shoes was amazing. You begin to see inhumanity to people who are homeless. As long as we turn a blind eye to this, it's going to get worse. It's getting worse. I'm encouraged by what I hear is going on in Utah, where they are not going to give them a handout but a hand up. They're putting them back in homes and giving them the medical attention that they need and giving them jobs. This is what we need to do nationwide in order to make our country a healthy country. We are our brothers' keepers. It's about, there but for the grace of God go you and I. One day we may be in that cardboard box.

Hair photo by Renee McVety