Ben Vereen
The Tony Award-winning song-and-dance man, whose Broadway credits include "Hair," "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Pippin," "Jelly's Last Jam," and whose has appeared in such film and TV productions as "Sweet Charity," "Funny Lady" "All That Jazz" and "Roots," is still treading the boards - and is developing a musical show based on his own singularly incredible life.
Left: Ben Vereen in Bob Fosse's dramatic musical, "All That Jazz."
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan
Song-and-Dance Man
Although the Tony Award-winner was heralded early on as the consummate entertainer, his upbringing in Brooklyn might as well have been a thousand miles from Times Square.
"I had never been to a Broadway show," he told CBS News' Mo Rocca. "Because it wasn't in our vocabulary. You gotta understand something: My background did not warrant me to be on the stage. We didn't talk about theater; we watched television. We didn't talk in my home about Broadway."
The Young Dancer
Raised in Brooklyn, Vereen attended the High School of the Performing Arts (the "Fame" school). And yes, kids danced on the cafeteria tables just like in the movie.
"It was a challenging time for me," he told Rocca, because "I did not have a dancer's body that I saw. The other kids had dancers' bodies. I felt I didn't. And I was way behind the eight ball -- the other kids had training in modern dance, in ballet, in character. I had none. And I'm thankful for a guy named Tony Catanzaro, [who] used to dance with Norman Walker. He would stay after school and work with me every day. He would stay there and work with me until I got up to the point where I was at par and I could hang with the other guys."
"Sweet Charity"
After his stage debut in Langston Hughes' "The Prodigal Son," Vereen attended an audition for Bob Fosse's "Sweet Charity." "And it was like the opening of 'All That Jazz,'" he said. "Every male performer in the world was on that stage. And walking down the center aisle of the Palace Theater was Bob Fosse. He was smoking a cigarette. And he's doing a combination he wants us to do. And the ashes never fell!
"He pushed us. And I loved him for that. A lot of people will say, 'Well, he was tough on his dancers.' Yes, because he wanted the best out of you, so he'd push you, because he knew there was something great inside of you that needed to be released. So he'd work us and work us and work us. And we wanted to be worked."
Vereen opened at Caesars Palace in a Las Vegas production of "Sweet Charity" (the first Broadway show to open on the Strip), and would also appear in the 1969 film version alongside Sammy Davis Jr. (At left: "The Rhythm of Life" number.)
"Jesus Christ Superstar"
Ben Vereen as Judas Iscariot and Jeff Fenholt as Jesus in the Andrew Lloyd Weber-Tim Rice musical, "Jesus Christ Superstar" (1971).
"Jesus Christ Superstar"
Ben Vereen received a Tony Award nomination for his performance as Judas Iscariot in "Jesus Christ Superstar."
Vereen told CBS News' Mo Rocca that while his mother encouraged his early theatrical career, his father did not. "Matter of fact, he did not even come to my shows. He sort of turned off. You know, he wanted his son to work in the factory, whatever, anything but dance. The first show he ever came to was 'Jesus Christ Superstar.'"
"Jesus Christ Superstar"
"So after the show, I'm goin', 'Well, Dad, what did you think?' He looked at me and said, 'Boy, you gotta put some clothes on, you're gonna catch a cold out there!'"
"You're laughing about it now, but did it kind of hurt you a little bit?" asked Mo Rocca.
"No, you know, it was Dad."
"Pippin"
When Vereen auditioned for "Pippin," after having done "Hair," "Jesus Christ Superstar," and "No Place to Be Somebody," he was picked by Fosse, though his agent tried to dissuade Vereen: "'Bob Fosse wants you to do this show,' he says. 'I don't think the show is gonna make it. I wouldn't do it if I was you.'
"I said, 'If Bob wants me in his show, I'm gonna do it.' And the rest is history."
"Pippin"
Vereen admits that from the beginning his role, the Leading Player, was not fleshed out: "There wasn't really a role," he laughed. "So everyone goes to lunch and [Fosse] comes over to me and he says, 'Don't worry about it. I want you to go to the library, and I want you to look up people like Bill Bojangles Robinson, Jimmy Slyde and Tip Tappin' Toe, I want you to look at these cats, look at the pictures.'"
Together they created the style for the Leading Player - a performance that won Vereen a Tony Award.
"The Carol Burnett Show"
Ben Vereen became a familiar face on TV variety shows throughout the 1970s, such as "Carol Burnett," "The Gladys Knight & the Pips Show," "Dinah!", "Donny and Marie," and "The Muppet Show."
"Roots"
Vereen achieved international stardom in the blockbuster TV miniseries, "Roots" (1977), playing Chicken George.
"Every African-American wanted to be in this production," he told Rocca. "I went to my agent and I said, 'I wanna do this.' He said, 'Ben, come on, get serious. You're a song-and-dance man. They're not gonna hire you.'" But after an appearance in Savannah, Georgia, doing his act about vaudeville star Bert Williams, Vereen was visited by Stan Margulies, "Roots"' executive producer, who said, "I want you to be my Chicken George."
"I didn't know who Chicken George was. I don't care if I was the guy on the ship goin', 'Let me outta here, let me outta here!' I was gonna be on 'Roots'!"
"All That Jazz"
Ben Vereen and Roy Scheider in a phantasmagorical production number from Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz" (1979).
"Webster"
After starring in the short-lived detective series, "Tenspeed and Brown Shoe" (with Jeff Goldblum), Ben Vereen played the uncle of Emmanuel Lewis, a little boy who was adopted by a white couple, in the sitcom "Webster" (1983-1987).
"Silk Stalkings"
Ben Vereen as Captain Ben Hutchinson in the TV crime drama, "Silk Stalkings."
"Grind"
From left: Marion Ramsey, Wynonna Smith, Ben Vereen, Candy Brown and Hope Clarke in a scene from the Broadway musical "Grind" (2002).
"Grind"
Ben Vereen in the Broadway musical "Grind," set in a burlesque house during the 1930s.
"Grind"
Ben Vereen in "Grind."
"Wicked"
In 2005 Ben Vereen took over the role of the Wizard in the Broadway musical, "Wicked."
"Idlewild"
In the Depression Era musical drama "Idlewild" (2006), Ben Vereen played an undertaker and father of a piano player in a ribald establishment (Andre 3000, a.k.a. Andre Benjamin).
Vereen's other recent film appearances include the Chris Rock comedy "Top Five," "Mama I Want to Sing," "Tapioca," and "Time Out of Mind."
The Entertainer
Vereen remains a passionate advocate for the arts.
"I beat the drum for the arts, because we need the arts. You know, life itself is an art form. You will hear me say this over and over again. In the Bible, it says, 'In the beginning, God created ...' It did not say, 'In the beginning, God manufactured ...' We are all creative aspects of that which created us. We are walking, talking art pieces. And when we begin to treat ourselves as such, you will see a better world, I believe. I like to think."
Song-and-Dance Man
He rues the cuts in arts education that many schools have made. "The arts, it's the first thing they cut. And it boggles my mind, because why are you cutting away our culture? The arts is our culture. And any civilization without culture is no civilization at all."
In response he promotes the Ben Vereen Awards, a scholarship program for high school musical theatre performers that helps send talented youngsters to Broadway.
Miracle Plays To Play
Ben Vereen in "Pippin."
For more info:
benvereen.info (Official site)