It doesn’t matter whether you are a highly-acclaimed performer or a street sweeper in a small town, life can be challenging. Just ask Tony Award-winning singer/dancer/actor Ben Vereen. He’s had more than his share of challenges, but he maintains a sense of gratitude and pleasure in life. I call it the simple joys of Ben Vereen. He’ll be sharing that joy on Friday and Saturday night at Catalina Jazz Club with his show Steppin’ Out with Ben Vereen.

The Simple Joys of Ben Vereen include winning a Tony Award for "Pippin"
Ben Vereen in “Pippin” (Photo by Martha Swope/Courtesy of the NYPL Archives)

Besides winning the Tony for his performance in the original production of Pippin, Vereen has appeared in the musicals Jesus Christ SuperstarGrind and most recently Wicked. He was also one of the stars of the original miniseries Roots where he played “Chicken George.”

The challenges he’s faced include the death of his 16-year-old daughter in a car accident in 1987. Then in 1992 he had the worst trifecta of a day possible. He hit a tree with his car. Later that day he suffered a stroke while walking on Pacific Coast Highway and veered into the street. Vereen was hit by a car driven by music producer David Foster. Last year he had to apologize after accusations of sexual harassment from 2015 became public.

But he’s still here. Last month I spoke with Vereen by phone about his ability to maintain a positive attitude.

One thing that has always been a hallmark of your point-of-view is gratitude. When you hear people saying how grateful they are on a regularly basis, do you think there is more genuine gratitude today or has it become a platitude?

That’s part of this particular show. I’m looking back. How many songs did we sing about growing older and now I am older. And that Beatles song – When I’m 64 – I’m passed it, but I’m grateful to be. The whole idea of this show is let’s have gratitude for life. Let’s show how great this can be. All the aches and pains, which will come to you, but we’ll show you how to deal with it. This is how I’ve lived for so long. I’ve learned gratitude over the years. You don’t just wake up with it, you learn it.

You’ve been through such radical highs and lows. How do you maintain that positive attitude?

I don’t know that I’ve had lows more than anyone else, but it’s how you maintain the attitude. You can choose the good or the not-so-good. I sit in meditation and if I get to a place where I’m rattled, I stop. I go to a place of gratitude and move from that perspective. At any point I could have said, “I can’t go on, this is too much.” The Creator doesn’t give you more than you can bear. Myself it’s about spirituality and the breadth of life and the gift of life. Stop taking it for granted.

I watched your performance of Everything Must Change from earlier this year. Why does that song resonate with you and how does that choice of material reflect your way of looking at the world today?

Because everything must change. We must go in the way of that change with an open heart and realize life is about changes. That’s how we grow. If everything was the same, we’d be stagnant. I’ve never been stagnant.

You regularly did post-Pippin nightclub performances in the 70s and you said in one that “dance is moving through space to the rhythm of life to the beat.” That was 40 years ago. What is your definition of dance today and has your perspective changed?

That statement is true. If that stops we’re finished. In the beat of the heart is the rhythm of life.

If I had known what I know now. Would I go back and change some things, I probably would, if I had that gift. First of all I wouldn’t be here because I would have been wiped out on the highway. (He follows that statement by letting out a big laugh.) I can laugh at it now. I don’t remember that accident. All I remember is the recovery.

There’s one more thing about dance, once you learn how to dance. Bob Fosse (director of Pippintold me “you learn this way you’ll dance it the rest of your life.”

Speaking of Fosse, did you watch Fosse/Verdon?

The Simple Joys of Ben Vereen included working with Bob Fosse
Director/choreographer Bob Fosse. (Photo by Martha Swope/Courtesy of the NYPL Archives)

I have not yet and I will. I’m too close to it right now. They missed the kindness from what I’m hearing; him as a character and as a person. He was strict, but he wanted the best out of you. That’s the thing, it’s about the work. It’s not about who he slept with. The man was a genius. He gave us style. I guess television has its way of doing what it does. 

Joe Gideon, the character played by Roy Scheider in All That Jazz, meets his maker to the tune Bye Bye Love which he sings with your character, O’Connor Flood. If you could, as Fosse did, stage your own farewell, what would it look and sound like?

Wow…Wow. Hmmm. That’s a good question. What would it sound like? What would it look like? It would have a love of Fosse in it for sure. That’s a good question. What comes to mind if Life’s a Bowl of Cherries. As I say when I sing it, don’t forget to spit out the few pits. But the cherries sure are sweet. Just don’t swallow the pit.

For tickets on Friday go here.

For tickets on Saturday go here.

Main photo by Isak Tiner.

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