Singer, actor and Broadway star talks life, work at IU Auditorium

Shoulders leaned forward Monday in the IU Auditorium lobby as theater renaissance man Ben Vereen answered questions about his life, career and derriere.

“I had a big butt in high school,” he said to a chuckling crowd. “I thought I couldn’t be a ballerina because they didn’t have big butts.”

Since then, the 63-year-old actor, dancer and singer has proved himself wrong and merited national acclaim for his portrayal of more than 60 characters in plays, television shows and movies.

George Pinney, professor and head of the musical theater department, said Vereen’s campus visit was a great honor.

“His work, decades of it, is truly insightful,” he said. “Everything comes from the heart.”
Vereen, who began his on-stage career with “The Prodigal Son” in 1965, said Broadway didn’t feel real until a stage manager handed him an envelope one day in 1972. He’d been nominated for a Tony Award for his role in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

“It hit me then; I’m in theater,” he said. “I’m part of the family. I still have that letter with tear stains on it.”

Over the course of his 45-year career, Vereen became well-known in the entertainment industry for his roles in the 1977 television miniseries “Roots,” the 1979 film “All That Jazz” and most recently Broadway’s “Wicked.”

Vereen said he wants to see modern students achieve similar success.

“Isn’t it great to teach?” he said to professors in the crowd. “You’ve got these young people — frightened, nervous, hungry students — and you get to shape their energy and pass it on, like ‘Here, take it. Go.’”