# Broadway legend Ben Vereen on singers unlimited. He accused of se.ual assault: Photos, Videos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2019/03/28/broadway-legend-ben-vereen-on-singers-unlimited-he-accused-of-se-ual-assault-photos-videos/
- Published: 2019-03-28T14:30:03+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Ben Vereen earned a Tony Award in the 1972 musical _Pippin. _He starred as the
show’s chorus, the Leading Player, welcoming the audience to an “anecdotic revue.”**

He sang that Steven Schwartz song, “Magic To Do,” and was anecdotal about his extraordinary
life in song and dance, on a recent _Singers Unlimited._

We talked about his performing in three turn-of-the-70’s shows that changed musical
styles, theatrical stagecraft, political content, and greatly influenced a younger
audience on Broadway: _Pippin_, _Hair, _and_ Jesus Christ Superstar. _We also remembered
him playing Chicken George on the epochal TV series _Roots._

Ben Vereen performs April 4 through 7 with members of the Juilliard Jazz Ensemble
at [Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola](https://www.jazz.org/dizzys). And he sang songs among
the stories, with pianist Desmond Scaffe, in the WBGO performance studio. Here is
his version of “What a Wonderful World.”

And here he is performing “Everything Must Change.”

Ben Vereen, a Broadway veteran known for his performances in musicals like Hair,
Jesus Christ Superstar, and Pippin, has been accused of sexual assault, intimidation,
and other abusive behavior by several women he directed in a volunteer production
of Hair at the Venice Theatre in Florida. The women claim that during the 2015 production,
Vereen made aggressive, unwanted physical contact including kisses and hugs and 
made degrading comments toward them. Two, both in their early 20s, claim that Vereen,
then 69, took them to his rental home for “private rehearsals,” pressured them into
a hot tub with him, and pressed his erect penis into their legs.

![Картинки по запросу Ben Vereen Accused of Sexual Assault](https://
i0.wp.com/media.gannett-cdn.com/29906170001/29906170001_5703417347001_5703404929001-
vs.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

In a statement to the New York Daily News, Vereen did not deny the accusations. “
I would like to apologize directly to the female cast members of the musical ‘Hair’
for my inappropriate conduct when I directed the production in 2015,” he wrote, 
claiming “while it was my intention to create an environment that replicated the
themes of that musical during the rehearsal process, I have since come to understand
that it is my conduct, not my intentions, which are relevant here.” According to
those in involved in the production, Vereen allegedly used the premise of Hair, 
which focuses on the sexual revolution of the 1960s and includes a famous nude scene,
to pressure the women involved in the production. At one point while rehearsing 
that scene, Vereen allegedly stripped himself and made sexually suggestive comments
to the women in the cast.

![Картинки по запросу Ben Vereen Accused of Sexual Assault](https://
ewedit.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/gettyimages-130699512.jpg?w=640)

One woman, Kaitlyn Terpstra, who was 22 at the time, claims that she was asked to
sign non-disclosure agreements without a lawyer present, while Vereen positioned
himself as her mentor, suggested the production could go on the road (and thus help
the actors earn Equity cards), and used the excuse that “nudity doesn’t have to 
be sexual” in order to get her to disrobe while at his residence. “Now I understand
it was a power play,” she said. “It was so calculated. It was like we were putty
in his hands.” The theater claims to have been unaware of the extent of Vereen’s
actions until they were brought to its attention by a Facebook post Terpstra made
in November about her experiences in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations.

![](https://i0.wp.com/www.wbgo.org/sites/wbgo/files/styles/medium/public/201903/
WBGO_singers_unlimited_Ben_Vereen_001.JPG?w=640&ssl=1)

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