Ben Vereen

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2026

⏱️ 41 minutes

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Summary

Ben Vereen is an actor, dancer and singer – a classic triple threat. His work in theatre is legendary: Sweet Charity, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pippin and countless others. These days you can catch him on The Gray House on Prime Video. Ben joins us to talk about the themes the show shares with his previous work on Roots, and what's changed about his craft after decades of iconic work.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of Maximum Fun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:27.5	It's Bullseye. I'm Jesse Thorne. My first guest this week, Ben Vareem. He is a performer,
0:35.2	and by that I mean an actor, a singer, a dancer, a classic triple threat. He has been performing since he was six as a kid in Brooklyn, in front of the congregation
0:39.3	at his Pentecostal church.
0:41.8	By the time he turned 20, he was
0:43.4	acting on Broadway. First
0:45.4	in hair, a few years later,
0:47.7	Jesus Christ Superstar,
0:49.3	his part as Judas Ascariat earned him
0:51.3	a Tony nomination. A year later,
0:53.5	he won a Tony for his role in Pippin.
0:56.3	Journey, turning to a spot, exciting, mystic and exotic.
1:03.8	Journey through our anarchic we knew.
1:09.7	We've got magic to do just for you. We've got magic to do
1:11.6	Just for you
1:13.6	We've got miracle plays to play
1:16.6	We've got parts to perform
1:18.6	Hots to warm
1:20.6	Things and things we take by storm
1:24.6	As we go along
1:26.6	Our way by storm as we go along our way. And as brilliant a singer and dancer and stage actor,
1:36.8	Ben Vereen was, he aspired to even more than that. He wanted to make a name for himself
	...

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