Ben Vereen

An all-star cast tells the inside story of the Broadway theater, and how it came back from the brink thanks to innovative work, a new attention to inclusion and a sometimes uneasy balance between art and commerce. Legends of the stage and screen—including Helen Mirren, Christine Baranski, August Wilson, James Corden, Alec Baldwin, John Lithgow, Viola Davis, Hugh Jackman and Ian McKellen—take us behind the scenes of Broadway's most groundbreaking and beloved shows, from A Chorus Line to Hamilton. Iconic performances by Lin Manuel Miranda, Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, James Earl Jones and Mandy Patinkin lead the way on a hurly burly ride through Times Square, once again the main street of American show business in this documentary directed by Academy-Award nominee Oren Jacoby.

Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age explores the world of Broadway from 1959 through the early 1980s as recounted by a diverse cast of Broadway stars who lived through it, creating a first-hand archive of personal backstage stories and memories. The new documentary is the long-awaited sequel to late filmmaker Rick McKay’s award-winning 2003 film Broadway: The Golden Age, continuing the saga into the '60s and '70s and spotlighting beloved classic Broadway shows including Once Upon a Mattress, Bye Bye Birdie, Barefoot in the Park, Pippin, A Chorus Line, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Chicago, and 42nd Street. Featuring a galaxy of stars including Alec Baldwin, Carol Burnett, Glenn Close, André De Shields, Jane Fonda, Robert Goulet, Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Dick Van Dyke, Ben Vereen, and many more, the film also includes rare archival photos and never-before-seen footage both onstage and off.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS presents a 2013 concert celebrating Chita Rivera's 80th birthday as a fundraiser to aid struggling artists during the pandemic. Chita offers a musical retrospective of her career in the theatre with guest stars Tommy Tune and Ben Vereen. Includes songs from 'Seventh Heaven,' 'West Side Story,' 'Bye Bye Birdie,' 'The Happy Time,' 'Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris,' 'Chicago,' 'The Rink,' 'Kiss of the Spider Woman,' & 'The Visit,' among others.

A straitlaced, square couple, seeking shelter from a storm, find themselves in the castle of a transsexual alien mad scientist intent on creating a buff bodybuilder.

A retrospective of Chita Rivera's film, television and stage career, including interviews with Dick Van Dyke, Ben Vereen, Carol Lawrence and others. Originally aired as Episode 2 of Season 43 of the PBS series Great Performances.

A comedian tries to make it as a serious actor when his reality-TV star fiancé talks him into broadcasting their wedding on her TV show.

Evicted from his squat and suddenly alone on the streets, George is a man without a home. Struggling with his demons and desperately trying to connect with the daughter he abandoned, he navigates the system, hustling for change and somewhere safe and quiet to gather his thoughts. But the streets are relentless and soon, George finds himself teetering on the edge, alone and abandoned.

An insane homeless guy turns the world upside down for a blowhard. Tapioca is a funny, raunchy romp, a quirky, comic tale of redemption starring Broadway legend Ben Vereen (Roots), Tim Kazurinsky (Saturday Night Live), Greg Hollimon (Strangers With Candy) and a crazy cast of Second City veterans.

Homeless woman Yvonne Caldwell is a woman with good reason to be bitter: she has lost everything except her two beloved dogs, Bebe and Man-Man. With her one friend, Wes, Caldwell lives the daily struggle of being homeless in Los Angeles until a chance encounter caused by her dogs leads to a friendship with LAPD officer Tami Baumann, and hope for a better life begins in earnest for Yvonne.

Successful New York journalist and single mom Julie Davidson's (Vanessa Williams) six-year old son Jake (Jeremy Gumbs) is acting up, so she finds his sperm-donor father Paul Cooper (Kevin Daniels), who's a struggling actor and law-school drop-out.

A musical set in the Prohibition-era American South, where a speakeasy performer and club manager Rooster must contend with gangsters who have their eyes on the club while his piano player and partner Percival must choose between his love, Angel or his obligations to his father.

Fosse is a three-act musical revue showcasing the choreography of Bob Fosse. The musical was conceived by Richard Maltby, Jr., Chet Walker, and Ann Reinking. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2000. In 2002, Fosse, featuring Reinking and Ben Vereen, was aired as part of the "Great Performances — Dance In America" series on PBS television. This filmed Broadway tribute strings together acclaimed director/choreographer Bob Fosse's "greatest hits."

Set in nineteenth-century New Orleans, the story depicts the gens de couleur libre, or the Free People of Colour, a dazzling yet damned class caught between the world of white privilege and black oppression.

A woman forces a man to move forward with his life after his wife dumps him.

In the mid-80s, three women (each with an attorney) arrive at the office of New York entertainment manager, Morris Levy. One is an L.A. singer, formerly of the Platters; one is a petty thief from Philly; one teaches school in a small Georgia town. Each claims to be the widow of long-dead doo-wop singer-songwriter Frankie Lyman, and each wants years of royalties due to his estate, money Levy has never shared. During an ensuing civil trial, flashbacks tell the story of each one's life with Lyman, a boyish, high-pitched, dynamic performer, lost to heroin. Slowly, the three wives establish their own bond.

Vaudeville is a 1997 PBS documentary under its American Masters program. Using film clips and photos, the art and history of vaudeville (1890-1930s) is illustrated.

A young mouse, mole and hedgehog risk their lives to find a cure for their badger friend, who's been poisoned by men.

A mother escapes her abusive husband and takes her young daughter toward refuge in a secluded home, only to be assailed by intruders hungry for the gold that’s supposedly buried in the house.

In this sentimental holiday tale, a young boy is taken away from his loving, adoptive household when his new mom is killed in an auto accident and his traveling musician dad is deemed unfit to care for him, being on the road too much. Now, the only thing that can help is if a cold, bureaucratic adoption agency caseworker sees the error of her ways and allows them to be together.

Set in the mythical world of Rhymeland, Gordon Goose returns home to discover that his mom has mysteriously vanished. Now the characters of Rhymeland are in danger of disappearing unless Mother Goose returns.

Herbie Altman is framed for Stock fraud by his boss when the SEC starts investigating his company. Sent to prison, he helps a fellow inmate successfully invest his money. Soon all the inmates want his help. To manage all the money, he forms CON INC. and runs it from the prison under the noses of the warden and the guards. But when the IRS and SEC begin to investigate this successful company, it looks like he may be in trouble again

Simon Templar returns to New York via Concorde and is feeling restless, until a note from an old flame surfaces. This TV movie was an unsold pilot for an attempted series revival.

Facing his parent's impending divorce and emotional upheaval, a young boy runs away and joins a gang of London street urchins who live by their wits, begging, and thievery.

A young man (Gregory Hines) journeys from rags-to-riches thanks to his talented Puss in Boots (Ben Vereen). Starring Ben Vereen, Gregory Hines, Alfre Woodard, George Kirby, and Brock Peters. Narrated by Shelley Duvall.

Documentary about the life of explorer Jacques Cousteau.

A former boxer known as Old Leather Face opens a nightclub called the Zoo, which does not do a good business. A group of homeless teenagers want to rent the place and start what they hope will be a profitable business, but a gang threatens to shut it down. Old Leather Face accepts the teenagers offer and becomes involved with trying to help them succeed.

The Jesse Owens Story is a biographical film about the black athlete Jesse Owens. Dorian Harewood plays the Olympic gold-winning athlete. The drama won a 1985 Primetime Emmy Award and was nominated for two more.

Lynda Carter's fifth musical TV special, with guest stars Eddie Rabbit and Ben Vereen.

STREET DANCERS: They're bold and they're bad; they're breakers — freestyle dancers who know a mean beat as well as a mean street. STAGE DANCERS: Grand and graceful gypsies — polished performers who are passionate about their art and the theater. When the choreographer of a troubled Broadway-bound musical brings the two groups together to energize his show, the results are less than successful. The professional dancers rebel when the street-wise breakers invade their turf — the theater. Tempers explode and the opening of the show is threatened. The exciting dance sequences, including the grand finale, were choreographed by Beat Street's Lester Wilson.

The Charmkins is a television film based on an early 1980s toyline by Hasbro, which was broadcast on October 25, 1983.

The most glittering, expensive, and exhausting videotaping session in television history took place Friday February 19, 1982 at New York's Radio City Music Hall. The event, for which ticket-buyers payed up to $1,000 a seat (tax-deductible as a contribution to the Actors' Fund) was billed as "The Night of 100 Stars" but, actually, around 230 stars took part. And most of the audience of 5,800 had no idea in advance that they were paying to see a TV taping, complete with long waits for set and costume changes, tape rewinding, and the like. Executive producer Alexander Cohen estimated that the 5,800 Radio City Music Hall seats sold out at prices ranging from $25 to $1,000. The show itself cost about $4 million to produce and was expected to yield around $2 million for the new addition to the Actors Fund retirement home in Englewood, N. J. ABC is reputed to have paid more than $5 million for the television rights.

A 15-year-old girl meets her father for the first time. He never married her mother because his adventurous life did not allow it. He takes his daughter on a working vacation to the exotic island of Aruba, where after a timid start a strong bond develops between father and daughter. Until she discovers that her father is 'unfaithful' to her.

The musical uses the premise of a mysterious performance troupe, led by a Leading Player, to tell the story of Pippin, a young prince on his search for meaning and significance. In 1981, a stage production of Pippin was videotaped for Canadian television. The stage production was directed by Kathryn Doby, Bob Fosse's dance captain for the original Broadway production, and David Sheehan directed the video adaptation, with Roger O. Hirson in charge of the music. Ben Vereen returned for the role of Leading Player, while William Katt played the role of Pippin. However, this version was a truncated adaptation and several sections of the play were cut. An extended version running 135 minutes is also available.

Joe Gideon is at the top of the heap, one of the most successful directors and choreographers in musical theater. But he can feel his world slowly collapsing around him - his obsession with work has almost destroyed his personal life, and only his bottles of pills keep him going.

A TV musical special starring Cheryl Ladd and her guest stars in various musical numbers and vignettes.

The story of how jazz great Louis Armstrong got his start playing in Chicago clubs, how he was framed on a drug charge, and his travels throughout Europe, where he first gained worldwide fame.

Extremely rare, never repeated special starring Mary Tyler Moore, Ben Vereen, Doug Kershar, Arthur Fiedler, The Manhattan Transfer. “A special in which the vivacious Mary Tyler Moore acts out her wildest fantasies. Lot’s of big dance numbers reminds us that Mary started her career as a dancer. Moore sings and dances to rock, pop, and classical pieces in a show that's drawn from the Bible and fleshed out with allegory about man's creation, fall and rebirth. The show takes the form of surrealistic dream sequences that range from the fanciful to the solemn, and that have Mary playing the roles of angel, devil and woman." Manhattan Transfer does "Sympathy for the Devil," perhaps worth the price of admission right there.”

Famous singer Fanny Brice has divorced her first husband Nicky Arnstein. During the Great Depression she has trouble finding work as an artist, but meets Billy Rose, a newcomer who writes lyrics and owns a nightclub.

A gas is let loose upon the world that kills anyone over 25 years old.

Taxi dancer, Charity continues to have faith in the human race despite apparently endless disappointments at its hands, and hope that she will finally meet the nice young man to romance her away from her sleazy life.