By Monty Siekerman
Mr. Entertainer, Mr. Energy, Mr. Stamina...take your pick at what you want to call Ben Vereen, but most in the audience Saturday would say he is all three wrapped up in one person.
Vereen gave a two-hour show of song, dance, and humor at the Freed Center for the Performing Arts, earning two standing ovations at the conclusion.
He and three musicians kept the audience entertained with familiar and more recent songs for two hours without intermission.
His experience in acting showed when he could change his expression and emotion from happy to sad in an instant.
His singing ability was evident when he sang songs with each of the instrumentalists. Not often does one hear a solo singer perform with a drummer only. The same with the bass. Ok, you do hear singers accompanied by a piano.
During the trifecta of solos, each instrumentalist was given a moment to shine on his instrument during the solos.
Vereen had the audience singing and clapping to a song that encouraged the performing arts in American society. This was appropriate because the beautiful facility he performed in is named the Freed Center for the Performing Arts. It is doubly appropriate because Vereen is, himself, multitalented.
He said he named this tour "Gratitude" because he is appreciative of the audiences who bought tickets and enjoyed the shows over the years, encouraging him to continue.
He gave Ada a new moniker for the letters A-D-A, Angels Divinely Appear. In fact, he jokingly said Washington D.C. should be renamed Ada...Angels Divinely Appear.
Vereen ended his show with "God Bless America" and one could tell that he has great appreciation for his native land, the United States, and the opportunities it has given to him. By the same token, the audience showed its appreciation of him with applause throughout the show and two standing ovations.
Pictured: Ben Vereen (right) chats with Dylan Wood, operations manager of the Freed Center, and musical theatre major Lexie Kilgore prior to his show in Ada on Saturday.
