NJPAC to Celebrate Ben Vereen’s 80th Birthday With a One-Night Gala at the TD James Moody Jazz Festival
Brian Stokes Mitchell, Lillias White, and Melba Moore join the Tony Award-winning Broadway icon for a one-night-only celebration in Prudential Hall.
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) will host Ben Vereen’s 80th Birthday Concert on Saturday, November 21, 2026, at 8:00 PM in Prudential Hall. The one-night-only gala celebrates the Tony Award-winning Broadway icon, and it is one of the marquee events of the 15th annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival.
Vereen turned 80 in October, and the night is built as a full celebration of his career, with a lineup of Broadway and vocal stars from his own world joining him in Newark. For New Jersey audiences it is a chance to see one of the great all-around entertainers in American theater in a room built for a show of this scale.
Who Is Ben Vereen?
Ben Vereen was born in Miami in 1946 and raised in Brooklyn, New York, where he trained as a dancer and singer before breaking into the New York stage in the late 1960s. He became a Broadway star early in the 1970s, first as Judas in the original Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar and then in the role that made him a legend, the Leading Player in Bob Fosse’s Pippin. That performance won him the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 1973.
Vereen’s reach has always gone beyond the stage. On television, he played Chicken George in the landmark 1977 miniseries Roots, a performance that earned an Emmy nomination and put him in front of one of the biggest audiences in TV history. In film, he appeared in Bob Fosse’s semi-autobiographical All That Jazz in 1979. He has also been a regular in the Fosse world through the revue Fosse, and he later joined the Broadway production of Wicked.
That mix of singing, dancing, acting, and live stage presence is what the birthday concert is meant to celebrate. Vereen’s nightclub and concert work, from Las Vegas to Carnegie Hall, has been a big part of his career, and he is known as a performer who can hold a room with just a song and a story. In 2018 he was among the artists honored at the Kennedy Center Honors.
The Guests
The lineup is filled with Broadway and vocal stars, along with additional special guests who have yet to be announced.
- Brian Stokes Mitchell: The Tony Award-winning baritone is best known for his stage work in Kiss Me, Kate, Ragtime, and Man of La Mancha. He is one of Broadway’s most admired leading men and a longtime concert and recital artist.
- Lillias White: The Tony Award-winning actress and singer won for her role in The Life and has a long list of Broadway, off-Broadway, film, and television credits. She is known for her big, soulful voice.
- Melba Moore: A Tony Award winner for the musical Purlie, Moore has had a long career as a recording artist as well, with R&B hits including “Lean on Me,” her duet with Freddie Jackson.
Event Details
- Date and time: Saturday, November 21, 2026, at 8:00 PM.
- Venue: Prudential Hall at NJPAC, 1 Center Street, Newark, New Jersey.
- Tickets: Prices start around $58 and are available through the NJPAC box office or by calling 1-888-466-5722.
About the TD James Moody Jazz Festival
The concert is part of the 2026 TD James Moody Jazz Festival, which runs from November 6 through November 22 across multiple venues in Newark. The festival is named for the late saxophonist and flutist James Moody, a jazz great known for the standard “Moody’s Mood for Love,” who spent much of his life in New Jersey and was closely tied to Newark and the area’s jazz community.
NJPAC, the festival’s home base, has presented jazz as a core part of its programming since it opened in Newark in 1997. The festival’s 15th year puts a theater legend’s birthday next to the jazz acts that make up the rest of the schedule. Full festival details are on Explore New Jersey.
