The true story of Ben Vereen’s highly controversial performance for the 1981 Ronald Reagan’s Presidential Inaugural
The true story of Ben Vereen’s highly controversial performance for the 1981 Ronald Reagan’s Presidential Inaugural Gala paying tribute to the pioneering African American entertainer, Bert Williams depicting the journey of Blackface Vaudeville to “Modern Day”is told in the play UNTIL, UNTIL, UNTIL produced by award winning visual artist Edgar Arceneaux. Following Vereen’s performance of “Chicken George” in ROOTS, journey to Africa with Alex Haley, then performing the two part tribute for the President-Elect Arceneaux shares with Sunny how ABC edited the performance to completely destroy the beautifully heartbreaking re-creation of the pre-eminent, famous Bert Williams. Arceneaux’s play attempts to set the record straight about one of the most controversial performances in recent history.