Benjamin is bringing his touring piano bar performance, Grandstand/Piano Pop Icons, back to the area. The show is March 16 at the Miami Valley Community Concert Association, 5800 Clyo Road, Centerville. Tickets are on sale now.
The performance is said to combine two different shows he’s done in the past, and is an extended version of his cruise ship shows. It’s a celebration of music history and legacy singer-songwriter pianists, like Billy Joel, Carole King, Elton John, Nina Simone, Randy Newman and others.
Accompanied by a live band, Benjamin commands the keyboard as he infuses timeless hits with his trademark high-energy, upbeat showmanship, a sprinkling of antics and a dash of charm.
The classics will span from the 1950s to the 21st century, with the show’s goal offering recognizable songs that people can clap and sing along with, and have a good time.
“In my time traveling, music is the universal language,” Benjamin said. “It was so fun, being with passengers from all over the world that would come together. That oneness, that unity for everybody there in that room is magical. There’s a point in the show where I drop out the piano and I just let the audience take over. It moves me every single time.”
His father, a piano instructor, gave Benjamin months of lessons when he was younger. The joke was that he wasn’t making enough with his day job to pay for the lessons (he was six years old at the time), but Benjamin kept gravitating to the piano on his own over the years, learning to play by ear with occasional coaching.
He was eventually recruited to play in the praise band at Epiphany Lutheran Church in Centerville, where he learned to play from charts.
“I like to say that my career as a pianist came along by saying yes to things that I probably should have said no to,” Benjamin said. “But because I said yes, and pushed myself to get to the level where I was, I felt like I was supposed to be there.”
He pursued musical theater at Wright State University, becoming the de facto accompanist for the student-run theater lab on campus. Benjamin cut his teeth playing cabarets, accompanying a church choir and enjoying the collaborative musical process — all while studying acting at WSU.
Upon graduating, he moved to New York City. His uncle told him “what gets measured gets done,” so he set some goals and kept an audition journal to track his progress.
There was an appointment-only audition call for a cruise ship singer who could play piano — two qualities Benjamin possessed. He showed up without an appointment, auditioned and got a call back that day. He was on a flight to England for rehearsals within the week.
“I just never would have imagined that this is where I’d be and what my life experiences would be,” Benjamin said. “I just consider myself so fortunate for all of that. To have been able to do what I love to do for all these years has been such a blessing.”
He’s been to 50 countries and two dozen states because of his work on cruise ships. His theater training has honed his piano act’s ebb and flow, and the gigging as a dueling pianist and piano bar entertainer has allowed him to amass a repertoire of over 700 songs.
Benjamin and his wife, who is also a cruise ship entertainer, have been on land now for the last 15 months. They live in Charlotte, N.C.
“I think of younger Ian as almost a completely different person,” Benjamin said. “I was a theater kid back then. Now I’m like the piano player music guy.”
Brandon Berry writes about the Dayton and Southwest Ohio music and art scene. Have a story idea for him? Email branberry100@gmail.com.
HOW TO GO
What: Ian Benjamin’s Grandstand/Piano Pop Icons show
When: 7:30 p.m., March 16
Where: Sinclair Centerville Campus, 5800 Clyo Rd., Centerville
Cost: $35
Tickets: mvcconcert.org
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