Date: June 3rd, 2023

Even legends used to have other names. This one, in fact, was born John Roger Stephens.

The Wolf Trap Filene Center in Vienna, Virginia, hosted two nights this weekend of the one-man solo show “An Evening With John Legend.” The master pianist and songwriter walked to center stage at 8 p.m. sharp, before many of the Wolf Trap’s patrons had even found their seats. Resplendent in a white suite and matching sneakers, Legend sat at the grand piano to tickle the ivories. Beaming with that winning smile, he commenced with “Save Room” from his 2006 album “Once Again,” followed by “Tonight (Best You Ever Had)” from 2012’s “Think Like a Man.” “Take My Hand Precious Lord” had many in the audience standing and swaying in ecstasy as Legend played the old spiritual.

With nothing else on the stage but his piano, Legend was “backed” by a large screen that projected visual effects during the early songs; it would come into much use throughout the evening as literal and figurative backdrop to Legend’s many tales from across his rather unique journey.

Legend leaned warmly into his microphone between the early songs to share details of his young life, when he was in fact known as John Stephens growing up in Ohio. His entire family was involved in his Pentecostal church, most notably his mother, who led the choir, and his grandmother, who also taught Legend how to play piano.

Old family photos popped up behind the artist on the screen as he related anecdotes of his young life. Ever the professional, Legend narrated this walk through his childhood, never saying “um,” and thus making his monologue seem spontaneous and unrehearsed—even the painful parts. Legend shared that after his grandmother’s sudden death at age 58, his mother divorced his father, walked out on the children and became addicted to drugs.

Due to his mother’s absence, young John, just 13, became his church’s new choir director.

These were traumatic memories indeed, which Legend used as the springboard for a spirited cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” This was followed by a bluesy take on Stevie Wonder’s “Ribbon in the Sky” and Legend’s own “Stay With You”—both of which showcased the heavy gospel influence the performer absorbed during his youth.

Shortly thereafter, Legend shared one of those stranger-than-fiction tales, relating that Wonder himself—one of young John’s idols—later attended his wedding to Chrissy Teigen in Italy. Wonder even performed that day, setting the bar rather high, Legend said, for himself to sing to his new wife—an anecdote he left purposefully on a cliffhanger to resolve later in the show.

Legend also stated that his own life’s trajectory to stardom is impossible to tell without acknowledging the contributions of Kanye West—another guest at Legend and Teigen’s wedding. This drew a knowing hiss-chuckle from the Wolf Trap crowd, seated as they were less than 20 miles from the White House where Ye used to frequently hold court with a certain former president. Though the couple has since fallen out with Ye, without his early guidance and networking, Legend said, his career would likely have been far less successful.

While studying at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Legend’s roommate happened to have a cousin by the name of Lauryn Hill, who was recording her seminal “Miseducation” album at her home in New Jersey. The cousin urged Legend to “show your stuff” on the piano, which led to Hill inviting him to play on her song “Everything Is Everything,” on which he was credited as “John R. Stephens” because he thought the extra initial “sounded cool.” When asked by a record honcho how much he wanted for the gig, the young man sheepishly responded “$500,” which elicited a hearty chuckle from the audience.

At another recording session with Ye for “College Dropout,” the Chicago poet J. Ivy started referring to the musician as “John the Legend,” which eventually led to his stage name—but which also required “getting permission” from a porn producer by the name “Johnny Legend,” who moonlighted as a rockabilly singer, so long both men agreed not to step on one another’s territory. (“I’ve certainly never tried to make porn,” Legend clucked.)

Legend continued the evening with rather passionate covers of “God Only Knows” by the Beach Boys and Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” before decamping for the wings for a 20-minute intermission.

He returned, this time in a dark gray suit, for a second half that included Legend’s own compositions “Used to Love U,” “She Don’t Have to Know” and “Ordinary People.” Stagehands set up a turntable near his piano, and thus when Legend dropped the needle, he was accompanied by a recorded “band” as he sang “Wonder Woman,” written about the many strong women in his life, be it his wife, his grandmother or even his own mother—whom he shared was eventually able to get sober and is now present in Legend’s life as a doting grandmother to his and Teigen’s own children. Legend’s voice went into a high falsetto on “Wonder Woman,” but never did he seem to be stretching or straining.

After covering both “By Your Side” by Sade and Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song,” Legend sang “Glory,” a song he and Common wrote for the movie “Selma”—and which won the pair an Oscar. Legend emphasized that, as was true for the subject of “Selma,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it is crucial that the performer use his own platform to continue advocating for voting rights and civil justice. (He also drew one of the night’s largest cheers when he decried ongoing efforts at banning certain books from school libraries.) He also trotted out “Nervous,” the lyrics of which made us mere mortals feel at least a little bit better knowing that this incredibly talented and wealthy man, despite all of his success, is still human.

As the evening drew toward its close, Legend said he couldn’t possibly leave without singing “All of Me.” He told the Wolf Trap gathered that he sang it in Teigen’s ear the day he composed it, which brought her to tears. Indeed, this was also the song he performed at their own wedding, and which has subsequently become a staple at many other weddings, “probably for some of you,” Legend said to the Wolf Trap fans—and thus completing the arc of the tale he had commenced earlier about his wedding. His subsequent performance of “All of Me” was flawless.

Legend asked if the crowd would “mind” one more tune from his latest album “Legend.” As he tapped out the final notes on the piano, the singer stood at his bench, again flashed that multimillion-dollar smile, bowed and walked to the wings.

A legend indeed.