How Did Dean Jones Ever Get Cast In COMPANY?

I have never seen or listened to Company and know nothing about it, but it seems that it's all anybody talks about here.

Nobody else substantial auditioned?

I HATE that his shitty voice is on the cast album.

I'm not complaining about his performance, which many speak well of. I mean that he had no track record on Broadway. Why not get Larry Kert in the first place . . .

And why did Hal Prince let him go so easily?

Anthony Perkins was originally cast, and his name prominently featured in the ads.

Then Perkins was out, and Jones was in.

I saw Jones in the show, twice. First, when it was trying out in Boston. Then a few weeks later, in New York. He was wonderful, endearing and vulnerable. You perfectly understood why his friends were so devoted.

It's turkey lerky time. . .

Tick Tock, r6, Tick...

I Blame That Darned Cat.

Perkins would have been perfect. So Jones is somehow the emergency replacement? How?

[quote]Perkins would have been perfect.

Really? Many people feel there was always a creepy subtext to his performances, and I don't think it was just because of Norman Bates. I think maybe it had more to do with the fact that he was a gay man living in terror in a closet.

Perkins would have seemed too obviously gay to the sophisticated Broadway audiences to whom the show was aimed. I'm actually surprised he was ever considered.

And I have a feeling pass-around-bottom Larry Kert had too much....ahem.... "history" with some of the creative team to be considered a first choice.

Great thread title, OP!

We needed another Theatre Gossip alternative now that the Breakfast at Tiffany's/MTM thread is dying out and this has possibilities.

I'm also surprised by the choice of Dean Jones as he would have seemed in 1969 like just a failed TV sitcom star who'd never even get an audition for a big new Broadway musical.

Dean was going through a horrible divorce and asked to be released. Prince asked him to open the show and they come up with an excuse for the press. I think the excuse was......hepatitis?????

Perkins...

Deanie, Denny, Den, D, Dino, Denu, Deane, Dee…

Hell, how did he get cast in ANYTHING?

Perhaps his brother James Earl pulled a few strings.

Dean Jones in the behind-the-scenes footage is unsettling. He has an arrogant, sinister demeanor and reminds me of the serial killer Ted Bundy.

^^ Here’s the link… even the song lyrics sound like they were written Ted Bundy. Creepy!

IIRC from one of the numerous DL threads on Tony Perkins he was involved with "Company" from concept onwards when thing was to be a play. Once it switched to a musical TP lost interest and had other pokers in the fire so to speak so got out. Producers needed another name with with they believed was strong enough drawing power who could play the lead, and Dean Jones was chosen.

Contrary to popular lie put about, Dean Jones likely did not leave Company due to personal issues; rather he just didn't like the thing even after changes were made.

"I mean that he had no track record on Broadway. "

You are not very well informed....

More...

For record while extremely rare Larry Kert being nominated for Tony even though he did not do OBC production or recording wasn't only instance.

Handsome and talented late David Carroll was due to record OBC for "Grand Hotel", but sadly due to copyright issues things dragged on. By time dust settled and recording began Mr. Carroll was gravely ill with HIV/AIDS related issues. Though an attempt was made Mr. Carroll was so unwell during recording he excused himself to use the loo where the man collapsed and died.

" Carroll was originally supposed to do the cast album. He thought he was well enough to do so and they were going to bring him in by himself to do his parts as he could. Sadly, the first day of recording he began to feel unwell soon after starting. He went to the restroom, collapsed, and died of a pulminary embolism there on the rest room floor. I guess the one saving grace is he pretty much died doing what he loved. ,

Dean Jones was astonishingly great in Company.

And Being Alive is pretty much a perfect examination of how love works in real life.

Larger question is how did George Chakiris ever get cast in Company?

Because Herbie the Love Bug couldn’t carry a tune.

Sondheim stated in a new interview for The Criterion Collection release that after decades of productions of Company the performance of "Being Alive" by Dean Jones was still his favorite.

Why wouldn't he, r25?

Chakiris was a charismatic and talented dancer, not a great actor or singer, in spite of his Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

His singing was passable, r29, and if a character ever needed charisma, it's Bobby.

Where did you hear Chakiris sing, r30?

R31. He has tons of albums (@4 or 5) released during the late 50’s - mid 60’s. (When anyone on bway would get to do albums) Re: Dean Jones: he was uncomfortable with the material - big God freak & as mentioned, a bad divorce. (but he did return for the reunion) Re: anthony perkins. Perkins was sondheim’s bestie (late 60’s) He was in the tv special/musical evening primrose. Together they wrote the last of sheila (something like that) & two other unproduced mystery screenplays.

Not great, r31, but certainly passable.

r31 was prepared for a gotcha moment hoping you’d say West Side Story

R1 I cannot believe this! I absolutely LOVE Company, have the album, from time to time playing a song or two from it on youtube, people think I'm out of it for referring to it but I just loved those songs. IF it's always being talked about around here than I need to bunk in because I've never known anyone else that loved it like I do.

For the record I liked Dean Jones in it. I get the idea 'why' but I think he had a certain kind of charm that he was a single man whom everyone could love, kind of fastidious, polite, intelligent. His Being alive was very moving. Jack Lemmon could maybe have also pulled it off, kind of that type.

Wow.

[quote]Jack Lemmon could maybe have also pulled it off, kind of that type.

Why on earth did you pick him of all people? Jack Lemmon was great at what he did, but he was always so mannered and affected and frequently manic in his performances, which is the opposite of what Bobby in COMPANY needs to be.

Well, I see that, ok. I picked Lemmon because of his fastidiousness, affable nature, attractiveness, the friend everyone wanted to be, to be with. Side by side by side. I never thought of him as manic. Yeah, Lemmon might've changed the role a bit off skew.

Another suggestion, Jon Hamm?

Dean Jones never seemed like a native New Yorker or even someone who grew up in the northeast so perhaps that was something that really appealed to Prince, Sondheim and Furth. You could imagine Jones as Bobby moving to Manhattan after college and becoming a bit overwhelmed and needing looking after by older NYers.

His midwestern quality gave him a Jimmy Stewart sort of vibe, unlike Larry Kert, as a first choice Bobby, or someone like Jerry Orbach, John Cunningham, Bert Convy, Tony Roberts, for a few examples of youngish musical theater leading men of the time.

Larry Kert was not terribly likeable on stage. He also wasn't much of an actor.

Jones was from Alabama. Nothing Midwestern about him.

That’s so sad about David Carroll.

I can’t imagine 1982-1997.

The people lost is staggering!

I just assumed he was putting out for someone on the creative team.

OK, Alabama, r40.

But to native NYers like Prince and Sondheim, especially back in 1970, Alabama and the Midwest were essentially the same thing. They're not NY.

And Jimmy Stewart was from Pennsylvania and went to Princeton. It's not about the reality but about the vibe.

R44 That's why Stewart was able to pull off belonging with the smart set in The Philidelphia Story.

Company is an awful show. I don't understand the DL obsession with it but I thought Dean Jones did a fine job with the material. He was handsome, masculine and had a nice enough voice. More importantly though he brought the passion required for the role. His strengths were his acting and interpretation of the songs.

Obvious gay boys would not have worked in the role of Bobby at that time. Sondheim was always adamant that the character was NOT gay! In recent decades it seems like nothing but gay boys play the role... hell there is even a woman playing the part now on Broadway. Times achangin....?

Straight Boyd Gaines and Aaron Tveit and even gay Raul Esparza and Neil Patrick Harris did not come off as particularly gay in 4 major COMPANY revivals.

[quote}That's why Stewart was able to pull off belonging with the smart set in The Philadelphia Story.

He was a tabloid magazine reporter, r45, not part of the *smart set*.

A gay boy played the lead for most of the original production(s) so what's new, Mary?

Did he intrude in nudist parties?

I'm not a huge musical theater fan but I love Company. The original cast album is brilliant, not a single bad song.

I saw a broadcast of the NPH concert version. "Not Getting Married Today" aside, my companion was not impressed.

Being Alive is sung by a woman. Why did Dean Jones sing it?

I don't think Patti LuPone would have tolerated Dean's performance in the show.

I feel like I've seen one entirely good COMPANY, just never all in one performance. I've seen all the scenes work at one point or other – every production seems to have ones that hit and miss. Didn't see this last revival. I'm of the opinion that the show should be set in 1970, use the original orchestrations and not add "Marry Me A Little" which adds nothing. If anything I'd add "Happily Ever After" to end Act One but I prefer just getting to intermission, it's a long-ass show for having no plot. Still, I give 1970 audiences credit for making it something of a hit way before Sondheim meant anything in particular. "Normal" people went to see it and clearly liked it enough to keep it open for a while years before there was a cult.

As much as I've always liked Madeline Kahn her Not getting married today can't compare with Beth Howland's, she was brilliant.

I prefer Madeline's line readings.

[Quote] it's a long-ass show for having no plot.

R54 That is probably my biggest problem with COMPANY. I think it would have worked better as a One Act Play. WTF come back after an intermission? We get it, the queer doesn't wanna get married! And I don't care what anyone says, Bobby is gay. We don't need 2 Acts for that. All the songs are stupid except "Being Alive."

Bless your heart, r57.

Interesting theory, R38, but I really don't think it matters much or at all whether Bobby is a native New Yorker, a longtime New Yorker, or has just recently moved to the city. The point is that he's a very attractive guy who naturally attracts a lot of friends and also a lot of women as romantic/sexual partners. For that matter, I don't think we should assume how many of Bobby's friends are native or longtime New Yorkers.

Company and FOLLIES unfortunately lose an element that only their original productions had. They were in the moment. Now they're period pieces. Company reflected NYC life as it was in 1970 and the show felt contemporary. Now it doesn't. The FOLLIES cast performed in real time. The actors were the same age as their characters in 1971. The audiences (well, most of them) got the references in I'm Still Here.

One take. ONE TAKE.

Incorrect, R61. Although I love Dean Jones's performance of "Being Alive" on the cast album, the famous documentary about the recording sessions makes it clear that there was, in fact, more than one take of the number.

R61, not sure what you mean by "one take". During the recording of the cast album, Dean Jones had to do multiple takes before everyone was happy with Being Alive. Skip to the 28 minute mark.

Another hundred people got off of the train and Steve wanted lunch and he closed his eyes, pointed and said, "That one," and everyone fell into line.

Of course Dean was amenable to the "intensive series of auditions" in the Sondheim dungeonette. Although he later bent over for Jebus. Ka-Ching.

Dean Jones reminds me very much of ——

I’ve posted this on DL before, but I saw the original “Company” twice, first the Boston tryout, then a few weeks later in New York, both times with Dean Jones. Boston was rocky, with a number of people around me getting up and leaving.

This happened in Act II. The whole cocktail lounge scene was longer. At one point, Stritch lights a cigarette, then announces everyone there should have ten cartons of cigarettes, delivered to each of them. So, for the next ten minutes or so, waiters are actually seen, carrying trays piled with cartons of cigarettes to every other person seated there. Pointless.

Then, when Stritch stands to sing “Ladies who Lunch,” she’s slurring her words, then goes blank. The conductor audibly prompts her, and she continues haltingly. Already, people around me are leaving.

The end was totally different. No one sings the final song listed in the Playbill, “Married Alive.” Instead, Bobby never arrives at his party, and his perplexed friends leave, parting to reveal Bobby, standing next to a very pretty young blonde woman in a sheepskin jacket. Bobby says something like, “Isn’t it great up here at midnight at the Empire State Building?” She agrees. They gaze at each other. Curtain.

About two or three weeks later, I saw the show in New York, at a matinee, no less! Gone were the cigarettes and the blonde. Stritch was letter perfect. And Dean Jones sang “Being Alive,” and tore your heart out.

A perfect gem of a show.

R66 is a hateful cunt

"The people lost is staggering.."

You don't know the half of it dearie.

Recall watching some PBS program (on Broadway musicals?) where they covered La Cage Aux Folles and interviewed one of the OBC stars (believe it was George Hearn). He spoke of how wonderful the show was and that people were (cast, crew, etc...) were shocked at how well box office and PR was going considering what La Cage was about coupled with fact HIV/AIDs crisis was going on (with ensuing hate in some quarters against gays).

Mr. Hearn then went on about how HIV/AIDs affected La Cage.... Basically saying nearly every other day or so notice board backstage listed so and so was ill, or so and so had died. One by one Mr. Hearn said so many of the male dancers and cast members simply vanished (ill or died).

This wasn't just La Cage, but up an down Broadway, Lincoln Center, across entire performing arts profession all over USA (and world for that matter) almost an entire generation of men simply vanished.

At 19:25 Fran Lebowitz explains how AIDS devastated our culture by not just killing off so many talented creative people, but also killing off a discerning audience who were kind of the gatekeepers of culture, and these losses had a tremendously negative impact on the arts and pop culture in general.. We as a society have never recovered from this loss.

She says some good stuff about 'the aristocracy of culture' around 20 minutes.

Dean was fine but Larry Kert is the only guy who could make me want to do the matinees. He was a sweetie.

Dean Jones came away rather lightly dealt with at OBC recording for Company. It was Elaine Stritch you wanted to feel sorry for; dead last and several attempts.

*

Dean Jones was handsome and talented.

Was he a homophobe?

Was he a member of the Ku Klux Klan?

I liked him in the Ugly Dachshund

I'm so old I remember seeing Dean Jones for the first time in a sitcom called ENSIGN O'TOOLE around 1962. IIRC it was all or mostly men in the cast and sort of a MR.ROBERTS/ENSIGN PULVER rip off and lasted a season.

He was cute!

Did Dick Kallman do COMPANY?

Dean Jones hated gay people—lesbians especially—and did COMPANY because he needed a job. He ran away as soon as his bank balance hit a reassuring level. He hated spending time in NYC and the Broadway “atmosphere.” He did respect Sondheim, whom he regarded as “not like the others.”

How do you know all that about Dean, r80? Are you a friend of Barbara Barrie?

[quote] I'm so old I remember seeing Dean Jones for the first time in a sitcom called ENSIGN O'TOOLE around 1962.

R78 I, too am so old that I remember seeing Dean Jones in the movie version of the play "Under the Yum Yum Tree," which was released in 1963 when I was a kid. I was so attracted to him that I could barely take my eyes off of him any time he was on the screen. I reacted the same way to Albert Finney in the movie "Tom Jones" that was also released in 1963. I guess 1963 was a banner year for me in my gayling development. Movie screens were so large in those days that anyone you were attracted to on the screen kind of enveloped you, especially if you were seated close to the screen. I think that intensified the feelings I had, so much so that I still remember them 60 years later!

R82, I others might say "Mary!" But I actually loved your post :-)

Not a very dynamic opening...

Did the Ensign have plenty...?

I guess what the original question was - sort of - what originally was the “Six Degrees of Separation” that brought Dean Jones & Company together - instead of Bert Convy, Stuart Damon, Robert Reed, Tony Roberts, Dick Gautier, etc - But I guess the same could be said for Lee Remick in Anyone Can Whistle. I mean they are going through lists of names - Dean Jones although a great choice, is still an odd choice

Bill Bixby or Larry Hagman circa 1970 as Bobby