Company Original London Cast album

I was listening to the original London cast recording of Company today, and I was wondering if anyone knew if the rerecorded everything, or just dubbed new players over the existing tracks? Most of it sounds the same, so I'm thinking it was the latter, though I'm not sure.

---

Thanks! I knew it all sounded VERY familiar.

---

No.

Unless the cast is noticeably different, most London productions didn't have a cast album. COMPANY basically had the same cast and they just overdubbed Larry Kert's vocals over Dean Jones'. Elaine Stritch was also in the cast, so no need to touch "The Ladies Who Lunch".

The London casts of BYE BYE BIRDIE and SWEET CHARITY did have brand-new cast recordings because they were completely new casts (aside from Chita in BIRDIE).

"Barcelona" was re-recorded. If you listen to any of Larry Kert's tracks you can hear Dean Jones faintly in the background. Larry Kert was obviously in a smaller studio - he sounds very removed from th rest of the cast.

The album was put together in New York in November 1970, but never released in the U.S. Only in London where it had a limited release. Sony West End issue it on CD in 1994, but only in the U.K. and Canada and it too was quickly deleted.

Some dealers charge unheard of amounts for this recording and frankly it is not worth it. Apply to collectors for CD-R copies.

---

The Broadway Masterworks re-issue of the Original Broadway Cast Recording only included Larry Kert's "Being Alive" track.

The Broadway Cast Album of "Company" was one of CBS' first recordings using their new SQ quadraphonic 4 channel process. The vocals were recorded on separate isolated tracks to achieve this mix. Since the London production of "Company" included virtually the same cast as the Broadway one, including the fabulous Larry Kert, who took over the role of Bobby very soon after the Broadway opening (and was even Tony nominated for his performance), the CBS engineers recorded Kert's vocals to and simply substituted them in place of Dean Jones (who opened the show and appears on the official Broadway Cast Album) on the existing Broadway orchestral tracks. At the time of Kert’s dubbing his vocals, it was decided that Barcelona had to be re-recorded completely because the timing on Kert’s delivery of the song could not be matched to that of Dean Jones’ track. This involved the participation of Susan Browning, who recorded the new vocal with Kert. Kert recorded his vocals at the same studio used for the original cast recording sessions under the supervision of the original album producer, Thomas Z Shepherd. The illusion of Kert appearing isolated from the other vocalists is an artifact of the SQ recording system and the fact that Kert was not allowed much leeway in interpretation as he had to match his voice to the pre-existing tracks recorded with the vastly inferior Dean Jones. This does not diminish the fact that, regardless of how it was accomplished, Kert's brilliant performances of the songs in Company both on stage and on this recording have never been surpassed, not even by Raul Esparza in the new 2006 Broadway revival production and the only record we have of Kert's definitive Bobby is the combination Broadway/London album, which deserves to be reissued by Sony on CD and made available worldwide. With Kert replacing the super dull Dean Jones, the combination Broadway Cast Recording of Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY is transformed into the finest recording of this score ever and as such is one of the greatest recordings of the 20th. Century.

In 1972 in London, another recording was made of Barcelona with Kert and Julia McKenzie, which was to replace the New York track with Browning. By the time this new recording of the song was completed, CBS had already released the so called London Cast LP with the Kert-Browning Barcelona track. The version with McKenzie has never been released to my knowledge, although McKenzie recorded the song again with David Kernan for “Side by Side by Sondheim in 1976.

---

Updated On: 6/13/08 at 04:02 AM

TotallyEffed said: "Does anyone know if this album is available anywhere? Would love to hear it."

would like to know too

No luck on eBay

cannot find it on Spotify or apple music either

The title number

Updated On: 12/27/21 at 09:48 AM

And yes, of course, Larry Kert and Susan Browning overlaid their dialogue track during TICK-TOCK.

A wonderful Susan Browning story goes here. I waited at the stage door after the reunion concert at the Vivian Beaumont. When Susan came out we chatted. and, through my tears, I expressed my disappointment at having missed COMPANY the first time around, but now I felt I had finally seen it. She took my hand and said "Oh, honey, come with me". She took me backstage and made sure I met everyone in the cast. Even Elaine Stritch was nice and gracious. (I was with Susan and everyone assumed we were friends.)

---

Is there a planned release for the Broadway cast?

When did this thread change from the 1972 London Cast recording to the 2018 London Cast recording?

---