Question about Larry Kert and the original Company

[NativeNYer2]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 1:35am

Larry Kert was nominated for the Tony, but the album of the OBC has Dean Jones. I am sure this was discussed somewhere in the history of this board, but can someone explain how this happened?

 

Also, are there other instances of someone getting nominated for a Tony but not being on the recording?

[Rudy2]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 2:13am

NativeNYer2 said: "Larry Kert was nominated for the Tony, but the album of the OBC has Dean Jones. I am sure this was discussed somewhere in the history of this board, but can someone explain how this happened?



Also, are there other instances of someone getting nominated for a Tony but not being on the recording?"


My understanding is that Dean Jones recorded the cast album with the original cast pretty quickly but abruptly left the show relatively early in the run with Hal Prince’s blessing, so early in fact that when Larry Kert replaced him it was deemed that he would be eligible for the nomination as well as Jones.

I know it’s certainly uncommon, but I don’t know if this was the only time such a thing happened.

Updated On: 1/21/22 at 02:13 AM

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 2:44am

Also, are there other instances of someone getting nominated for a Tony but not being on the recording?"
Judy Kuhn was nominated for a Tony for the 1993 revival of She Loves Me, but Diane Fratantoni sang the role in the cast recording. But this was the opposite case of what happened with Company, since they recorded the album many months into the run and Kuhn had already left. 

But Larry Kert remains the only person nominated for a Tony in a role they didn't perform on opening night

[NativeNYer2]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 7:03am

Does anyone know why Dean Jones left?

[The Other One]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 7:07am

The revival of She Loves Me originally opened at the Roundabout/Criterion for a limited engagement.  It was so successful that it was decided to move it to a Broadway theatre for an open-ended run.  I believe that Judy Kuhn's pregnancy made it impossible for her to continue beyond the original closing date.  Members of the nominating committee had seen her performance although she had left before the cast album was recorded.

There is only one other Tony nominee I can think of who did not record his role for the show's Original Cast Recording, David Carroll of Grand Hotel.  He left the show shortly into its run because he had AIDS and died just as the album was about to be recorded two years later. The recording delay stemmed from copyright issues as some of the score had been written by Wright and Forrest for an earlier incarnation of the show.  A real shame on several levels; Carroll was glorious in the role.

There are two other instances I can think of in which an original cast member is not on the Original Cast recording, but neither of them were Tony nominees: Howard da Sylva on 1776 (I believe he had a heart attack and recuperated during the first month of the show's run), and Christopher Innvar on A New Brain (I believe vocal difficulties forced him to leave the cast and his role was recorded by his replacement, Norm Lewis).

Updated On: 1/21/22 at 07:07 AM

[JasonC3]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 7:08am

NativeNYer2 said: "Does anyone know why Dean Jones left?"

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=why+did+dean+jon+es+leave+company

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 7:19am

JasonC3 said: "NativeNYer2 said: "Does anyone know why Dean Jones left?"

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=why+did+dean+jon+es+leave+company"

Shortly after opening night, he withdrew from the show, due to stress that he was undergoing from ongoing divorce proceedings.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 7:21am

JasonC3 said: "NativeNYer2 said: "Does anyone know why Dean Jones left?"

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=why+did+dean+jon+es+leave+company"

Unnecessary. No one made you come to this thread.

[quizking101]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 7:59am

imeldasturn said: "Also, are there other instances of someone getting nominated for a Tony but not being on the recording?"
Judy Kuhn was nominated for a Tony for the 1993 revival of She Loves Me, but Diane Fratantoni sang the role in the cast recording. But this was the opposite case of what happened with Company, since they recorded the album many months into the run and Kuhn had already left.

But Larry Kert remains the only person nominated for a Tony in a role they didn't perform on opening night"

Exactly. Although the next closest example I could think of is the original ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. While Madeline Kahn was nominated for the Tony Award and recorded the OCR, she left the show 9 weeks after opening alleging “vocal issues”. Judy Kaye, her understudy, ended up being the nominee for the Drama Desk Award that year and not Kahn

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 8:56am

Dean Jones was miserably unhappy. He was going through a rough divorce and hated New York City. Hal Prince was empathetic to this and told him he’d let him leave the show very quickly after opening. This deal was made under the conditions that Jones perform the role on opening night and do the cast recording (and give it his all). Dean was shocked and agreed, and Larry Kert took over the role full time.

Company was a game changer and a huge sensation, breaking the record for most Tony nominations ever at the time. I suspect that that momentum and cultural impact is what led to Larry Kert getting nominated, despite the unique circumstances. Barely anyone even saw Dean Jones do it live.

[JasonC3]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 11:29am

iluvtheatertrash said: "JasonC3 said: "NativeNYer2 said: "Does anyone know why Dean Jones left?"

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=why+did+dean+jon+es+leave+company"

Unnecessary. No one made you come to this thread."

I get what you seem to have assumed, but you're off base.

It was 7 a.m. and I had just come off a redeye cross-country flight. I guess I could have typed the same response you get from that Google link ... which is where I went to confirm my recollection of the reason was correct.

I posted a link with an answer to the question being posed.  There was no snarky comment attached to doing so.

Updated On: 1/21/22 at 11:29 AM

[morosco]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 12:55pm

While we're on the subject, does anyone know why Jacquey Maltby sings in place of Donna Murphy on the Song of Singapore cast recording? This show was Murphy's big break and she received raves.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 12:57pm

I am fairly certain that the reason Judy Kuhn didn't continue with SHE LOVES ME in its transfer is because she was already committed to doing SUNSET BOULEVARD in Los Angeles. The reason she didn't go to Broadway with SUNSET is because of her pregnancy.

[saxpower]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 1:31pm

There is only one other Tony nominee I can think of who did not record his role for the show's Original Cast Recording,David Carroll of Grand Hotel.He left the show shortly into its run because he had AIDS and died just as the album was about to be recorded two years later. The recording delay stemmed from copyright issues as some of the score had been written by Wright and Forrest for an earlier incarnation of the show. A real shame on several levels; Carroll was glorious in the role.
 

 

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. ,

The album DOES have a live recording of Caroll doing the Baron's "big song"- "Love Can't Happen" from a cabaret performance.   Obviously not the best recording quality, but at least its some part of his performance. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 2:13pm

 

[JBroadway]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 2:33pm

It's worth noting that we kinda have another example happening this season:

Colin Bates will be Tony-eligible for his performance in "Girl From The North Country," despite having not performed the role on Opening Night. Colton Ryan (Bates' predecessor) won't be eligible, for the same reason the production wasn't eligible for these past Tonys: not enough of the nominating committee had time to see him before the pandemic closures. 

Whether he'll be nominated or not is a totally different question, but it's interesting to note the unusual circumstance regardless. 

[justoldbill]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 4:04pm

While these two examples have nothing to do with the Tonys, remember Mary Sue Berry subbing on the CAMELOT recording for an indisposed Marjorie Smith's Nimue and, of course, Stephen Sondheim's "You ain't getting eighty-eight cents from ME, Rose" for an unnotified Erv Harmon on the GYPSY recording (he had no vocals, and was not on Columbia's call sheet for the recording).

Also, it's my blurry memory reminding me that Larry Kert's involvement as stand-by was from the get-go (probably for an eventual tour).  A lucky call for everyone involved.  It was, no doubt, Hal Prince who made possible Kert's Tony nomination and the subsequent "London Cast" album.  Remember, Larry Kert had just wound up his Broadway engagement of CABARET for Prince.

 

[The Other One]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 5:29pm

Thank you, BrodyFosse, for posting that wonderful memento of David Carroll and Michael Jeter at the Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1989.  How bittersweet it was to see David watch Michael perform it (beautifully) with Brent Barrett at the Tonys six and half months later.  I am very fortunate to have seen Grand Hotel early enough to have seen David and he was wonderful.

I knew the story of the recording session, saxpower.  It is such a sad one.

QueenAlice, I think you are right.  I never cared a stitch about Sunset Boulevard and always forget it ever happened.  Apologies to its fans.

Updated On: 1/22/22 at 05:29 PM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 5:45pm

What happens if an understudy for Joaquina Kalukango or Noah Reid (or anyone) performs on Opening Night and/or press performances due to Covid? Is the understudy considered the lead of the show for awards purposes since they technically performed on Opening Night? Is there a policy in place, or will the League have to make clarifications this spring?

(Obviously if the sick person in question is Billy Crystal or Daniel Craig, they just cancel the show; but if the actor isn't selling tickets and they have a half-rehearsed understudy, then the show must go on)

[normadesmond2]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 6:49pm

Teresa Stratas was Tony-nominated for "Rags" but declined to appear on the recording; Julia Migenes took her place.

Cesare Siepi starred opposite Georgia Brown in "Carmelina," but Paul Sorvino took his place on the recording.

Andrea McArdle opened the London production of "Annie," but because McArdle had already recorded the Broadway album, the first (British) Annie replacement got to make the London cast recording.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 1/21/22 at 9:19pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "What happens if an understudy for Joaquina Kalukango or Noah Reid (or anyone) performs on Opening Night and/or press performances due to Covid? Is the understudy considered the lead of the show for awards purposes since they technically performedonOpening Night? Is there a policy in place, or will the League have to make clarifications this spring?

(Obviously if the sick person in question is Billy Crystal or Daniel Craig, they just cancel the show; but if the actor isn't selling tickets and they have a half-rehearsed understudy, then the show must go on)"

I would assume the nominating committee would either take it upon themselves to state that the actual performer is eligible and not the understudy, or the producers would file a petition and the committee would grant it without hesitating. Of course, if I'm not mistaken, most of the rule language centers around what the billing is on the title page of the Playbill as of opening night, in which case the main performer is still billed there, even if an understudy happens to go on for opening night, so it may not be an issue at all.

Back to the question, though she wasn't nominated for a Tony, Joan Jett does not appear on the recording of the Rocky Horror revival due to contractual issues between her record label at the time and the company (RCA, I think?) that was producing the cast recording.

On The Secret Garden cast recording, there are two actors singing Colin's songs. John Babcock, who opened the show, does all of the "book" tracks, as well as "Round Shouldered Man," but his understudy, Joel E. Chaiken, sings "Come to My Garden/Lift Me Up" with Rebecca Luker. I have heard it was because by the time they recorded it John Babcock's voice was already beginning to change and had either already left the show, or would be leaving it soon, and they felt that it would be better to have Joel sing "Lift Me Up" since that had a higher range than "Round Shouldered Man."

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 1/22/22 at 12:30am

On the Beauty and the Beast cast recording, Barbara Marineau is Madame de la Grande Bouche instead of Eleanor Glockner, who originated the role. I don’t know the story there.

At the opening night of the Godspell revival, Julia Mattison performed for an injured Morgan James. I assume Morgan was still eligible for Tony consideration considering show billing; nothing was clarified or mentioned that year during Tony nominating committee eligibility meetings.

[DooWahDiddy]

Posted: 1/22/22 at 9:32am

The Other One said: "...Christopher Innvar on A New Brain (I believe vocal difficulties forced him to leave the cast and his role was recorded by his replacement, Norm Lewis)."

Wasn't there something weird with Songs For a New World, too? Something about Billy Porter not being able to do the album.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/23/22 at 10:57pm

I was 14 when Company opened and quickly became obsessed by it. I ended up seeing it four times: once with Dean Jones and three times with Larry Kert.

The documentary about the making of the album is so powerful and moving, and no one who had ever seen the documentary but NOT the original production will believe me, but onstage Dean Jones was cold and withholding, to the point of being uninvolving. His "Being Alive" was, frankly, unmemorable.

Speaking as someone who saw the original production four times, Larry Kert was far superior.

(And though Stritch was a revelation, Barbara Barrie was my favorite of the women.)

[JBradshaw]

Posted: 1/24/22 at 8:58pm

HeyMrMusic said: "On the Beauty and the Beastcast recording,Barbara Marineau is Madame de la Grande Bouche instead of Eleanor Glockner, who originated the role. I don’t know the story there.
."

BatB in previews was the very first show I saw on Broadway. I remember buying a cast recording and program. 
maybe cause the cast recording was recorded between the tryout and Broadway why the different la Grande?