Being Alive - Company OBC, 1970 - Dean Jones

[Kaitzgotsong]

3 people are dead...

[catchersmitt0]

this song always makes me cry

[slichvid]

This has to be one of the most intimate and moving Broadway moments ever captured on video. It's x:30 in the am in a winowless studio and Dean gives it everything with the cast, orchestra and production leaders all listeniing in support. Wow.

[1993culver]

He just came and spoke to my university, which was his alma mater.

[Luckygyrl74]

Sondheim is such a brilliant man.

[ritadian1]

I'm probably one of the few who didn't know Dean could sing like that. This is by far the best performance of this song I have ever heard - so much emotion and passion in it that just breaks your heart. Few performers move me like this, and he's now counted among those few.

[TheWrinkleMan]

Mother Fucker Jones. Hah.

[tombrady4399]

Mother Fucker Jones

[stroll221]

1:07.....Time travaling Kevin Spacey?

[andy20912]

Wow -- bravo for Dean Jones! I loved Raul Esperza's version, too, but I think Dean's rendering is hungrier and more desperate!

[dustbiter445]

Just beautiful

[windstorm1000]

I love how Mr. Jone's plays this like the 'everyman'--not like the broadway tenors--you really believe his version--he's going through all these feelings. His enunciation, and tenor voice are great help too! I love the spare orchestration--it doesn't blow away this tender, yet soaring song.

[Loejyrrab]

The definitive performance of this wonderful tune. By far. Dean nailed it bigtime.

[rdelamar1]

Wow!! I have a friend preparing to take on this role, and was not familiar with the show. I have been listening to all these tracks for the last several days, and even though the angst is obvious in the others, this one actually made me cry! Amazing Job!!



[rr7firefly1]

Who is the actor to Dean Jones' right (our left)? He's the guy wearing a black sweatshirt or pullover sweater. Trying to remember his name.

[FocusWiz]

@rr7firefly1 Could it be George Coe you are referring to?

[umaralansari]

Excellent performance by Dean Jones of a wonderful number. :)

[InspectorKaramazov]

He is gorgeous when he sings this, and it just breaks my heart every time.

[eml132]

WOW! I thought Raul Esparza's version was amazing but this one just takes the cake. And to think that Dean was going through such a difficult time in his life while preparing for this role on broadway. How hard it must of been for his life at that moment to reflect the role he was playing, but you really could tell how much the emotion he put into singing the song because of it.

[Kiltedwolf]

I've heard about every version that is out there of this song, and I have to say that i prefer the male voice, but Patti LuPone just soars in this song. Having just seen the recorded version of Company by the New York Philharmonic yesterday, I have to say that Neil Patrick Harris may be the one to beat now. His version was amazing.

[Arkainnihx]

Sorry about double-posting. Never done this before! I have now listened to about 5 different versions, and this was the only one that made me cry! Am amazed at the vitriol/adoration that seems generated by some of the performances, esp that poor bloke, Raul Esparza! 

[Arkainnihx]

Heard this song the other day (not sure who sang it), and have had it on my brain ever since, so thought I'd look it up on YouTube. Certainly a heart-rending performance. Actually had tears running down my face!

[pianoboyo]

Incredible to think Dean is 80 now! mindue frightening to think that the young composer Sondheim is now 81. I loved Deans films when I was growing up. They don't make them like that anymore.

[ferociousgumby]

Was that Kevin Spacey?????

[LivLilysmom]

I thought so too...then on second look, I realized it was not.

[echadmeir]

The most genuinely adult song about marriage and relationships that I know, and, I think, the finest performance - and there have been some great ones. And the period wonderfully comes through too.

[neonmoon82]

I think this and Bernadette Peters versions of this song are the best I have ever heard. I never knew Dean Jones had such a wonderful voice.

[funboy7979]

Original cast hands down the best. Maybe this show is just of its time, end of the 60s, and since then no one can quite capture it. Dean Jones was remarkable and this performance surprised everybody who only knew him from Disney movies. Elaine Stritch a legend. Everybody else at the top of their form. Maybe then there was more respect, but not reverence, for the material. Trust it and do it well. Later productions suffer from too much over-interpretation more distracting than informing.

[soubrette87]

He's in a studio. I am sure if he was on stage he would be , as you say "over the top". We like to call it acting ;)

[pythonterry1]

Except that Dean sang through his MOUTH...Raul sang through his nose.

[horerfandod3]

@pythonterry1 raul doesnt sing through his nose, thats just his natural singing voice

[InspectorKaramazov]

Ah, why would I want to try and compare Raul and Dean Jones? they're both amazing, so why should I pick one?

[horerfandod3]

towards the end of the song, dean lookslike hes gonna cry

[tonzimala]

@horerfandod3 Yeah. Emotionally he could not continue in the role as he was going through a painful divorce at the time, and singing every night about giving up loneliness for intimacy was killing him. Pity, as it looks like his personal life was informing his performance beautifully. Fortunately they did persuade him to stay with the show through opening night and to do this original cast recording. This is one of the most powerful Broadway numbers ever recorded, in my humble opinion.

[horerfandod3]

@tonzimala i know. exactly my point.

[denniswilsonfan]

I didn't even know he could sing, I am glad I found out that he can. awesome awesome awesome.

[claudgaged]

Freaking amazing @!!!!!

[zzyyxxo]

Dean Jones was so wonderful in this part, so sad that he left the show.

[horerfandod3]

the best bobby

[ivelosthewilltolive]

"I think I've got one more in me" Um, yeah.

[bboymasochist]

@ivelosthewilltolive Yeah...I guess it was just okay... :P

[sergioalpert66]

Home run Dean.

[BlahhProductions]

you also have to remember that esparza does it in a higher key which is pretty amazing.

they are both great

[UncleCharlieOakley]

I was lucky enough to see Dean Jones in the original production. He was heartbreaking. This is a brilliant performance in every way. Jones makes the song completely about the character's pain, confusion, longing -- and NOT about himself, the performer.

[mylegsareswollen]

Dean doesn't have a great voice, but it's best performance I've heard of this tune. Intense, sincere....who needs more?

Kudos.

[lenlee14]

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH soo good :]]]

[broknhalelujah]

THANK YOU!!!

[suemorphplus2009]

It's the shaggy dog guy!

[rlee1976]

Esparza cannot sing like this. I just don't get people who SWEAR by him and his acting. His voice is friggin annoying as heck, that bleaty, horrible vibrato. What you have here is the marriage of singing and acting, not one thing less than the other.

[iristacrat]

look, this is the best I have heard and people who crit his voice should listen to maria callas - a great voice is not the only thing that makes a great singer (although it is an asset for sure) - and I happen to think his voice is fine, this is musical theatre, not Mozart:)))

[yomega69]

I love how he was so in the zone. Afterwards he was like "WHERE AM I?!?!"

[heyyoubitme]

AHHHH ELAINE STRITCH.

[horerfandod3]

He wasnt nominated because he only did the show for a few days due to illness and he was going through a rough divorce.

[bombasticmon]

Dean Jones holds the best performance of this song. I want to love Raul as much as everyone else does, in a way, but this is just beautiful. His talent and his realness makes me watch this daily.

[TheatreGeekish]

best performance of this song EVER!

and also why wasn't he nominated for the tony?

<3 Dean, Company & Stephen

[pawdaw]

i can barely watch this, it's so raw and so real, great, great performance

[suemorphplus2009]

Hey it's the Shaggy Dog!

[justconfess]

Amazing!! Feels very honest

[bondfool]

I prefer the arrangement of the Esparza version. The strings get a little saccharine for my tastes.

[bwcumming]

Awesome version. Thanks for posting!

[dirtyblondny]

Dean Jones got sick shortly after the show opened. Larry Kert took his place.

[scottreiburn]

@dirtyblondny Actually, the major reason he left thew show was because he was going through (an extremely difficult) break-up with his first wife, who was in L.A. The show really got to him. Much of the brilliance we see here in this recording session comes from a very real, true, painful place. It's a heartbreaking and devistating performance, isn't it?

[klickenpod]

This song makes me actually feel glad to have loved and lost. By feeling more alive than ever during heartbreak.. we want to die.

"Somebody hold me too close.. somebody hurt me too deep, somebody sit in my chair and ruin my sleep, and make me aware of being alive."

[klickenpod]

Amazing! And Elaine is so cute, here <3

[bwayguy17]

Hey, to the uploader. didn't Dean Jones drop out after opening? he did the opening night, then did the recording, then dropped.

[RandomPersonman]

@bwayguy17 he had to quit because of stress from upcoming divorce proceedings

[bwayguy17]

@RandomPersonman i know he dropped. i didn't say he didn't drop. i was questioning when he dropped.

[RandomPersonman]

@bwayguy17 o. must have misread. but yea. he dropped after the opening night because he asked to drop earlier and the director wanted him to atleast open the show and do the recording

[bwayguy17]

@RandomPersonman as did sondheim. that's what i though.

[billymjz]

Great version, maybe the best. I wish I could send him a fan letter and thank him

for sharing the pain that came through in this performance. It's rare and indeed

memorable.

[colossus999]

I really don't find this sincere at all. He has a completely theatrical voice that, at least to me, doesn't sound real at all.

[TomCraig82492]

you guys are nuts he is no where near raul eparza

[jonycuddlesgert]

A deep, sincere, beautiful, Life-Overloaded! - Cry-for-Help GEM! Dean, you were perfection! ... HUGS!... =Johnny.

[poopooie12]

never seen this show, or heard of it.. but this is beautiful!!! i love it!

[rjpr69]

a masterclass in performance......

[rawmark]

There are only two people I've ever heard sing this song that I really love. The first is Dean Jones and the second is Anthony Warlow. If you've never heard of Anthony Warlow do check him out. However, as far as the original cast of Company is concerned, it was brilliant casting and unfortunate that this musical was about twenty plus years ahead of itself. That's the brilliance of Sondheim I guess.

[redwalkingnose]

He looks like jim Carrey.

Wonderful version.

[TheMaster61964]

It is true that Jones asked to be let out of his contract just 1 month into the run, reportedly because he had "found God" and now considered the show "immoral." He was replaced by his standby, the late Larry Kert (the original Tony from "West Side Story." It was Kert and not Jones who was nominated for the Best Actor Tony that year (the nominating committee made an exception). Kert is the "better singer," but you can hear every iota of Jones conflict in the song.

[masnip]

Proof that a perfect voice isn't always the best choice for a song. Dean Jones nails this. No one has ever done it better.

[lf1234]

@masnip- but I think Mr. Jones does have a perfect voice. Its goregous!!!!!!!!!!

[lf1234]

@masnip- but I think Mr. Jones does have a perfect voice. Its goregous!!!!!!

[damone77]

Listen, for my money Dean Jones had the pipes for Sondheim's song "Being Alive". Larry Kert had a prettier voice, but the role required that bite that Dean Jones had in his voice!Ty Ty for the post

[heyyoubitme]

HEY! HEY LOOK! OMG! elaine stritch, she was gorgeous. and still is. okay. continue.

[TheNTyree]

One of the best songs ever, + not just Bway. Dean Jones? A great guy when I produced a TV spot w/ him in LA in '89 for our home state of Alabama.

He was proud, candid, gracious re: the show, his role + this song; wryly resigned to persistent negative stories - Bway past and then-new (his emerging conservatism).

Warm, friendly pro to this then-young, VERY out, liberal novice. MIGHT differ on some politics. But not about the song: his is THE definitive recording of the definitive Bway song.

[UmbrellaWatch]

Dean Jones has always been gold. and i know his pain when he sang...I know it just like you know it now..but we carry on.

[Moline102553]

According to Craig Zadan's "Sondheim & Co.", Mr. Jones was going through a very painful divorce (he has long since remarried). Mr. Prince offered to allow him to remove himself from the show after the opening, freeing himself enough to make the part his own, which he did. Larry Kert was his standby with the intent of touring the show, and went into the lead instead. This film clip really gives one an idea of the subtext of the song; bravo, Mr. Jones.

[kennyb40]

I havae always felt that this is the most emotionally stirring version of the song. Jones was going through a divorce when he did this and it was too painful for him to continue to do the show because of that. I think that is why his rendition is so moving.

[tet43]

Isn't it truly ironic, that a man who chose a creative profession, and obviously has natural creative and musical gifts, would then choose a life of religious conservatism.Though Mr.Jones does not regard or respect my life as a gay man, I will not reciprocate.I still have regard for his musical abilities, and still think this is the best perfomance of this song I have seen.

[loismbreiner]

You are hearing the only recording Dean Jones made. He sang for the cast album then left the show.

[garciagirl03]

I don't know if Dean Jones is still with us, if he is I hopes he knows that this song is perfection and I am so gratefull that I found his version!

[ReneeDeborah]

I always preferred his version over Larry Kert's. I like Raul's but Dean's is the gold standard!

[DCNY31279]

No he is still alive.

[actsoccermusic]

Just been listening to lots of different versions of this song. This guy definitely has the best all around performance! It is amazing!

[DownInMontegoBay]

My God this guy can sing. I can't believe this. Wonderful, wonderful play and song.

[bearpork]

Jones replaced Anthony Perkins who was originally cast in the role. I wonder if any copies exist of him singing it as I'd be very curious to hear it.

[DownInMontegoBay]

Anthony Perkins? THAT I'd like to hear. These performers ... no one understands they are a "triple threat" -- this background in theatre is often forgotten when someone ends up in TV and film. And the musical talent. They do everything.

[11777766]

For me, Sondheim's greatest song, and the most deep musical expression of the man himself..

[alecs1976]

it's all in the throat....

[anthemnv]

yes, this is the most memorable performance of not only great Sondheim, but most likely the best Broadway song of all time. This song affects me like no other. I read the words at my mother's funeral. This is such an important song.....

[fmercury91]

He actually left the show because of the poor reviews it had gotten during the out-of-town showings. Harold Prince struck a deal with Jones to replace him with Larry Kert on the basis that Jones opened on Broadway for the first couple of weeks and do the cast album. Although Larry Kert was the one nominated for the Tony in the Best Actor in a Musical category.

[4llewellyn]

This is the most searing performance of this song. With true respect to the many others who have sung it, I think Dean Jones is the only one who became a perfect lightning rod for all all the agony and longing that Sondheim poured into this.

[edbogus]

Beautiful kick ass singing...thanks for uploading this wonderful "behind the scenes" performance!

[p6105]

What a crock. Jones didn't leave "Company" because of marital problems. He found Jesus. Too bad JC had him throw away a brilliant career. As for "Staying alive", I've seen poor, dying Larry Kert do it. Yawn. Esparza is excellent but no one has ever touched Jones' soulful performance.

[surlysully]

this version has so much heart and emotion. when he sings it, he really means. too bad he had to pull out of the show.

[smeggers0329]

Raul Espzarza is a joke when compared to this, not to say he isnt much of one anyway...

[ivetastedblood]

what a hater

[blynn1952]

What about Larry Kert's version of this song? He sang it more times than anyone.

[theBestArts]

While you're correct, I don't have a video of Larry Kert singing the song.

Larry performed "Being Alive" at the Tony Awards in 1989, two years before his death. He appeared on "The Tonight Show" 17 times in the early '70s and likely sang it there - but I haven't seen him on any of the "Best of The Tonight Show" DVDs.

[melzy89]

Brought tears to my eyes. Amazing amazing amazing!

[chimney1993]

I Love his top note at the end :)

[AtLastOnTheGround]

What I love about Dean Jones's version is that he ditches all the theatricalities and big, over-the-top and unrealistic gestures and just sings it and feels it. The song has never been so genuinely performed before. I still love Esparza, but Dean rocks it.

[jemb2000]

Have you heard Larry Kert's version? The best version imo.

[AtLastOnTheGround]

I've heard he was great, but I've never seen a vid of him doing it.

[VRNProductions]

I listened to a recording of Kert's version one time. The singing was flawless, but it was the most unemotional, monotonous version I've ever heard. It was almost umbeleivable. He must have sounded a lot better live if he was nominated for a Tony.

[jemb2000]

Monotonous? Unemotional? I don't know if Larry Kert recorded more than one version but if he didn't, I can't see how one could describe his singing on the London Cast version as unemotional. Yikes.

[VRNProductions]

I've only heard the bonus track of him doing "Being Alive" on the OBC recording, so I don't know how he sounds on the London Cast.

[jemb2000]

It's the same recording.

Each to his own, anyway.

[VRNProductions]

It is? I thought that track was a recording of him after he replaced Dean Jones on the OBC.

[jemb2000]

Well, the OLC is really just the OBC with Larry Kert's vocals dubbed over Dean Jones'

[amthatis07]

I agree! He's such an amazing singer; talented beyond words! I love this!!

[rlee1976]

@AtLastOnTheGround

Indeed. And to hell with all the friggin modernist directors who say "stand and sing" is not the way to go anymore. Performers who can stand there and deliver (and yes, I know he is doing the recording here, so he couldn't move around much even if he wanted to, for technical purposes) like Jones here does have the most wonderful inner sense of purpose as opposed to having to "show" it the way one feels performers have to now.

[beatlegirl12345]

BRAVO.

[tchungfoto]

Wooooow!! This is by far the best version of this song I've heard!! As good as Raul Esparaza is, he still can't touch the original. Aside from Dean Jone's amazing performance, I think the rest of the cast is exceptional making this version better than any other. I am convinced there will never be a better Company!

[tet43]

@tchungfoto You probably feel that this was the best cast because the show was written about the times these people were living through, so obviously it rings more authentic.Now, their grandchildre are "acting" these roles as a sort of retro-musical, so there's probably less understanding in their performances.

[JaredPaul54]

No, this is simply brilliant.

[popper1o1]

He good but not great. Rauls version was better than great!

[covercalls]

It's wonderful to see this post. Besides the main theme song of Company, Being Alive was the song that said it all. Thanks for posting Company OBC..

[eveningprim]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaamazing..........­...........

[markthetheatrekid]

I remember the first time I heard this. My vocal instructor sang it for me because he wanted me to sing it for a recital. Phenomonal song.

[kameyaki223]

Thank you for sharing this version of Being Alive, it's wonderful.

On a side note. Am I the only who thinks that it is rather ironic that Dean Jones had to pull out of 'Company' due to marital problems?

[pbeng12]

he def made that song his bitch

[pawdaw]

Definitive.

[JoelBWeisberg]

Mr. Jones OWNED this tune. It was the definitive performance of this fine Sondheim work. They can't take that away from you Dean. The tears are fowing.

[herbienbrian]

Dean Jones friggin rules, and not just because I love the Love Bug

[cmhmuscle]

when I saw it on tour it was most of these same people except it was George Chakiris as Bobby - very good.

[joshbygosh89]

omg. he gave me the chills.

[teaformeplease]

That was amazing. Thank you.

[Laylapalooza]

Maybe my favorite rendition of "Being Alive" ever. Thanks so much for bringing this back.

[lovelyirene2001]

One of Sondheim's best songs. It is life affirming.

[whataboutmemzies]

the first time i heard this song... i actually cried :D

[broadwaymelody33]

This is absolutely beautiful

[boppiecat]

Oh thank goodness one of my absolute favorites is back. Can't go a week without listening - and watching - this one. Never fails to move me.

[cvanp15]

Thank you for bringing this back. BestArts = Heroes. Keep spreading the arts!

[cokey65]

Outstanding!