This will interest a few folks I know who read this site…folks who are fascinated with the original Broadway production of the show Company. As the tale is told, it opened with Dean Jones in the role of Bobby. Everyone was very happy with the role except Mr. Jones who, owing to some personal matters in his life, was uncomfortable with the theme of the show or his role…or something.
His unhappiness had been evident to others in the company of Company during rehearsals and tryouts. Not long before they opened, Hal Prince (who directed, among his other duties) went to Jones and promised to replace him soon after they opened. That lifted a personal burden off the star who managed to get through opening night, which was on April 26, 1970. One month later — on May 29 — Larry Kert officially took over the role. The press was told that Jones left because of Hepatitis but in later years, he was quite candid about the real reasons.
The video below in the episode of What's My Line? for December 30, 1970 and the Mystery Guest is Larry Kert. Kinda interesting to hear him tell the "official" version of how he replaced Dean Jones in the show. It may or may not at odds with what is in the above paragraph. I've configured the video clip so that it should start playing at the Mystery Guest segment. If it starts at the beginning of the episode and you don't want to watch the whole show, zip ahead to 20:49…