David and Jeanie Bean Bring Drama to Clinton Corners
By ML Ball

Photos by Zandria Oliver

They finish each other’s sentences. Share a passion for dance. Have had 28 careers between them. Truly, David and Jeanie Bean are two peas in a pod, and it all started with an accidental audition. 

Born in Los Angeles, David contracted polio at age five. Once he recovered, his mother put him in tap classes to rehabilitate his muscles. He loved it, and became so good that he was sent to the renowned dance teacher Eddie Gaye, where he was soon literally dancing with the stars. Then came his big break: Jerome Robbins cast him as one of the Lost Boys in the original Broadway production of Peter Pan, opposite Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard. 

In 1957, West Side Story, choreographed and directed by Jerome Robbins and starring Chita Rivera, opened on Broadway. It was an immediate smash. The next year, Robbins wanted David for the London production, again starring Chita Rivera, but David had to turn it down because he was performing with the Metropolitan Opera until September. A month before the musical’s January 1958 opening, Rivera married Tony Mordente, a West Side Story castmate, and immediately got pregnant, postponing the opening until September. By then, David had finished his Met Opera commitment and was able to join West Side Story as a Jet. “Had Chita not gotten pregnant,” says Jeanie, “we would have never met.” 

Growing up in Middlesex, England, Jeanie, like David, was sent to dance lessons by her mother. When she was 11, her teacher encouraged her to audition for the Royal Academy of Dance, along with thousands of girls from all over the UK. Only 20 were chosen. Jeanie was one of them.

After five years at the Royal Academy, Jeanie realized that what she really loved was jazz, and left ballet to pursue it. While performing in Germany, Jeanie learned that her dance partner, Peter, happened to be friends with Chita Rivera, who was in London performing in West Side Story, as was David. On the day Jeanie and Peter went to visit Rivera at the theater, the casting director was looking for a replacement for David’s partner. Standing at the stage door was Jeanie, waiting for her friend. She caught the casting director’s eye, auditioned the next day, and was cast as David’s new partner. The rest, as they say, is history. 

After a six-month courtship, David left for Hollywood to appear in the film version of West Side Story. He then returned to England to direct West Side Story on tour. Afterward, he and Jeanie married, moved to America, and embarked on 61 years of adventure (and counting). They’ve owned an art gallery, a frame shop, a deli, and too many houses to count. In 2015, they opened Jeanie Bean and Family, their popular café in Clinton Corners, now run by their daughter Jennifer. In 2021, David was in Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story, one of three cast members from the original film to appear in both.

An amazing tale? Yes, and all true! —Jeanie Bean and Family, 2411 Salt Point Turnpike, Clinton Corners