Dean Regan remembered for making his mark on musical theatre

Creator of Arts Club hits like A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline, Red Rock Diner, and the Stanley-opening Swing passed away at 87

By Janet Smith

Dean Regan.

Michael Bublé in Swing at the Arts Club. Photo by Glen Erikson

WITH RUNAWAY HITS like A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline and Red Rock Diner, Dean Regan’s shows played a big part in the success of the Arts Club Theatre Company in the 1990s through the 2000s. His big band revue Swing even opened the historic Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre in 1998—starring none other than Michael Bublé.

This month, the theatre community is mourning the musical-theatre maker as news of his death gradually spreads. He passed away peacefully at the age of 87 in Abbotsford on June 4, after a long career that spanned composing, acting, singing, playwriting, directing, and choreographing.

“Dean was a major part of the history of the Arts Club, starting as a performer in the mid-1970s (he was a stunning tap dancer),” Arts Club director emeritus Bill Millerd said in a social-media post the company put up yesterday. “Through the 80s and 90s, Dean was an inventive director/choreographer, creating major hits for the company. He pestered me with his many show ideas, rarely taking no for an answer. Dean promoted young talent, including Michel Bublé, and was an inspiration to all who worked with him. I honour Dean for his more than 30 years of contributing to the success of the company.”

Beyond the Arts Club, the stage community was remembering him as a force at Vancouver companies from Theatre Under the Stars to the late, great Vancouver International Festival in the 1960s.

A member of the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame, Regan started his career as child star Tommy Vickers at Theatre Under the Stars.

In 1959 he changed his name to Dean Regan, and followed his love of tap dance and soft shoe to Hollywood and New York City, apprenticing with the likes of George Balanchine, Aida Broadbent, and Alan Lund and touring with Buster Keaton, Rudy Vallée, and Paul Whiteman. In 1964 he returned to Canada to tour for five years with the satiric review Spring Thaw. He would go on to appear on most major stages across the country, as well as in TV and film.

Regan’s iconic A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline, which opened at the Arts Club in 1991, went on to tour Canada, as well as the U.S., with more than 150 showings in North America. Among its stops was opening for the Calgary Stampede in 1999.

The 1950s rocker Red Rock Diner, based on the career of legendary Vancouver DJ Red Robinson, also premiered at the Arts Club, and went on to play at the Hallmark Theatre in Kansas City.

Regan once said of his musical style that “Every number has a story to it. It’s not written. It’s choreographed, it’s emotionalized.”

Amid the who’s who of stage stars recalling the musical-theatre force today, Ruth Nichol posted, “Loved Dean as a great friend and mentor. One of our best!!”; Regan starred with her in I Do! I Do! at the Arts Club. Meanwhile, Canadian actor-musician Stevie Vallance—who performed as the titular singer in A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline throughout the ’90s—posted, “The world will not be the same with you gone. I hope you are hoofin’ with the rest of them in the biggest Festival in the sky. You taught me so much and I will always love you for making me laugh like no other.”

Fittingly for a man whose career was so entwined with the theatre, in lieu of flowers, Regan requested donations go to the Arts Club.  

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