Shirley Jones, rebel?

WALTHAM -- ''I don't want to play the nicey-nice little lady anymore," says Shirley Jones, with a coquettish grin that runs contrary to the words coming out of her mouth. ''No more of that."

Shirley Jones appears in
‘‘Carousel’’ Thursday
through July 23 with the
Reagle Players, Waltham.
Tickets: $35-$42.
781-891-5600,
www.reagleplayers.com.

This is a shocking pronouncement from a woman who became America's singing, flaxen-haired sweetheart exactly 50 years ago in the film version of ''Oklahoma!" Jones solidified her ingenue image with even bigger film roles in 1956's ''Carousel" and 1962's ''The Music Man." After playing the girl next door, Jones donned a miniskirt and a pixie cut and transformed herself into the mother next door in 1970 for ''The Partridge Family." But at 71, Jones is making it clear that she has no interest in taking the next step and playing the grandmother next door.

''I've got a lot more in me than that," she says. ''I was a rebel as a child. A real rebel. In trouble all the time. So I've still got that bad little girl in there somewhere."

The artist formerly known as Mrs. Partridge may have left the building -- and slammed the door firmly behind her -- but Jones, despite her self-proclaimed rebellious streak, still emits an unmistakable aura of Partridge sweetness as she rests her Pumas on the sofa in her Waltham hotel. She's here to perform in the Reagle Players' production of ''Carousel," which opens Thursday. Looking at her smiling face and her lace-trimmed jeans, it's hard to believe Jones when she confesses that her favorite books are about psychopaths and serial killers.

While returning to a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical -- especially one that endeared her to millions when it first hit theaters in 1956 -- may seem like an unusual way to show her dangerous side, this time Jones is not playing her original role: lovelorn mill worker Julie Jordan. Instead, she's cast as the crusty-yet-lovable Cousin Nettie. In stagespeak, it's a character role. Nettie is the slightly eccentric yet stable center who grounds the show. It's the kind of role Jones says she loves.

''I've wanted to play character roles all my life," she explains. ''And I was never given an opportunity until I won an Academy Award for playing a prostitute in [1960's] 'Elmer Gantry.' "

Jones had another incentive for joining the cast of ''Carousel." Although she starred in the film version, she has never performed in ''Carousel" onstage. She's appeared in stage versions of every other Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, and she says she saw the Waltham production as an ideal opportunity to finally perform the show live.

Reagle Players executive director Robert Eagle asked Jones to join ''Carousel" after watching a video of a concert in which she declared that ''You'll Never Walk Alone," a pivotal song from the musical, was one of her favorites. Nettie sings the anthemic song to Julie at the show's dramatic peak.

''It's also the 60th anniversary of the show and Shirley's 50th anniversary in show business," says Eagle. ''So it seemed like an ideal time to approach her. It's been wonderful to have her here."

Since her arrival late last month, she's been entertaining the cast with tales of how Frank Sinatra was originally cast to play Billy Bigelow in the screen version of ''Carousel" (he balked at the last minute, leaving the part for Gordon MacRae). She's also full of bigger-than-life, old-show-business stories, such as the tale of her first professional audition, in which Jones, a small-town Pennsylvania girl and onetime Miss Pittsburgh, found herself singing for Rodgers and Hammerstein accompanied by a full orchestra. Her parents happened to be in New York City on vacation, and, on a whim, Jones auditioned for a spot as a Rodgers and Hammerstein chorus girl.

They were so taken with her that she was immediately cast as a nurse in ''South Pacific" on Broadway. Within a year, she was starring in the film ''Oklahoma!"

''It's an incredible story," she says of her entrance into the world of show business. ''It's the kind that they make movies about and nobody believes it."

Her down-to-earth manner has helped make ''Carousel" rehearsals easier for at least one of its stars. Broadway actress Sarah Pfisterer has been trying to learn the part of Julie, all while the woman most closely associated with the role watches from the other side of the stage.

''I was pretty nervous at first," says Pfisterer. ''But Shirley is absolutely great. She's very supportive."

For Jones, ''Carousel" is just one in a string of surprising new roles. This fall, she'll appear with Doris Roberts and Shirley Knight in the Adam Sandler-produced film ''Nana's Boy" as a woman with a fondness for younger men -- or, as she bluntly puts it, ''I bed down 20-year-olds." She also recently finished the television movie ''Hidden Places," in which she plays the crazy aunt who helps save a Depression-era farm. ''Her name is Aunt Betty, but people call her Aunt Batty," Jones says. ''That gives you an idea of what the character is like."

In addition to the film parts, Jones appeared on Broadway last summer in ''42nd Street," her first Broadway show in 38 years. Unlike many of her Hollywood contemporaries, Jones has made it through the ''Love Boat" and ''Murder She Wrote" years to cross over into the land of meaty parts that she's always craved. She has no plans to retire.

''To tell you the truth, I probably enjoy it more now than I did when I was raising kids because I felt a little guilty about leaving them at times," she says. ''Besides, I don't needlepoint, I don't garden, and I can't cook. What else would I do? This is what I know and love."

Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com.