Post by valerie davenport on Oct 13, 2007 7:38:20 GMT -5
Barry Williams is on the other end of the line sounding very Greg Brady-like. He’s polite, upbeat, and as easy to talk to as a cool big brother.
It’s been 33 years since Williams played the part of the eldest child on the TV series “The Brady Bunch,” but the show and everything about it still resonates with baby boomers and beyond.
Many fans, who still can get their daily dose of the show on cable, are eager to talk to Williams about such classic episodes as the “Beans in the Flashlight” or the time Jan and Cindy caught Greg smoking.
Williams, now 53, doesn’t mind sharing his experiences, even if his focus is on his latest project “The Original Idols Live!”
“I love what I do. I put everything in whatever I do,” Wiliams said in an interview. “If it had not been ‘The Brady Bunch,’ it would have been something else.”
Williams will perform in “Idols Live!” at the Crown Theatre on Saturday at 7 p.m. He will be joined by other icons from the ’60s and ’70s: Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, The Cowsills, Leif Garrett and the Bay City Rollers. Danny Bonaduce of “The Partridge Family” (and lately of the tabloids) is part of the tour but will not be performing here because of scheduling conflicts.
Williams said part of the Brady’s lasting power is rooted in its simplicity.
“I think the values and the morality of our show are timeless,” he said. “It was delivered with a kind of innocence and indelible kind of way.”
The super groovy fashion statement didn’t hurt either.
“I also think our show was in color while the others (‘Leave it to Beaver,’ ‘My Three Sons,’ ‘Ozzie and Harriett’) were in black and white,” he said.
Since putting on striped bell-bottoms with a paisley shirt, Williams has been involved in hundreds of other entertainment projects. He’s appeared in more than 75 theater productions, most recently playing Captain Georg von Trapp in a traveling Broadway production of “The Sound of Music.” He hosts a daily show from 2 to 6 p.m. on Sirius satellite radio on the Totally ’70s channel.
His book “Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg,” written in 1992, and updated in 2000, still sells. (And, yes, he did go on a “date” with TV mom Florence Henderson.)
Home is Southern California, but Williams is on the road about half the year.
This isn’t Williams’ first visit to Fayetteville. He came here in 1999 as a guest of the U.S. Army Golden Knights. He said he remembers it well. But then again, his visit involved a tandem parachute jump from 14,000 feet up.
“It was one of the most thrilling things I have ever done.” They were kind enough to video tape it for me, and I watch it fairly often, especially when friends come over and they don’t believe me. I may do it again.”
“Idols Live,” which opened at the Flamingo Casino in Las Vegas last New Year’s Eve, is non-stop singing and dancing. It is scheduled to be performed about 25 times this year, but producer Wayne Coy said the goal is to book between 60 to 75 shows in 2008.
“We wanted to create a show that celebrated the phenomenon of being a teen idol in the late ’60s and onto the ’70s. (We thought) how cool would it be to have all those idols on stage for an hour and a half?” Coy said.
During the show, Williams also teaches the audience how to dance like a Brady. At one show, Christopher Knight (middle brother Peter) was in the audience and joined Williams in the signature moves.
Most of the cast members still embrace their “inner Brady.” Eve Plumb chooses not to publicly participate in Brady events. Or as Williams playfully describes it, “She suffers from middle-child syndrome.”
The cast appeared together in the spring at the TV Land Awards where Maureen McCormick (aka Marcia) and Williams performed a Brady Bunch song in their old Brady costumes.
“We’ve become the Donny and Marie (Osmond) of the millennium,” Williams said.
And that’s all right by Williams.
It’s been 33 years since Williams played the part of the eldest child on the TV series “The Brady Bunch,” but the show and everything about it still resonates with baby boomers and beyond.
Many fans, who still can get their daily dose of the show on cable, are eager to talk to Williams about such classic episodes as the “Beans in the Flashlight” or the time Jan and Cindy caught Greg smoking.
Williams, now 53, doesn’t mind sharing his experiences, even if his focus is on his latest project “The Original Idols Live!”
“I love what I do. I put everything in whatever I do,” Wiliams said in an interview. “If it had not been ‘The Brady Bunch,’ it would have been something else.”
Williams will perform in “Idols Live!” at the Crown Theatre on Saturday at 7 p.m. He will be joined by other icons from the ’60s and ’70s: Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, The Cowsills, Leif Garrett and the Bay City Rollers. Danny Bonaduce of “The Partridge Family” (and lately of the tabloids) is part of the tour but will not be performing here because of scheduling conflicts.
Williams said part of the Brady’s lasting power is rooted in its simplicity.
“I think the values and the morality of our show are timeless,” he said. “It was delivered with a kind of innocence and indelible kind of way.”
The super groovy fashion statement didn’t hurt either.
“I also think our show was in color while the others (‘Leave it to Beaver,’ ‘My Three Sons,’ ‘Ozzie and Harriett’) were in black and white,” he said.
Since putting on striped bell-bottoms with a paisley shirt, Williams has been involved in hundreds of other entertainment projects. He’s appeared in more than 75 theater productions, most recently playing Captain Georg von Trapp in a traveling Broadway production of “The Sound of Music.” He hosts a daily show from 2 to 6 p.m. on Sirius satellite radio on the Totally ’70s channel.
His book “Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg,” written in 1992, and updated in 2000, still sells. (And, yes, he did go on a “date” with TV mom Florence Henderson.)
Home is Southern California, but Williams is on the road about half the year.
This isn’t Williams’ first visit to Fayetteville. He came here in 1999 as a guest of the U.S. Army Golden Knights. He said he remembers it well. But then again, his visit involved a tandem parachute jump from 14,000 feet up.
“It was one of the most thrilling things I have ever done.” They were kind enough to video tape it for me, and I watch it fairly often, especially when friends come over and they don’t believe me. I may do it again.”
“Idols Live,” which opened at the Flamingo Casino in Las Vegas last New Year’s Eve, is non-stop singing and dancing. It is scheduled to be performed about 25 times this year, but producer Wayne Coy said the goal is to book between 60 to 75 shows in 2008.
“We wanted to create a show that celebrated the phenomenon of being a teen idol in the late ’60s and onto the ’70s. (We thought) how cool would it be to have all those idols on stage for an hour and a half?” Coy said.
During the show, Williams also teaches the audience how to dance like a Brady. At one show, Christopher Knight (middle brother Peter) was in the audience and joined Williams in the signature moves.
Most of the cast members still embrace their “inner Brady.” Eve Plumb chooses not to publicly participate in Brady events. Or as Williams playfully describes it, “She suffers from middle-child syndrome.”
The cast appeared together in the spring at the TV Land Awards where Maureen McCormick (aka Marcia) and Williams performed a Brady Bunch song in their old Brady costumes.
“We’ve become the Donny and Marie (Osmond) of the millennium,” Williams said.
And that’s all right by Williams.
