Author Archive

03 Oct

Life Is Not A Stage

written by Barry Williams in Blog, barry | 2 comments

Did you hear?  Florence Henderson’s book, Life Is Not A Stage was just released. I am very happy for Florence that we can all learn “the rest of the story”.  Over the years I have always felt like I “knew” Florence but this new book is loaded with revelations that I even her close friends will come as news.

I knew she would be in New York City last week on a promotional tour for the book which included appearances on The Today Show, The View and the Joy Behar Show. By chance, I was scheduled to be in the City at the same time.

I met her at the The Today Show and joined her backstage at The View. One of the things I am very grateful for is the ongoing lifetime friendships I have with her and the rest of the cast of the Brady’s and this was a nice way to catch up and support her as she shared her life story with everyone.

The next night I invited her to dinner in the heart of Broadway at Sardi’s restaurant, a favorite of us both.  My son, Brandon who is now 8 an ¾’s, as he puts it, joined us.  He has become a big fan of The Brady Bunch, not because I pushed it, and was prepared with plenty of questions for her.  What was your favorite episode, did you like it when…, were you really mad when Peter broke the vase in the living room with the basketball?

What a fun evening and good food we had.  Florence was so patient and answered each question as though it was the first time she had been asked.  Brandon thinks it’s pretty cool I actually know her.  I think it’s pretty cool he cares.

I just arrived in Branson, MO to begin my new show BRADY BRUNCH with BARRY WILLIAMS this week on Oct 5^th.  I am looking forward to her making a guest appearance.  We certainly won’t run out of things to talk about. After I have read her new book I am sure I’ll have some new questions to ask her about.

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18 Sep

My Branson Summer Vacation

written by Barry Williams in Blog, Brady Brunch, barry | 5 comments

I have never worked so hard in my life.  I have never enjoyed my work more.  That pretty much sums up spending this past August with my partner Yakov Smirnoff in Branson, MO as we built my new multi-media variety show BRADY BRUNCH.

Ever since the days of Johnny Bravo, I have wanted to create a cabaret style musical show.  Over the years I have done versions although they never felt like they came up to par.  That has now changed.

The evolution of BRADY BRUNCH has been fantastic.  I went to Branson with an outline, show elements, music charts, and ideas for the show I wanted to create.  Yakov, who has been very successful throughout his past twenty years as a top celebrity comedian in Branson, grasped the concepts immediately and we went to work.  We wanted to create something especially designed for our Branson audiences.

At first the show consisted mostly of stories, videos and a few songs, which I sang live to track and… as the show title implies, brunch was served during the show. We did our try-outs right there in the Yakov Theatre.  The original concept was an enjoyable show, but we recognized there was a great deal of untapped potential.

Everyone hears entertainers tell audiences that they are an important part of every show.  That has never been truer than with the emergence of BRADY BRUNCH.

Yakov attended these try out shows over a two-week period.  After each show he had a conversation with the audience and invited them to share what they liked, didn’t care for, what they wanted to see more or less of and if it matched their expectations.  It became apparent that while everyone liked the Brady Bunch and are familiar with Greg Brady few knew what to expect from a show starring “Barry Williams”.

29 Jan

Places I would Like To Perform In 2011

written by Barry Williams in Blog, barry | 9 comments

I am fortunate to have been invited to perform in many wonderful places in my career. Looking ahead to the new year I hope I have the opportunity to perform in the places/locations below. A wise man once said, “if you don’t ask, the answer is always no.” So…can you help?

Here they are in no particular order…

1. Mirage/Las Vegas

2. Mariott Marquis Theatre/New York

3. Le Sporting Club/Monte Carlo

4. Yakov Theatre/Branson, MO

5. The Greek Theatre/Los Angeles, CA

6. Ka’anapali Beach Club/Maui, HI

7. Walt Disney World/Orlando, FL

8. Cruise Ship/Mediterranean Cruise

9. Grand Ole Opry/Nashville, TN

10. Dancing With the Stars

11. Australia

12. Canada

Let’s make it a great year.

Now Search & Win for Great Brady Prizes!

22 Dec

Mele Kalikimaka

written by Barry Williams in Blog, barry | 6 comments

I am glad the Brady’s visited Hawaii for several weeks in 1972 for a three parter.  It’s still at the top of my filming experiences.  Please note that the Tiki Bobby found, the same one Greg was wearing when he wiped out on a coral head while surfing, didn’t REALLY bring bad luck.

Hawaii has long been my favorite vacation, relaxation, rejuvenation destination. Specifically the island of Maui and more specifically the beaches of Kaanapali.

How great it is to find myself here this week and next week plus all of January at the Kaanapali Beach Club, which is a Diamond Resort, where I have been invited to join a terrific troupe of performers including the Akima family and my co-hostess, Makalapua, to interpret the rich history of Hawaii and her people.  Our Luau is known as the Feast At the Beach and this week, A Very Barry Christmas.  It is a traditional and beautifully told Luau and there’s me with my attempts to become an Honorary Hawaiian.  Throughout the show I try just about everything to be worthy of the honor.  I tell stories, I host, I try to learn the native language, I invoke my experiences with Don Ho and make Tiny Bubbles a sing-a-long.  At one point I don a grass skirt (just like the one Alice was wearing when she threw her hip out) with beads, leis and a headdress.  Finally I try and make music with a conch shell.  I can’t give away the ending here, but it helps my quest that I wear the original Brady Tiki throughout the show.

I wish everyone could join me for this oceanfront sunset on this magnificent island paradise.

I wish you a very Mele Kalikimaka,

Barry

Now Search & Win for Great Brady Prizes!

15 Mar

Thank You For The Inspiration Peter Graves

written by Barry Williams in Blog, barry | 8 comments

Saturday morning was a special time around my house when I was very young. On Saturday morning my older brothers and I were allowed to watch what we wanted. I was just three years old but my favorite show was not anything animated. My favorite show was called Fury. Fury starred Peter Graves as a ranch owner, Bobby Diamond as his adopted son and Fury an amazing stallion who loved the young boy. Thus began my passion for horses. Fury was a really strong and smart horse. He knew when people did good deeds and would reward them usually by getting them to where they needed to be. Mostly Fury would only allow the Diamond character, Joey, to ride him. This was pretty amazing stuff for me, a then three year old.

During the time Fury was on the air I was attending kindergarten in my home town (it wasn’t called pre-school then) and I had a girlfriend in my class. I liked to sit next to her when we were doing arts and crafts and I usually made my way near her in the afternoon for nap time. Occasionally we exchanged gum after it had already been chewed by one of us. Our version of french kissing I guess.

Her name is Claudia Graves and I was more than a little impressed when I was having a play date at her house one day, which happened to be just down the street from my own family home, and into the living room walks JIM NEWTON the owner of the Broken Wheel Ranch where Fury lived! It took me a minute to get the concept that Jim Newton was really an actor, Peter Graves and father to my sweetheart Claudia. This just seemed too good to be true and I thought it was so cool that I decided then and there I wanted to be an actor. Several weeks later while visiting at Claudia’s house I had a chance to ask Mr. Graves how he got to be an actor. He said, “I just thought about it.”

Good enough for me. I thought and thought and thought. Finally I thought about doing something about it and asked my parents to let me give it a shot. I started going to classes and acting lessons, got some 8×10 headshots and an agent. I was on my way.

After filming the Brady Bunch Pilot in 1968 and before we actually started filming the regular series in 1969 I had an extraordinary opportunity. I had an audition for a guest starring role in my then favorite TV series, Mission Impossible starring the man who inspired my whole career, Peter Graves. I got that role. Literally a dream come true.

Peter Graves passed away yesterday, March 13th. At the same time I was in Nashville doing what Peter inspired and I still love after all these years; acting onstage in a musical. His passing is a loss millions of people, along with myself feel. I always will be grateful to the wonderful contributions he made as an actor and a person including his remarkable return in the feature film Airplane. He was an inspiration to many and I am grateful for my personal connection with him.

I send out my warmest wishes and condolences to his wife Joan and daughters Kelly Jean, Amanda Lee, and first love Claudia.

08 Jul

Crossing Paths: Farewell Michael & Farrah

written by Barry Williams in Blog, The Brady Bunch, barry | 9 comments

In my business you have the opportunity to meet some incredible people. While I’ve been lucky enough to work on a lot of different television and theater projects, I owe a lot of those meetings to The Brady Bunch. Some, like Don Drysdale and Joe Namath, were captured on the show for everyone to see. There were others though, that took place after the cameras stopped rolling. Two that come to mind are the day Henry Kissinger stopped by the Brady set, and now more than ever, the day The Brady 6 met The Jackson 5.

As someone who’s done some singing and dancing with his own “brothers and sisters,” I can appreciate just how talented Michael Jackson was and am glad we got the chance to cross paths.

09 Apr

Let’s Strip

written by Barry Williams in Blog, barry | 8 comments

 
See you in Vegas?

I love Las Vegas.  For me, the only thing better than going there for a vacation, is working there.  Especially when I’m working  on the Strip and not only is my name up in lights but a giant 45 foot headshot as well.  The best lighting, best sound, best musicians, it’s all there.  Such is the wonderful situation I find myself in again this week at Planet Hollywood.  As some of you may know, I was invited to be a guest for a couple of weeks last month in the new open ended production of Tony & Tina’s Wedding in the Planet Hollywood Hotel.  What a blast.  This is hardly what I call working.

First of all I play… “myself.”  Actually my “role” is playing a friend of Tina’s father who for the purposes of this wedding night is deceased.  He was one of the truck driver’s on my 2001 Broadway National Tour of The Sound of Music.  We became good close friends and I visited the family frequently in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.  Vito, as his wife Josephina refers to him, asked me if anything were to happen to him that I give Tina away on her wedding day and…. that is how I happen to show up on Tony and Tina’s wedding night.  

For the uninitiated, the audience members are the guests, the two families, Nunzio’s and Vitale’s, are the wedding party and I spend the evening primarily as a mixer.  Now in my case this means I have an opportunity to meet virtually every guest in the house and usually there are about 400 of them.  I sit at the tables and eat with the guests, take pictures, talk about the BB and their experiences of growing up with it, I dance with everyone to the rockin group Fusion, dedicate and sing a song to Tina and generally have a great time.  Party on.  In all my years I have never seen audiences enjoy themselves more.  The Wedding is so realistic that on more than one occasion Brides and Grooms come straight from their own nuptials wearing wedding gowns and tuxes and celebrate their reception with us!

Usually I can tell if things are going well when I am invited for a return engagement.  So, beginning Friday night the 10th through Thursday night the 16th (with the exception of Sunday) at 6:30 pm I will be giving the lovely Tina Vitale away and mixing it up.  If you are looking for a little RnR this upcoming week, I’d love to see you there.  You can also catch me at the pool during the day. Viva Las Vegas!

Now Search & Win for Great Brady Prizes!

18 Mar

Let’s Meet In Vegas

written by Barry Williams in Blog, barry | 4 comments

‘Only valid for my blog and facebook friends’

Vegas is one of my favorite places. I love the energy and the mix of fun, interesting people. I’m here for the next few weeks performing in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding. It’s a great show if I say so myself. We’re having a great time. I worked with the management here to offer a special rate for my friends online. If you can make it simply print this page and head to Vegas.

Hope to see you here!

Barry

03 Mar

Solo And Climbing

written by Barry Williams in Blog, barry | 10 comments

‘Look closely, that’s me making my first landing!’

Along the way to reaching a goal there are milestones that must be achieved. I recently took on the goal of becoming a private pilot and I am happy to say I just hit one of those milestones. At some point if you want to swim you have to jump in the water, or if you want to snow ski at some point you must head down the mountain.  If you want to fly there comes a time when you need to do it unassisted, without a flight instructor to tell you what to do, and sometimes more importantly, what not to do. That point happened for me this past month.

The first thing I told Joe Justice, my instructor, when we started this process was that I was not in a hurry to hot-rod around the skies.  I wanted to take whatever time necessary to reach a level of proficiency that made my first foray above the earth a safe one.  That day happened on February 18th. Keeping in mind the aviator’s motto that flying is the second most satisfying experience in the world and LANDING is first. The only inkling I had that the day’s lesson might be different is that Joe made sure I had my log book and picture ID onboard the plane.

Off we went for a couple of loops around the airport, landing and taking off again without stopping.  After our second landing he asked me to come to a complete stop because… he wanted to get out of the plane.  The moment was here.  The moment I had long anticipated. After 42.9 hours of supervised flight time he at least felt I was prepared to fly alone.  It was time to solo.  Even with butterflies, I felt ready as well.

23 Feb

Slam Dunk

written by Barry Williams in Blog, barry | 7 comments

‘Dad, Brandon and a Trotter – Al’s right behind us’

One of the enjoyable yet surprising parts of being Dad to a six year old son is reliving my own childhood.  It is completely enjoyable to watch his face delight in the discovery of new activities, skills, sports, food, plays and movies.  Brandon was first introduced to The Harlem Globetrotters via a Scooby Doo DVD called appropriately enough, “Scooby Doo Meets The Harlem Globetrotters”.  He was aware they  is also a group of very talented real life players who play professional basketball games but he had not seen them live.  I hadn’t seen them live since, well, I was about Brandon’s age.

Last week The Harlem Globetrotters came to town and played the Staples Center in Los Angeles.  Brandon and I and some friends went to see the game and what a treat we were in for.  We got there in plenty of time to get pizza and drinks and snacks.  Armed with programs and mini Globetrotter basketballs we settled in to watch the first half.  I remember really having a good time in my youth watching the game but this current team of Globetrotters and the show they present is pretty amazing.  Brandon was set from the beginning to keep track of the score and began cheering with all his might whenever the “good guys” scored, loudly pronouncing for the arena to hear with arms up over his head…..SCORE!!!

At half time we were privileged to go behind the scenes and meet the team, get autographs and take pictures.  As we started down the meet and greet line it was clear that I was not the only one recapturing a bit of my early youth.  We rubbed elbows with Billy Crystal, Adam Carolla, and Al Pacino among others who had their young kids in tow and there was a distinct air of excitement.  The players could not have been more friendly or more accommodating as we asked questions, learned to spin basketballs on one finger and in our case got our Scooby Doo DVD autographed.

Fortunately, even though the opposing Washington Generals cheated on the score a couple of times during the second half, the Globetrotters ultimately won the game much to the relief of Brandon.  That made Dad pretty happy too.

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