Barry Williams to Star as Oscar Madison in "The Odd Couple"

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On May 25, the curtain will open on a new chapter for the Alhambra Theatre & Dining as veteran actor Barry Williams - aka Greg Brady of the famed 1970's TV series, The Brady Bunch - stars in the Alhambra's first-ever production of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple. Mr. Williams will play the lead role as Oscar Madison in the classic comedy.


"We are very excited to have Barry join the Alhambra family," stated Alhambra Managing Partner, Craig Smith. He continued, "Bringing in well-known actors is part of our marketing and performance strategy, and Barry's iconic stature and legacy not only as Greg Brady, but as a gifted actor, is a perfect fit for the Alhambra. Having grown up in the Brady Bunch era, Barry was a part of my childhood. I look forward to having him visit us and grace our fine stage. From the great response we have had so far, many people seem to feel the same way."

About The Odd Couple

Originated in 1965 as a Broadway play by Neil Simon, The Odd Couple was followed by a successful film and television series. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and slovenly.

The origins of the show vary with some sources claiming that Simon was inspired to write the play when he saw his brother Danny Simon and theatrical agent Roy Gerber living together after recent divorces. However, in the Mel Brooks biography It's Good to Be the King, author James Robert Parish claims that the play came about after Simon observed Brooks, in a separation from his first wife, living with writer SpeEd Vogel for three months. Vogel later wrote that Brooks had insomnia, "a brushstroke of paranoia," and "a blood-sugar problem that kept us a scintilla away from insanity." The play, directed by Mike Nichols, ran for 966 performances and won several Tony Awards, including Best Play.

Felix Unger, a neurotic, neat freak newswriter (photographer in the television series), is thrown out by his wife, and moves in with his friend Oscar Madison, a messy sportswriter. In its original Broadway run, Unger was played by Art Carney and Madison by Walter Matthau. Matthau was later replaced with Jack Klugman, and Carney with Eddie Bracken and later Paul Dooley. Klugman went on to star as Oscar in the TV series and Unger was played by Tony Randall.

In 1968 The Odd Couple was made into a highly successful film starring Jack Lemmon as Felix and Walter Matthau (once more) as Oscar. Most of the script from the play is the same. The film was also written by Simon, who was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1998 Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau reprised their roles for the film The Odd Couple II, produced by Neil Simon.

The success of the film was the basis for 114 episodes of the 1970-75 ABCtelevision sitcom, starring Tony Randall as Felix and Jack Klugman as Oscar. Klugman was familiar with the role as he had replaced Walter Matthau in the original Broadway run. Randall and Klugman also reunited in 1993 for a made-for-TV reunion film based upon the series.

About Barry Williams

Barry Williams was born in Santa Monica, CA. He decided as a very young child that he wanted to be an actor, and in 1967 he made his television debut in an episode of Dragnet. He played guest roles in Adam-12, The Invaders, That Girl, Mission: Impossible and The Mod Squad before being cast as Greg Brady in The Brady Bunch sitcom in 1969. Following the Brady Bunch's five-year run, Williams became involved in musical theater, touring with productions such as Grease, The Sound of Music and West Side Story. In 1988, Williams appeared on Broadway in the musical, Romance/Romance with Tony Award-nominee, Alison Fraser. His 1992 autobiography, Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg, written with Chris Kreski, spent three months on the New York Times bestseller list

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