THE BARDY BUNCH: West Coast Premiere Merges Shakespeare with '70s Sitcoms

In the summer of 1974, two of America's most beloved sitcom families were canceled within months of each other. But what if their stories didn't end there?

What if the Bradys and the Partridges met again… inside a Shakespearean tragedy?

Beginning March 26, 2026, 3Below Theaters presents the long-awaited West Coast premiere of The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady, the cult-hit musical parody by Stephen Garvey that became a breakout sensation at the 2011 New York International Fringe Festival before returning Off-Broadway and enjoying an open-ended run in Chicago.

This deliriously clever mash-up fuses more than a dozen Shakespearean tragedies with the sunny pop anthems of two iconic '70s television families. The result? A blood-soaked, passion-filled, vengeance-fueled “very special episode” of epic proportions.

Set in the summer of 1974, The Bardy Bunch imagines what happens when ABC's two squeaky-clean sitcom dynasties collide in Shakespeare's world of ambition, jealousy, mistaken identity, revenge, and romance.

Mike and Carol Brady take cues from Macbeth.
Greg channels Hamlet.
Marcia and Keith find themselves in a Romeo-and-Juliet-style affair.
Danny Partridge plots with the cunning of Iago.

Meanwhile, familiar hits including:

• “I Think I Love You”

• “It's a Sunshine Day”

• “I Woke Up in Love This Morning”

• “Time to Change”

become the soundtrack to a groovy Shakespearean showdown.

This engagement opens almost exactly 50 years after both original television series ended their network runs - proving their pop-culture legacy is alive, well, and now armed with verse and vengeance.

The Bardy Bunch is more than nostalgia. It explores the collision between sitcom innocence and cultural awakening - between the perpetual sunshine of the Brady worldview and the socially aware, politically shaped Partridge perspective of the early 1970s.

It is Shakespeare filtered through polyester. Tragedy wrapped in bell-bottoms. Sitcom optimism colliding with Elizabethan consequence. And in an era when entertainment is often consumed alone, it offers something rare: communal laughter.

The production features Dave J. Abrams*, Kyle Caldwell*, Brian Conway*, Madelynn Crimi, Susan Gundunas*, Stephen Guggenheim*, Brian Herndon*, Noah Lerner, Eiko Moon-Yamamoto*, Rheagan Rizio, David Salper, Sophie Schulman*, Heather Mae Steffen, Eric Stephenson*, and Sheila Savage*.

*Member, Actors' Equity Association.

Production Team

Written by Stephen Garvey
Directed by Scott Evan Guggenheim

Musical Direction: Stephen Guggenheim
Choreography: Brie Anne Martin
Fight Choreography: Bessie Zolno
Scenic Design: Jon Gourdine & Scott Guggenheim
Lighting Design: Jon Gourdine
Costume Design: S.E. Copperman
Sound Design: Juan Richardson
Production Stage Manager: Rick Robinson, Jr.*
Technical Director: Jeff Christensen
Producer: Guggenheim Entertainment

Performance Schedule

March 26 – April 26, 2026
Thursdays–Saturdays at 7:30pm
Saturdays & Sundays at 2:30pm