The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady

In a dreamlike 1974 Southern California, the Partridge Family and the Brady Six are squeaky-clean pop music groups. Competition between the families has soured into a bitter feud, however, and only worsens after each group's golden offspring—Keith Partridge (Erik Keiser) and Marcia Brady (Cali Elizabeth Moore)—fall secretly in love. That's not all that's rotten in Brentwood.

Stephen Garvey's comic mash-up "The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady" attempts to cross-pollinate the plots of Bill Shakespeare with the sitcom humor of Sherwood Schwartz. To bits from "Romeo & Juliet," "Macbeth," and even "The Tempest" he adds tunes ("I Woke Up in Love This Morning"), subplots, and memorable dialogue from the popular TV shows.

Garvey's script relies too much on the humor inherent in the mere act of crossing Shakespeare with sitcoms and doesn't add much that's original. Sometimes the combination creates funny moments ("Mom always said, 'Don't knife-fight in the house' "), but mostly it falls flat. Jay Stern's muddled direction doesn't help.

Annie Watkins, as the perpetually forgotten Brady middle child, Jan, has many of the best moments, and Jonathan Grunert, as Peter Brady, is another standout.

Presented by Silverhair Productions as part of the New York International Fringe Festival at La MaMa ETC's Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66-68 E. Fourth St., NYC. Aug. 13–24. Remaining performances: Fri., Aug. 19, 9 p.m.; Sun., Aug. 21, 8:45 p.m.; Wed., Aug. 24, 2 p.m. (866) 468-7619 or www.fringenyc.com.