Barney's Big Surprise (My Version)

(NOTE: THIS IS JUST A FANMADE VARIANT OF THE SHOW IN WHICH THE SONGS CUT FROM THE SHOW ARE PRESENT)

Barney's Big Surprise is a stage show that was directed and choreographed by Penny Wilson, written by Stephen White with songs in the show written by various individuals. It was the first national stage show tour based on Barney. The show made its world premiere on September 10, 1996, at Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

The show's original run ran from 1996 until 1998. Originally meant to tour in sixty cities, the tour performed in over eighty cities during its original run. Barney's Big Surprise sold nearly two million tickets during the original run. Along with performances in the US and Canada, the show also toured in Mexico and the United Kingdom in its initial run. Subsequent productions of the show were performed in Asia and in Latin America. A portion of the proceeds from the tour benefited the Starbright Foundation, which aids seriously ill children.

On May 19, 1998, Barney's Big Surprise was released on VHS, having the show filmed at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in December 1997.

Synopsis
It's BJ's Birthday, and his friends are planning a big party for him!

Act 1
The show opens with a Barney plush doll sitting on a stool in the spotlight. The announcer announces that this show is made possible by the audience's imagination. As smoke fills the stage, the "Barney Theme Song" builds and erupts, in which Barney arrives. When he arrives, he greets the audience as he skips. After the song ends, Barney notices that he has so many friends in the audience, that he can’t see everyone’s smiles, leading him into the song, “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, so he knows that everyone is happy. After the song, Barney says that it would make him happy if he introduced the audience to some other friends of his. He then takes the audience to the treehouse where they’re introduced to Jeff, Keesha, Danny, and Hannah respectively. After introductions, the children show the audience what things they were doing in the treehouse before they arrived, queuing the song “Welcome to Our Treehouse” along with Scooter & Miss Etta Kette. After the song, Baby Bop skips onto the stage but proceeds to hide behind Barney due to her being shy in front of the audience. Barney proceeds to tell her that the people in the audience are friends, making her more comfortable in front of them. Soon, Baby Bop wonders if the audience his here for the big surprise, in which Barney tells them that they don’t know about it. Excited that the audience doesn’t know what the surprise is, she proceeds to hop up and down wanting to tell them, leading into “The Baby Bop Hop”. After the song, Barney tells Baby Bop that it’s okay to tell the audience what the surprise is. She proceeds to tell the audience that they’re having a birthday party that everyone is invited to. Soon, BJ comes out on stage with a big drum, giving everyone a clue that it’s his birthday. With each bang on a drum, BJ tells the audience that he’s turning seven. BJ, Barney and the children then proceed to sing “Happy Birthday to Me”.

After the song, Barney and the children tell BJ to stand away from them so they can discuss plans for BJ’s birthday party. As they discuss, BJ tells the audience that he wants a red scooter for his birthday. After Barney and the children finish discussing, BJ wonders if it’s time for his party to start. He discovers that it’s not, as they still have a show to do. Upon realizing this, BJ decides that it would be fun for the audience to pretend to be flying in an airplane, leading into “The Airplane Song”. After pretending to fly, it becomes windy. Due to the wind, Barney gets the idea for everyone to fly kites, leading into the song “My Kite” as everyone flies kites on stage along with Mr. Boyd. After the song ends, everyone goes to put their kites away. Barney then gets a call on the treehouse telephone from Professor Tinkerputt who has a surprise for BJ. Barney then goes to get The Barney Mobile to pay him a visit, bringing along BJ and Baby Bop for the ride. The children decide to stay and decorate the treehouse for BJ’s birthday party. As the dinosaurs drive along, they sing the “Driving Medley”. As the song ends, they arrive at Professor Tinkerputt’s toy factory. When they arrive, Professor Tinkerputt comes out on stage to greet them. Professor Tinkerputt proceeds to ask if anyone else came with the dinosaurs, in which Barney lets him know that the audience is behind him. Surprised by the audience, he greets them, and then asks if they like “Mr. Knickerbocker” and would like to sing it. Coming from parking The Barney Mobile, Barney, BJ and Baby Bop come back on stage to sing along. After the song, Professor Tinkerputt shows the audience his toy factory, leading into the song “Tinkerputt’s Song”. After the song, Professor Tinkerputt shows everyone around his toy factory, leading into his newest invention which is dancing robots. As Barney and Professor Tinkerputt turn them on, they sing “We Are Little Robots”. After the song, the room starts to get dark & millions of stars appear. This leads up to Barney, Baby Bop, & BJ, along with Professor Tinkerputt singing “Listen to the Nighttime”. After the lights come back on, the crew gets into the topic of BJ’s birthday party, in which Professor Tinkerputt tells Barney that he’ll need his car to drive BJ’s surprise back to the treehouse due to its size. Barney agrees to lend Professor Tinkerputt his car, which makes Baby Bop wonder how they’ll get back to the treehouse. Professor Tinkerputt explains that they’ll fly back with balloons. He tells them that thanks to his balloon machine, they can chose any color balloon they like, leading into the song “The Rainbow Song”. After the song, BJ wonders where the balloons are. Professor Tinkerputt tells them that they’ll be out in a couple of minutes, leading into intermission.

Act 2
After intermission, Barney, BJ and Baby Bop come out on stage in a hot air balloon singing “Hey, Look at Me! I Can Fly!”. After the song, Baby Bop squeezes a duck call, in which four ducks come out on stage. The dinosaurs proceed to sing “Four Little Ducks” as the ducks dance on stage. After the song, they land the hot air balloon on the ground.

When they land, the curtains open to see that the children, Scooter, Miss Etta, Mr. Boyd, have decorated the treehouse for BJ’s birthday. Everyone proceeds to sing a reprise of “Happy Birthday to Me”. Everyone then wonders if they can proceed to eat some party treats. Seeing that not all the guests are here, Barney suggests that they imagine eating treats instead, leading into the song “If All the Raindrops”. After the song, BJ wonders if they can play some party games. Barney goes backstage and comes back out dressed as a farmer. Everyone goes backstage to get ready for the next game, in which then BJ comes out with a banjo, Jeff comes out in a corn costume, and everyone sings “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”. During the song, all the children come out in corn costumes, along with Baby Bop, holding up signs of various farm animals & Scooter & Miss Etta singing. After the song, Barney suggests to everyone that they need to put away their toys. Everyone proceeds to exit in a line, with Baby Bop being the last one.

Due to her being the last in line, Baby Bop proceeds to question as to why she’s in the back and seeing it as unfair. She then asks the audience if she should be the last in line. The audience proceeds to tell her that someone else is behind her. She gets frightened and the thing behind her runs away. Everyone comes back out on stage trying to chase whatever was behind Baby Bop. Baby Bop notices that it went in the treehouse. When they open the door, they are greeted by Mother Goose. Mother Goose informs everyone that it was Clarence they were chasing as he was on the loose. Barney then suggests that Mother Goose introduce herself to the audience as they might not know her. She then sings “I’m Mother Goose”. After the song, they proceed to have more fun with Mother Goose’s rhymes, leading into “Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme Medley” and Old King Cole arriving to the party to sing his self-titled song.

After the songs, Professor Tinkerputt & Stella the Storyteller arrives with his surprise. BJ assumes that they brought a red scooter for him. BJ discovers that the reason Professor Tinkerputt & Stella didn’t get him a red scooter is because that’s what Barney and the others got him. Professor Tinkerputt proceeds to bring the big surprise in which it’s a giant cake. After the cake grows, everyone sings “Happy Birthday to You” to BJ. After the song, everyone helps BJ blow out the candles, given the massive size of the cake. After the candles are blown out, confetti shoots out and the gang proceeds to sing “I Love You”. Everyone waves goodbye after the song and Barney blows a kiss to the audience.

Dinosaurs

 * Barney (Voice: Bob West, Costume: Carey Stinson / Josh Martin)
 * Baby Bop (Voice: Julie Johnson, Costume: Lee Clark / Jennifer Romano)
 * BJ (Voice: Patty Wirtz, Costume: Pat O'Connell / Kyle Nelson)

Children

 * Jeff (Austin Ball)
 * Hannah (Mariah Kuer)
 * Danny (Jeffery Hood)
 * Keesha (Mera Baker)

Other

 * Professor Tinkerputt (Barry Pearl)
 * Mother Goose (Michelle McCarel)
 * Clarence the Goose (David Voss)
 * Old King Cole (Dewayne Hambrick﻿)
 * Bunnies
 * Presents
 * Robots
 * Toys
 * Ducks

Production
After ''Barney Live! In New York City'', Coleman went to Dick Leach, who helped launch Barney, to suggest making the Barney live events bigger. Coleman requested one million dollars and the best Rock ‘n’ roll tour manager he can find, which became the basis for Barney's Big Surprise. Dick Leach, the chairman of Lyrick Studios (the company that owned Barney at the time), and his daughter, Sheryl Leach, the creator of Barney, at first envisioned a show that would play in theaters, much like the performance at Radio City Music Hall in 1994, however, Barney's Big Surprise was too big to play in theaters.

Music
After doing the music for the attraction, Joseph Phillips was approached by Sloan Coleman to do the music for the tour of Barney's Big Surprise. Phillips (and his crew) mixed and edited the show while it was being rehearsed at the same time.

Music & Soundtrack
''Main Article: Barney's Big Surprise! Live on Stage''

''Barney's Big Surprise! Live on Stage'' was an album that featured songs from the stage show of the same name. The album was originally sold on November 6, 1996, during the tour. A retail version of the album was released on May 6, 1997 (the same day as Barney's Musical Scrapbook).

Main Article: La Gran Sorpresa de Barney

La Gran Sorpresa de Barney is a soundtrack that was released in 1998 based on Barney's Big Surprise but in Spanish It was later re-released in 2005 when toured in Argentina.

Broadcast
The video aired on PBS in 2000, being the fourth of only eleven Barney Home Videos to be televised on that network.

Home media
On May 19, 1998, Barney's Big Surprise was released on VHS. It was later re-released on VHS in 2000.

Reception
With a minor suggestion for earplugs due to the show's volume, Los Angeles Times critic Lynne Heffley found Barney's Big Surprise similar to a Barney & Friends episode, with the result being "lively, expertly staged and a lavish visual treat" noting that alongside the television show, the stage show provides a "feel-good formula". In the Chicago Tribune, Eric Fidler commented that the show primarily aims at the five-and-under group, citing that "Judging Barney through the eyes of an adult is pointless....kids were in heaven".

North America (1996-1998)
The original North American tour of the tour ran from September 1996 through May 1998 in four legs, separated by Winter and Summer holidays.

Trivia

 * Starting with this live show onward (excluding the filmed performance of Barney's Colorful World!), a child with his/her voice being heard off-screen would usually say their introductory lines before Barney comes to life through the curtains as he greets the audience.
 * This video was released on J.D. Mosley's forty-eighth birthday, and one day before Jeffrey Lowe's eighteenth birthday.
 * Although BJ receives a red scooter for his birthday in this video, he was previously seen riding it in Barney's 1-2-3-4 Seasons. It's possible that this stage show took place before that video due to it being a continuity error.
 * Because of the success of his Barney Live! In New York City his previous show at Radio City Music Hall, the tour was launched incidentally from Radio City Music Hall.

Cast

 * This live show / video marked:
 * The first filmed live show not to have David Joyner as Barney's costume performer. Now, Carey Stinson takes that position, having done so in previous mall tours and as an alternate costume performer in Barney Live! In New York City.
 * The first time BJ is performed by Kyle Nelson. Kyle Nelson would go on to perform BJ on the television series.
 * The only time Mother Goose is portrayed by Michelle McCarel.
 * David Voss, who was the original Barney costume actor, served as the Dance Captain and Cast Manager for the tour. David Voss also played Clarence the Goose.
 * From 1996-1997, some performances would feature the costumes based on the season three Barney costume and the 1996 Baby Bop and BJ costumes. However, in the filmed version and the 1997-1998 performances, the costumes based on the season four Barney costume and the 1997-2001 Baby Bop and BJ costumes would be used.

Characters

 * This live show / video marked:
 * The final appearances of Professor Tinkerputt and Clarence the Goose.
 * The first appearance of Old King Cole.
 * The first live show in which the character voices were pre-recorded, unlike previous shows where they were performed live.
 * The first time BJ and Baby Bop appeared with Mother Goose.
 * The only time Professor Tinkerputt and Mother Goose appeared together.

Home media

 * This live show / video marked:
 * The first video to use the 1998-2001 Lyrick Studios logo.
 * The final Barney VHS to have a preview of Barney Live! In New York City on the 2000 re-release.
 * The third Barney live show to be released on VHS.
 * The audio track on the screener version of the video was a work in progress, as the final audio wasn't completed yet at the time. The same version also has no text in the credits and it also has different audio.

Occurrences

 * This live show / video marked:
 * The first live show to feature a Barney doll at the beginning. It is also the first live show to feature The Treehouse. The next one to do the latter would be Barney at Alton Towers.
 * The final video to have Sheryl Leach as an executive producer. Dennis DeShazer solely took over the position starting with the next video.
 * The only other live show after Barney Live! In New York City where its vocals for the "Barney Theme Song" are sung differently compared to the one that was used from the television series. This one uses a mixture from the fourth season including the permanently closed attraction, A Day in the Park with Barney, formerly at Universal Orlando Resort.

Songs

 * In the Barney News on the 1996 Family Magazine, the songs, "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" and "Everyone is Special", were mentioned, but they do not appear in this live show.
 * "Listen to the Night Time" was removed from the tour due to the energy it brought down for the show.