Review of Barney Live: Birthday Bash | Kids Out and About Rochester <

Review of Barney Live: Birthday Bash

by Heidi Ciravola

Barney Live: Birthday Bash!
Auditorium Center, Rochester, NY
November 26, 2011

I think it may go without saying, but if you are a Barney booing adult then this is not the show for you! On the other hand, if you, like me, can appreciate the puffy purple dinosaur for the fun loving, sing-song entertainment that he brings to many children, then you are in for a real treat!

I was happy to find that right off the bat the atmosphere was totally child friendly. The venue in Rochester is typically a no food in the theater venue, but for this event the cotton candy man was walking amongst us! The usual fan fare of character goods were for sale at the front, but the booth wasn't so overwhelming that we couldn't get by with ease. Boosters were readily available for all the little ones to enjoy a better viewing experience.

Had I thought ahead, I would have been smart to bring a package of Dollar Store glow sticks, as that was the big trinket circling around the theater before the show began. At a cost of $5 for one stick, I didn't find it a worthy investment.

I was pleased to see that the show's producers were smart: The show started right on time so that our antsy kids didn't have to wait too long.

Barney Live: Birthday Bash consisted of two 35-minute halves with a 15-minute intermission in between (where $5 balloons were circling about). Both halves moved along at a nice pace. The first half featured songs like The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Mr. Knickerbocker, and Barney's Band. In the second half there were even more fun, familiar songs to bop to such as The Baby Bop Hop, Clapping Game, All The Raindrops, and a group Happy Birthday to Barney.

The ages of the kids in the audience went all the way from babies through age 4 or 5. The entire audience was totally engaged with Barney, BJ, Baby Bop, and Riff: dancing in the aisles or wiggling happily on parents' laps.

The first of two drawbacks, if you want to call them that, were that in the beginning of the second half, the first two songs were done without Barney. Needless to say you could hear countless cries across the auditorium from little ones wondering where Barney was! The second drawback for me was the confetti cannons they set off in both the first and second halves of the show. They startled kids and parents alike with a loud gunshot boom.

Obviously, neither of these should be considered a large deterrent to attending the show; they were simply something for which you should be prepared. In fact, when I asked my 5-year-old what her favorite part of the show was, she listed the confetti cannons among her favorites despite the noise that scared us!


© 2011, Heidi Ciravola. Heidi is a mom of three from Hilton, NY.

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