Balcony Stage
| Source metadata | |
|---|---|
| |
| Type | Stage Variations |
| Dates | 1980-04 – 1993 |
| Tags | Pizza Time Theatre |
| Contributors | CECBowlingGreen, sudo-trans-pony, Anonymous, JamesLemony, Pench0782, ChuckEPediaIsTheBest!, CEC Tinley, Charlesiiikingofengland, Ptt1977, Tux Chuck, PizzaEntertainment, CECMentor, Caydenpedia, ThatRockHistorian76 |
The Balcony Stage (known internally as The Stage) was a Cyberamics stage type used at Pizza Time Theatre locations as a replacement for the Cyberamics Portrait Shelf, and was installed from 1980 to 1986. The stage debuted at San Jose, CA (1371 Kooser Rd) [1] in May of 1980, and went extinct in 1993 at Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (9271 34th Ave). From 1988 to 1989, most Balcony Stages would be retrofitted into Chuck E's House Facade.
History
Pre-Production
In early 1980, after the openings of Sparks, NV (530 Greenbrae Dr) and Citrus Heights, CA (7614 Greenback Lane), Pizza Time Theatre wanted to create a more standardized Portrait Stage. The final outcome would be replacing the Kooser PTT Show with a new stage called "Showboat."
The Showboat stage, which had Foxy Colleen as the Guest Star, was placed in Kooser's showroom in May 1980. The stage turned out to be a success and would later be installed at Arlington, TX (2216 S Fielder Rd) when the store opened in October 1980. Arlington's Balcony had Madame Oink instead of Foxy Colleen and the showtape upon opening was either Madame Oink II or Around the World with Madam Oink. Arlington's Balcony was also more like the later Balcony Stages, with the characters being lower down and a Cheese Crawl underneath the stage. Most locations still opened with a Portrait Shelf until December 1980. The Balcony Stage was installed at all PTT locations afterwards.
Later Balcony Stages
The "Irish Stew" and Around the World (Balcony Stage Theme) showtapes would have special themes for Balcony Stages. The Balcony Stage had variants for most other showtapes following these two. A Balcony Stage would be installed at the amusement park Kids World in the early to mid-1980s. The stage was not segmented, meaning their were no barriers between the bots, and there was a strange backdrop behind the characters.
ShowBiz Pizza Time/Chuck E. Cheese's
After ShowBiz Pizza Place bought out PTT in 1985, they would continue to open Pizza Time Theatre locations with Balcony Stages until January 1986, with the last PTT location being Fairbanks, AK (600 Old Steese Hwy). In 1987, Arlington, TX (2216 S Fielder Rd) would replace their Balcony Stage with a Chuck E's House, or "Rocker State." All locations forward would open with a Rocker Stage and several existing locations also switched to Rocker Stages. In 1988, ShowBiz corporate would set up Chuck E.'s House Facades to replace the fronts and backdrops of the Balcony Stage to make them look like a house. The last Balcony Stage would be located at Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which was replaced in 1993 for a 2-Stage. Since then, the Balcony Stage has appeared as a cameo in a few modern era CEC Shows, mostly as a flashback.
Similar Stage Types
The stage at Lake Forest, CA (24416 Muirlands Blvd) would be hybrid between a Cyberamics Portrait Shelf, a Balcony Stage, and a Chuck E.'s House Facade, with the stage being removed with the locations closure in 2001. The aforementioned Kids World stage was a version of the Balcony Stage with different features. Unfortunately, the Kids World stage was destroyed in a fire.
Design
The Balcony stage had red valences, a wood ceiling, and a plain red backdrop on the left and right stages. The "Bird Stage" was the area used for the Warblettes. They would be placed over Mr. Munch's Magic Madhouse, though would later just be above an extra platform. The area was left to the "Munch Stage". The Munch Stage was the area used for Mr. Munch. The area was placed over the left entrance of the Cheese Crawl. The area would have signage saying "Mr. Munch", and an outward balcony. The area had two barriers on the left and right sides. The "Main Stage" was the area used for Jasper T. Jowls, Chuck E. Cheese, and the Guest Star, later just Helen Henny. The Main Stage was placed over the middle of the Cheese Crawl, had signage with the names of the characters placed, and had a showtape-specific backdrop. The area would have an outward balcony for Chuck's spot, with the rest of the character spots having no outward Balcony. The characters were placed like this: Jasper (left), Chuck (center), and the Guest Star (right), though Jasper and Foxy Colleen would be in reverse spots on the Showboat stage. The "Pasqually Stage" was the area used for Pasqually. The area was placed over the right entrance of the Cheese Crawl, had signage saying "Pasqually", and had an outward balcony. Like Munch's side of the stage, Pasqually's side had two barriers on both sides. The Band Board and Drum Board were on a shelf on the wall to the right of Pasqually's area. The Balcony Stage had Flag Wavers placed around the walls of the main theater room. An Applause Board was placed on the left wall.
Mr. Munch's Magic Madhouse
Mr. Munch's Magic Madhouse was an area placed under The Bird Stage. The area had signage reading "Mr. Munch's Magic Madhouse" with a Chuck E. Cheese icon placed on it. The area had a rectangular entrance and lights in the inside area. In later variations, the Madhouse was removed.
Cheese Crawl
The Cheese Crawl was an area placed under the stage, and had 2 entrances. The area originally larger and had several holes to look through, though later variants had no holes, sometimes windows, and was generally smaller and more like a tube. The Cheese Crawl was removed in Chuck E.'s House Facade stages. The area was the first area exclusive to Balcony Stages.
Changes/Variants
The "Irish Stew" stage was very different from the other Balcony Stages, with it having different balconies, the original Cheese Crawl, and a different Mr. Munch's Magic Madhouse. The Kids World variant had no barriers, no Cheese Crawl, and a different backdrop.
Themes
- Showboat
- Foxy Colleen in "Irish Stew"
- Around the World with Madam Oink
- Harmony Howlette's Wild West Show
- Harmony II - "Harmony's Hoedown"
- Madame Oink III - "Tunnel of Love"
- Madame Oink IV - The Tune Machine
- Broadway Helen Henny
- Country Helen
- CEC Happy Holidays 1984
- CEC Salute to America
- CEC History of Rock and Roll
- CEC Working / Summertime
- CEC Dance Showtape
The Broadway Helen Henny showtape's backdrop would be reused for both Bandstand 1 and 2. The CEC History of Rock and Roll showtape would reuse the same backdrop for both of its parts.
Credits
| Name | Start | End | Serial | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pete's Woodworking Inc. |
References
Import provenance
Imported from Cheese-E-Pedia at source revision 274f085c7132d784f81b7a4cbd96e7a0922db854. Source material is provided under CC BY-SA 4.0.