Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Oh, the life of a journalist! My colleague Mai constantly refers to me as ‘the office child’ due to my tendency to launch into hyperactive ramblings when the seasoned veterans are busy typing away during working hours.
I tend to take this as a compliment as I start to slide towards my mid-20s and realise that I’m really getting on a bit, but being nominated to review a live Barney show is one of those moments where I wish I was the mature head and let someone else take over my juvenile mantle.
I knew exactly what to expect going in, as if the reams of parents cradling small children and the large ‘For children aged two and up’ on the programme weren’t evidence enough. Lots of singing, clapping and dancing.
Everyone’s favourite purple dinosaur (purely by virtue of being the only purple dinosaur everyone knows – he still scares me despite being two decades too old for him) has been sent a globe of the world by a distant relative, and along with friends BJ (of all the child-friendly names…), Baby Bop and Riff, sets about on a globetrotting adventure covering France, Japan, India, China and Mexico and learns about the language and culture of each new country. Mostly via song, of course.
Yes, almost the entire show is a musical adventure that left me knackered, never mind the young kids who were actually standing up, belting out choruses and clapping until their hands were red.
Fair props to the cast, though, who were clearly loving what they were doing and offering as many hugs to the audience as they could cram into the show’s runtime. The songs were actually well-sung despite the lyrical content being sweeter than candy floss dipped in maple syrup, and the use of props and backgrounds were clever when representing various countries.
If you have children under the age of 10, then they will absolutely love this show, but any older than that and they might see this as a punishment rather than a fun family day out.
– Kristian Harrison
