HIT Entertainment Digital Newsroom

VEE Corporation Announces Barney Live in Concert - Birthday Bash! Tour

09/10/2010

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.

The loveable, huggable, purple dinosaur Barney™ is celebrating his birthday all across the United States with a brand-new, interactive, music party tour. Produced by VEE Corporation, in cooperation with HIT Entertainment, Barney Live in Concert - Birthday Bash! will premiere on Friday, Nov. 19 in Tulsa, Okla. and visit up to 100 cities during the 2010-11 touring season. Dates on the first leg of the tour include Topeka, Kan., Lincoln, Neb., Salina, Kan., Oklahoma City, St. Charles, Mo. (St. Louis), Evansville, Ind., Rosemont, Ill. (Chicago), Merrillville, Ind., Independence, Mo. (Kansas City), Wichita, Kan., Dallas and San Antonio.

This fun-filled concert, starring Barney and his friends BJ™, Baby Bop™ and Riff™, features more than 25 upbeat, sing-along tunes including favorites such as "Mr. Knickerbocker," "Dino Dance," "Baby Bop Hop" and "Rock 'n Roll Star." Children will be dancing in the aisles to contemporary cuts of "If You're Happy and You Know It," Wheels on the Bus" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Parents will beam with pride to see their children caught up in the fun, which celebrates Barney's themes of sharing, caring, imagining, dancing and learning.

"We are honored to be entrusted with Barney as we bring him back to the live, professional stage in a fresh, new show that will delight and deliver the wholesome values Barney represents," said Vince E. Egan, Founder and CEO of VEE Corporation. "We're looking forward to a very successful venture with HIT Entertainment."

"We are thrilled that Barney is back on stage in Barney Live in Concert - Birthday Bash!" said Pam Westman, Executive Vice President, The Americas, HIT Entertainment. "VEE Corporation exactly captures all of Barney's beloved attributes in this vibrant, new show filled with great music, dancing and lots of fun. A new generation of Barney fans will surely delight in this larger than life stage show experience."

Like television's Emmy-award winning series Barney & Friends™, Barney Live in Concert - Birthday Bash! encourages sharing and caring through the power of song, dance and the beloved cast. Trusted by parents and adored by children for more than 20 years, Barney & Friends™, remains one of the top-rated pre-school shows today, airing on PBS KIDS® and PBS KIDS Sprout. Each month, there are more than 1.9 million page views on Barney's web site, and in 2009, more than 2.1 millions Barney DVDs were sold. Springing from a child's imagination, Barney always promotes positive values, good manners and guarantees fun along the way.

Please visit www.barneylivetour.com for tour schedule and more information.

VEE CORPORATION
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, VEE Corporation is one of the most experienced and respected names in family-friendly entertainment. VEE Corporation has delighted millions of children around the world with live touring stage shows since Sesame Street Live's debut performance in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Sep. 17, 1980. VEE also provides entertainment, promotion and event marketing services for the world's most respected brands and agencies. Clients and partners in the corporate, sports, museum and event marketing sector come to VEE for imaginative solutions to capture the undivided attention of their customers and audiences through custom designed/built interactive environments. For more information, please visit www.vee.com.

HIT ENTERTAINMENT
HIT Entertainment is one of the world's leading independent children's entertainment producers and rights-owners. HIT's portfolio includes properties, such as Barney™, Bob the Builder™, Thomas & Friends™, Pingu™, Fireman Sam™, Angelina Ballerina™ and Rainbow Magic™. HIT represents Chapman Entertainment's Fifi and the Flowertots™ and Roary the Racing Car™ in North America, as well as Wallace & Gromit™, Shaun the Sheep™, Timmy Time™ and Aardman Classics from Aardman Animations. HIT also acts as representative for The Wiggles® in the UK. Launched in 1989, HIT's lines of business span television and video production, content distribution, publishing, consumer products licensing and live events and has operations in the UK, US, Canada, Hong Kong and Japan. HIT is a part-owner of US-based preschool channel, PBS KIDS SproutSM. For more information, visit www.hitentertainment.com.

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