Balcony Stage

Balcony Stage
Type	Stage (PTT)
Distributor	Pizza Time Theatre, Inc. (Former)
Released	1980
Released	United States, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, Singapore, France

The Balcony Stage was a stage type created for Pizza Time Theatre locations from 1980 until 1986, with the last being removed in 1993.

The Balcony Stage was the first (and only) major stage release during Pizza Time Theatre's existence (PTT lasted from 1977 until 1985, when Showbiz Pizza Place, Inc. bought Pizza Time Theatre, Inc. to form Showbiz Pizza Time, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's brand.) , whereas the The Shelf (the previous release) was only installed in approximately 18 locations, the Balcony Stage was installed in approximately 275 locations.

History and Info

The Balcony Stage debuted in May of 1980 at the San Jose, CA location on Kooser Rd (now closed) and debuted with Foxy Colleen as the guest star. It featured all five characters in half bodied form. Those character animatronics could now move more than the original 1977 animatronics from Winchester but moved less than the 1978 models of Gen 2 Chuck E. and Crusty, and the Kooser Road animatronics aside from Pasqually. The new animatronics are known as "Cyberamics" and would be used up to the Cyberamic 3-Stage, which was introduced in 2000. From left to right, the characters were: The Warblettes, Mr. Munch, Jasper T. Jowls with his banjo, Chuck E. Cheese, the Guest Star (Foxy Colleen, Harmony Howlette, Madame Oink, or Helen Henny), and Pasqually with his squeeze box. Underneath Munch and Pasqually were entrances to the tunnel and strobe light world of "Mr. Munch's Madhouse". However, many locations had begun to block the entrances in the late 1980s due to the poor conditions inside.

The Clapper Board and Band Board also sat on the walls beside Pasqually.

During the 1980s, themes would be added for each show. Backgrounds would be added to the stage and the characters would be dressed to match the show’s theme.

In 1984, all locations installed Helen Henny on the stage after she became a permanent character. This also led to the retirement of Guest Stars on the stage.

Between 1987 and the early 1990s, Balcony Stages were phased out in favor of the C Stage and Rocker Stage. The rest were converted into the Road Stage, 2-Stage, and 1-Stage, which mainly consisted of placing the existing animatronics atop a new assembly (mostly legs), as well as giving Munch and Pasqually new arm assemblies and redressing all of the animatronics to resemble their 3-Stage counterparts.

The last known standard Balcony Stage was in the Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Chuck E. Cheese's location until 1993 marking it extinct in the US and Canada. A unique variation of the Balcony Stage could be found at the Lake Forest, CA Chuck E Cheese from 1986-2001 (for more details on that stage see Lake Forest Stage).

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