Branson, Missouri Adventure

After my time in beautiful Nauvoo, I accompanied my parents and grandmother to Branson, MO for a few days. My parents bought a timeshare last year and decided they would check out the place in Branson. It is at Stormy Point Village.

This is a great little resort community in development right off the lake. Each lodging is an individual house with two or three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full living area and kitchen with very nice furnishings and kitschy decorations to go along with the nautical theme of the whole resort. Over the next couple of years they will be adding a small store and gas station. They already have an indoor and outdoor pool, tavern and place to buy tickets in their main building, the lighthouse.

While in Branson, we played games and went to four shows. We had a preview of many of the shows at a breakfast provided by the resort when different performers came from several shows to give a preview and pitch for the performances of the week. We went to Clay Cooper’s Country Music Express, the Dutton Family, the Cat’s Pajamas and the Brett Family.

Clay Cooper’s Country Music Express

This was an energetic show of classic country songs with some newer ones thrown in. It definitely reached the target Branson audience of senior citizens with hits from singers like Conway Twitty. To add variety to the show, he has some comedy sketches scattered through the show, and to appeal to the younger audiences, has Buckets and Boards do a section in the show. It is a percussion duo that has its own show like Stomp in Clay Cooper’s theater at different times through the week. He also has a trick roper perform during a couple of the songs. This roper was seen on America’s Got Talent as a contestant. The show’s talent was mostly good. Clay has a great voice and great stage presence with a great connection to the audience. I guess this should be expected from a Branson veteran.

Cat’s Pajamas

Cat’s Pajamas is a new show in Branson performing out of the Dutton Family Theater. This vocal band consists of five members, one of them, Marcus Terell, was also on America’s Got Talent and has a great solo voice. I enjoyed the show and talent level although you could see that they were still getting into the swing of things with their new show and figuring out how to appropriately reach the current Branson audience. As I see it, this new type of show with the vocal band and Stomp-esque groups in Branson is trying to appeal to the younger and family market since the current Branson audience has started diminishing with complications of age.

The Dutton Family

The Dutton Family: a great show from a big family. They know how to entertain and they are extremely talented as much of America saw on America’s Got Talent a couple of seasons ago when they made it to the top 10. I most enjoyed the sections of the show when the original cast brought out their instruments and played some fantastic bluegrass, country, classical and other types of music. I thought it was a bit corny when they brought out the little kids to do little bit parts and bring the cuteness factor to the show. I’m sure the older folks in the audience loved it though. The Dutton’s also had the largest audience of all of the shows we attended. Granted it was a special occasion when a bunch of friends were there for a birthday celebration, but it was still well attended. This is a fantastic show worth seeing and they offer discounts if you see more than one show in their theater. They also have an inn and restaurant as part of their complex and offer package deals. Their theater is home to their show, the Cat’s Pajamas, Island Fire and George Dyer.

The Brett Family

As family friends, we had to attend the Brett Family show while in Branson. They have a great show with the highest production value of the four we saw. Their voices blend so well and their arrangements are perfect for them. They are the reason we first went to Branson over Y2K. They pulled off a great show even with sickness spread throughout the group. Their show is currently in the Dick Clark American Bandstand Theater.

More to come about Branson …