We didn’t stop at the Uranus Fudge shop. The weather slowed us down, so we made up for lost time by avoiding the fudge. I found these YouTube videos about the shop, but I warn you, they’re not intended for family viewing. Scroll right past if you wish.
Branson was worth the trip. If you’ve never been, go. They’ve got fifty live theatres featuring nearly a hundred live shows. We saw five. We purchased the best seats in each house. The tickets averaged $50.00 each. There’s a lot of talented people in Branson.
My college friend, Jim, recommended we see the “Six” show, so that’s the first show we booked. I asked the ticket clerk what shows she would recommend at other venues. Her reply was simple. “You can’t go wrong with the shows at the Grand Country Music Hall.” We booked two there, and I asked for additional recommendations from the staff at Grand Country. They directed us to the “Haygoods” at The Clay Cooper Theatre and “Jesus” at the Sight and Sound Theater. We followed the locals’ advice and booked them all.
It rained much of our time in Branson, so we were happy to have the live shows. The “Jesus” show was the most grand. It was performed in a theatre that seats 2,000 people, and it was packed. It featured live camels, horses, sheep, pigs, goats, birds and dozens of actors and actresses. The sound and visual effects were spectacular.
The “Haygoods” have five brothers and one sister playing over twenty instruments. They sing, dance, tell jokes, and boast of having performed for over six million people. Their collective talent is unmatched.
Ruth’s favorite was the Grand Jubilee featured in the Grand Country Music Hall. This show has won “Entertainers of the Year”, “Branson’s Best Show”, “Branson’s Best Variety Show”, “Quartet of the Year”, “Gospel Group of the Year”, “Band of the Year”, “Comedian of the Year”, “Emcee of the Year”, “Piano Player of the Year”, “Fiddle Player of the Year”, “Bass Guitar Player of the Year”, “Guitar Player of the Year”, “Drummer of the Year” and “Steel Guitar Player of the Year”. They were great.
We saw “Down Home Country” in the same showroom. It was as advertised, a country extravaganza. It featured many of the same musicians as the Grand Jubilee. It had our favorite comedian of the trip, Jarrett Daugherty. If you never go to Branson, you should check out his website to get a feel for his humor. We loved it.
“Six” was my favorite. It, too, is a family show featuring six brothers. When the show opened, we saw five performers. They later explained that one of the brothers had recently retired, but they still “identified” as six. During the second half of the show another brother, recently retired from the military, joined them making the group “Six” again. They come from a family of ten brothers.
What made this group truly unique was they made all the music themselves. There were no instruments. The brothers made all of the music with their voices. Talk about talent. I’m still learning how to play the kazoo.
The overriding theme for our time in the theaters was their focus on wholesome entertainment. Not one cuss word was uttered by anyone. The “Jesus” show was the only one of the five that didn’t stop to recognize our veterans. All veterans were asked to stand and be recognized while the performers sang a patriotic song at each of the four others. I saw dozens of tear filled eyes as we saluted our vets.
We found our time in Branson to be memorable. I completely forgot about our failed stop in Uranus.