Branson event planners and organizers are in robot mode (read this next part in your robot reading voice: Pandemic. Can’t recover. Covid. Covid. Pandemic. Pandemic. Blah. Blah. Blah.
Aren’t you glad for real publications like your Christian County Trumpet to blast the real reason why entertainment in Branson is tanking?
Thought so!
Why Branson entertainment is eroding into oblivion
I hate to write this. Heck, I’ve been visiting Branson since 1976. I can tell you the old timey stories about the original craftspeople and the charm being scooted out by commercialism, but I won’t bore you with all that.
It’s not the pandemic. It’s not the tornado of 2012, or the market crash of 2008. Sure, those things definitely hurt all of us, but it wasn’t specific to live entertainment.
SIDE NOTE: For those who may be tuning in from another planet, or another part of our planet, Branson, Missouri is/was the mecca of live theater stage shows, from music, to magic, to comedy. Campy, homey, family friendly themes. Bigger names at times, with the idea of season long stage entertainment, from May through October, then in the 80s, from March through December.
Click here for another voice on the topic.
As someone who worked in Branson for ten plus years, I know firsthand about the theater hopping entertainers did jumping from venue to venue according to their financial picture and the stability of the venue.
I would hate being in the theater biz. It’s a painful way to lose money.
Yes, I want things to work out. I do, I do.
By the way, I get it that Silver Dollar City, Branson’s theme park, is expanding with a new announcement soon about a 1,200 acre addition to its existing 155 acre park. But beyond that and Johnny Morris of Bass Pro pumping into his ideas in the area, the “76 Strip” theater district from downtown to Shepherd of the Hills is gasping for air and catapulting backwards. Touristy gimmickers can only pretend so long before people dump it altogether.
Click here for another article on Silver Dollar City (which lost its former identity and jacked prices to OMG levels.)
I like the idea of people coming from all over bringing their money and dumping it in my backyard (I live in neighboring Christian County). I love the concept of family friendly options to sleazy places like Las Vegas (I’ve been there a bunch, too, and it’s definitely dropping, but that’s a story for a different time!)
But while the concept of Branson offering a plethora of entertainment for families (as they used to say, for senior citizens and their parents!) While they reach out to younger crowds with mini golf, zip lines, and name brand shopping experiences… the theater shows are biting the big one.
It’s the elephant in the room. The issue no mayor, city council, legislator, big wig, guru, owner, manager, leaser, greaser, wants to tackle.
Because Branson is stuck with gobs of big buildings with tons of seats and stages, and nobody to fill them.
No amount of gimmicks from the ticket sellers and tourism promoters is helping. Grandpa and Grandma are dying off, and their boomer kids are more interested in watching their kids and grandkids on wave runners at the lake. More and more of the Gen X, Y, Z, Millennial, Alpha, Omega, all them younger ones, they want to watch their own devices. They look at Tiktok, YouTube, SnapChat, Twitch, Instagram, Facebook, and any other formats I’m not savvy enough to know about.
They get their entertainment in the palm of their hands. Porn, movies, stage shows, stunts, TV, and a barrage of video clips on scrolling feeds pumped at them by algorithms tracking their every move to entice them into material they supposedly crave.
And, that’s working. That’s the new face of entertainment.
My son and his friends (high school freshmen this year) joined me in my van as I drove them to Whitewater in Branson (water park).
The entire 45 minute ride there and back was about them on their devices, recording noises and playing them back, and swapping video clips of themselves and others. No back-and-forth conversation face to face with the chums 18 inches away. They literally communicated and sought the energy of their interactions THROUGH THEIR PHONES.
Is it any wonder Branson theater shows can’t compete? They happen in real time. It takes real people to do real sound checks, rig real lights and set up instruments for real people who practice hard to play. All that wasted on a handful of people in the audience who often get comp tickets from friends in the show, or discounts through the ticket booths, or whatever. The amount of empty seats at all the Branson shows is alarming. No amount of new stuff will bring the theater scene back.
It’s over.
A friend of mine has performed as a musician in Branson for decades. Indeed, his childhood and all his adult years are spent behind a drum kit on a stage. That’s how he has and continues to make his money.
I saw a show he was in recently (of course, comp tickets!) and afterwards we discussed the death of Branson.
“Theater shows are done,” was the sentiment.
“We make better money just going out on the road and doing our show once in a remote area,” he said. “Touring is our best option. We cut a few dancers and couldn’t do our pyrotechnics tonight,” he said during intermission. “We have a 200-audience member minimum to make that financially feasible. We had 180 tonight.”
I hate that quality, hard working, talented entertainers and musicians are forced to struggle through a myriad of new problems thrust at them. It’s not the pandemic. I was happening before that. It’s the immediacy of the internet.
My drummer friend continued: “People can download shows live and get any sort of similar experience from home. Why go to a show? In the 80s, we all wanted to go to the show, because we didn’t have any other way to see one.”
By the way, the show was fantastic
By the way, the Branson show my wife and I saw with our friend drumming was fantastic.
But, sadly, all that fantasticness is wasted on a culture no longer thirsty for remakes of the past. Another year and the contracts will change. And I believe doors will close.
Churches can’t occupy all the theater space. What can Branson do with all these seats and stages?
Competition Shows
The answer? Possibly… bring in nationally televised shows, like “America’s Got Talent” and “Dancing with the Stars”… honestly, I don’t know if those are still going, because I don’t watch TV, but you get the idea. Big, flashy competition shows. They could sweep into Branson theaters and do live from Branson experiences, pack the house for audience members eager to see Simon and Howie and whomever is in a revealing dress and heels, yada yada.
The viewing audience would be intrigued by the idea of Branson because they’d be watching it from anywhere.
Then, the celebrity crew moves on and Branson gets quiet again. But the experience causes a buzz, a stir, a reawakening. It packs Branson for let’s say, a weeklong run of shows. It’s like NASCAR. Only happens once a year, but the economic boost is worth it. The rest of the year is spent waiting and polishing up the venue for the next big hit.
Think of it… theater owners get a huge economic boost once a year, and they live off it and don’t need to hustle week after week for the small scraps.
One big national show per year, per theater, and that’s about one big show per month average, all year long, at some theater in Branson. Share the wealth! Each venue gets a pop from the national scene, and can pluck along with the local yokels mooching freebies and discounts between big events.
Your thoughts?