At the beginning of the month I took a very special trip to Branson, Missouri. While I was there I saw many shows and I wanted to tell you about three of them that I really enjoyed. These are three must see shows. They are The Hughes Brothers Christmas Show, Branson’s Famous Baldknobbers and the Clay Cooper’s Christmas Express,. Each was special in its own way and each had fantastic Christmas music. The spirit of the season was found within each show.

At the Hughes Brothers theater you can find a wonderful family show, the Hughes Brothers Christmas Show. When I say family I don’t just mean that it is family friendly. The entire show is a family affair. There are five Hughes Brothers Marty, Jason, Adam, Ryan and Andy. Along with the five brothers there are their wives and children who also work on the show. There are over 30 Hughes children who perform in the show. The kids not only perform in the show they run the merchandise and concession stands even at intermission. One minute the kids are singing and dancing on the stage, the next they hop off the stage and behind the counter. These children have such talent surrounding them and so much of their own talent, too.

This show was entirely Christmas themed and I enjoyed the songs, costumes and performances. There were many of the standard Christmas songs and one of the most special things was the living Nativity that they did involving the youngest of the Hughes Children as baby Jesus. The show was filled with so much Christmas magic. The Christmas show runs six days a week with two shows on Tuesdays and Thursdays from the first of November until December 29th. On December 31st they have a New Years Celebration show. After our viewing we each got to speak with a member of the family. I was lucky enough to spend some time with the family funny man, Ryan Hughes.

Interviewing Ryan Hughes at Hughes Brothers Theatre

Branson is a place that is steeped in tradition and history. One of their longest running shows and the one that started it all was Branson’s Famous Baldknobbers. The show began in 1959 by the Mabe family. It is a country music and comedy variety show. Now the family is into their third generation and they continue to perform a traditional show involving the comedy and music that made Branson famous.

The first half of the show was some rocking country music. I particularly loved when they did “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”. It was a great number and I loved that at one point they even incorporated Kashmir from Led Zeppelin. I was very impressed by the guitar player and fiddle player. They did a great job all through the whole show. The guitarist actually plays many gigs around town including the Showboat Branson Belle.

After the intermission the show came back with a Christmas theme. They played some Christmas standards and more modern Christmas songs. There were also moments of comedy a couple of simple characters who gave the head singer a lot of grief. It was that sort of wordplay humor where you have one person gets more and more frustrated by the simple character who is unflappable. It was pretty funny. After the show I was very lucky to get a chance to interview the band leader Nathan Agdeppa.

Interview with Nathan Agdeppa of Branson’s Famous Baldknobbers

My favorite show of the three was actually the first show that we went to see. From the jump the Clay Cooper’s Christmas Express hooked me in. They started out with a cut of “The Greatest Show” from The Greatest Showman. I love that movie and that song so I was so excited to hear it. The Greatest Showman is my daughter’s absolute favorite movie as well and that is why I’ve watched it many times and am so into that song. I just wanted to share that moment with my daughter and at some point we will go there as a family to see the show which is completely family friendly.

The Clay Cooper show was certainly the most technologically savvy of the three. There were large screens that projected the stage so no matter where you were you could see everyone really well. Also, as the show went on it was being recorded and you could buy a copy of the show you just watched! That is amazing! We went home with a copy of the exact show that we saw so I can share that show with my daughter and she’s gonna love it!

Clay Cooper is incredibly charismatic. He has a fantastic way with the crowd. He had everyone laughing and having a great time. I had thought that Clay was a stand up comedian and not a musician. I was wrong about that. He has the crowd-work chops of a comedian and the pipes of a world class singer. Clay was joined by his wife Tina and his sons, Colton & Caden. He also has a live band, 10 dancers and a trio of male singers as well as comedian Matt Gumm. At some points there were 24 performers on stage at once. The songs ranged from old and new country, rock, current hits, gospel, and even a patriotic song written by Clay’s wife, Tina.

The second half of the show was Christmas themed and they even had a special appearance by Batman. Batman had to come in and thwart the plans of Penguin and The Riddler to steal Christmas. Batman and Robin actually came in through Ziplines and that was so cool. After the show we were treated to Andy’s Custard and we were able to interview members of the cast. I had my livestream running the whole time and I got to speak with Tina Cooper and interview her. When we were finished I walked around the theater and out to the lobby and there I ran into Clay and did a very quick interview with him, too. It was an excellent show and I’d love to see it again.

Interviewing Clay and Tina Cooper at the Clay Cooper Theatre in Branson, Missouri