Variety

Variety in Branson means a bill that changes shape every ten minutes – music, comedy, illusion, acrobatics, sometimes horses – rather than a single act holding the stage for two hours.

Six productions are listed. Dolly Parton’s Stampede is the largest, a dinner-and-arena spectacle rather than a theater show. Amazing Acrobats of Shanghai brings a Chinese circus company and is the one genuinely acrobatic production in town. Silver Dollar City’s Showboat puts a variety bill on the water with a meal attached, and Buckets N Boards turns percussion into comedy. Hamners’ Unbelievable Variety Show and its Christmas counterpart mix illusion with dance and music.

Two of these – Stampede and the Showboat – are really dinner shows with a variety format inside them, so read the arrival instructions on their pages carefully; seating times run well ahead of curtain. For the more music-led end of the same idea, see music and variety shows.