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WELCOME TO THE HAMNER BARBER THEATER!
Dedicated to providing professional, family-friendly productions of the highest quality, for audiences of all ages!
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Hamner Barber Variety Show Ricky Boen & Texas Mud Hamner Barber presents"The Wings of Christmas"
Music Sampler
In 2008 the theater celebrates it's 13th season of operation, presenting incredible productions to thousands of Branson visitors each year. The venue has an interesting history and has been home to many artists and shows over the years starting with the Braschler Music Show. Years before the Branson entertainment boom, a local man named Gil Elmore purchased the 14 acre parcel of land that the theater now sets on and built a small, ranch style home with a small barn and lived there for 17 years. Mr. Elmore was the Public Relations Director for the Shepherd of the Hills attraction for 29 years and also performed as Jim Lane in the Shepherd of the Hills Outdoor Drama. As the town of Branson began to grow and development on Shepherd of the Hills Expressway increased, Mr. Elmore and his wife decided it was time to move. He said that during the construction of the Cascade Inn Motel next door, "the jack hammers were unbearable!" He sold the property to a Branson area developer named Jerry Crawford and his wife Dee Crawford who had big plans to develop the site.The first phase of the Crawford's development was to construct the Victorian Village Shops, a two-story complex with office facilities and specialty stores. The Elmore's ranch home was used as a construction office when the ground-breaking for the building of the theater began in April 1995. Mr. Crawford was a big fan of the Braschler Music Show and invited them to move from their theater on Gretna Road where they had performed for 11 years and open their show in his new theater which was then named,"The Braschler Theater".
An artist named Brenda Murphy was commissioned to paint the lobby with custom wall murals of colorful angels playing a horn and harp. Mrs. Crawford asked they be painted with "discerning faces." The entire mural project was completed in 5 days. Images of these and other murals can be seen on Brenda's website.
The Braschlers opened the new theater with their Christmas show in November of 1995, just seven months after the original groundbreaking ceremony. Construction ran so close to the opening show that Jan Braschler's cousins from California who came to enjoy the festivities, painted the front of the stage just hours before the show began. The
Crawfords intentended that the theater also be used as a music ministry
outreach on Sundays. While the Braschlers were known for their incredible
gospel harmonies, a special Sunday morning worship serviceknown as
the Grand Old Gospel Hour was eventually held each week
and In 1996, The Sons of the Pioneers, along with with their famous stable of songs including "Cool Water" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," moved into the morning show timeslot and theBlackwood Family Singers became the first group to perform a matinee show at the theater, while The Braschler Music Show continued in their evening show position. In 1997, there was no matinee show and The Sons of the Pioneers and The Braschlers continued their schedule for a couple more years.
In 2001, The Sons of the Pioneers returned to the theater as the matinee show and in 2002, Mr. Crawford sold the property to an investment group who had plans to further develop the land around the theater. Barbara Fairchild took her show elsewhere and the Braschlers changed their time-slot for the first time since moving into the venue taking the matinee position.
The new theater management changed the name to "The Sons of the Pioneers Theater" and the Pioneers band themselves repainted the lobby, covering over forever the angelic wall murals painted years earlier. In 2003, a new morning show, Hank Williams Remembered starring Larry Burton Crocker, replaced Cowboys, Heroes and Friends but did not return the following year. In 2004, Dave Hamner and Jim Barber were invited by the new theater owners to fill the evening time-slot at the theater when the Sons of the Pioneers decided to move their show to The Shepherd of the Hills Outdoor Attraction. Both Dave and Jim spent several years in Branson as featured acts in other theaters and now they had an opportunity to combine the best elements of their individual acts to create the Hamner Barber Variety Show.
On Sundays, Dave Hamner, an ordained minister as well as a professional illusionist, began the Solid Gospel Sunday service at the theater. The free worship service features many gospel singers from the Branson area as well as Dave's eloquently delivered sermon. More information on Solid Gospel Sundays can be found here. At the beginning of the 2004 season, the theater was renamed for the 3rd time and was now known as "The Victorian Theater."
The old theater marquee which was deemed illegal by the city due to its placement too close to powerlines, was torn down and a new, backlit monument sign was erected on the bluff in front of the theater on Shepherd of the Hills Expressway bringing much needed, additional drive-by exposure for the venue. In December 2006, Patriarch of the Braschler Music Show, Cliff Braschler retires as the lead tenor after 23 years. He is a member of the Branson Music Hall of Fame.
In April 2007, Ricky Boen & Texas Mud joins the theater line-up as the new morning show. Ricky Boen is the 1983 World Champion fiddle player from Odessa, Texas and his group "Texas Mud" won the coveted Will Rogers Award, being named Western Swing Group of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists. On January 1, 2008 Hamner & Barber launch BransonWebcast.com presenting celebrity interviews, news and more recorded direct from the lobby of the Hamner Barber Theater. 2008 also marks the 5th Season of the Hamner Barber Variety Show presenting the best in magic, comedy, dance and music. Special
thanks to Jan Braschler, Gil Elmore, and Brenda Murphy for their assistance
in compiling this history information.
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© 2005-2008 Hamner Barber Theater - 3090 Shepherd of the Hills Expressway, Branson, Missouri 65616 |
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The
theater was designed with a Victorian flair to match the shopping
complex next door. It was faced with brick and had four large handmade
columns in the front. It originally held 696 theater seats, but some
were taken out in later years to make room for an audio booth in the
back of the auditorium as well as for an extension of the stage apron. 
featured many great vocalists from the Branson area.
The show
features the incredible illusions of The Hamners (Dave and Denise)
and Jim Barber's unique comedy that he has performed all over the
United States and in over 15 foreign countries as a USO performer.
In 2005, the Hamners and the Barbers purchased the theater which was then rechristened for the fourth time as, "Hamner Barber Theater," which remains the name to this day. Additional
stage curtains and fiberoptic lights were added to the theater as
well as three new video projectors and a large center stage projection
screen that lowers to fill the stage with animation and video elements.