Duttons Relocate, Reopen Show for 2022

After a fire damaged their theater in July, the Dutton Family will resume their shows today at a new location for the rest of the year.

The full story below from Tim Church of the Branson Tri-Lakes News:

On Monday, Sept. 26, The Duttons will officially reopen their show for the 2022 season from the stage of the Yakov Smirnoff Theater in Branson.

Due to a structure fire at their Branson venue on July 13, The Dutton Family Theatre was forced to shut down for repairs for the rest of the year. While the theater is being worked on, The Duttons were invited by Smirnoff to join him at his theater for the rest of the year. 

The fire started in a trash can sitting outside the front of the Dutton theater. Flames quickly worked their way up the corner column of the building before entering into the crawl space, facade and roof of the theater. Even though the fire was extinguished quickly, fire, water and smoke damage was left throughout the entire facility. 

In the weeks since the incident, the family have been waiting to receive estimates on the damage and making plans for how long it would take to make the theater once again safe for performers and guests. 

CEO and Technical Director Timothy Dutton said the initial hope was the fire damage would only be minimal and they could reopen the theater within a month or two.

“The deeper we get into this project, however, the more problems we find—especially the amount of smoke damage that went through the whole building, even the parts of the building farthest away from the actual fire,” Dutton said. “It soon became essential to find a new location to host our show for the remainder of the season. We are so grateful to Yakov for offering to host us and we are delighted to be going into such a beautiful location.”

The Duttons 2022 season will resume with a week of Reunion Shows, which will feature all seven of the original Dutton siblings performing together in Branson for the first time in a long time. The Reunion Shows will run from Monday, Sept. 26, to Friday, Sept. 30. The following week, The Duttons will resume with their regular show, which will take place through Oct. 31; before they switch over to their Christmas show, which will run from Nov. 1 to Dec. 14. 

Smirnoff will be opening his 2022 show “United We Laugh” on Sunday, Oct. 2, with 2 p.m. performances on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Showtimes will run through Nov. 18. Visit yakov.com for details.

Re-construction and clean-up of the fire and smoke damaged Dutton Family Theater will continue through the fall and winter, with a scheduled reopening date of April 2023. 

The Yakov Theater is located at 470 State Highway 248 in Branson. For additional information or to make ticket reservations for The Duttons, call 417-332-2772 or visit theduttons.com.