Sight & Sound Theatre opening ahead of schedule

The animals will be coming two-by-two sooner than expected to the Sight & Sound Theatre in Branson.

“Noah The Musical” premieres May 24, nearly a month earlier than the theater’s original opening date, Sight & Sound founder Glenn Eshelman said March 6 during a sneak-peek tour of construction progress. The massive $42 million theater is nearing completion at 1001 Shepherd of the Hills Expressway.

Eshelman, whose Good Shepherds Meadows LLC theater company is based in Pennsylvania, was on hand for a walk-through of the 339,000-square-foot, 2,100-seat Byzantine-style complex. According to Sight & Sound General Manager Tom Fish, the theater needs exterior landscaping and miscellaneous work including interior trim and fixtures, for completion.

Little Rock, Ark.-based CDI Contractors is the general contractor, and Springfield-based Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. is project architect. Good Shepherds Meadows hired local engineers Anderson Engineering Inc. and Malone Finkle Eckhardt and Collins Inc., while Lancaster, Penn.-based Providence Engineering is the structural engineer. Other local contractors on the job are SKC Electric and Gold Mechanical.

Eshelman and his wife, Shirley, also own and operate two other Sight & Sound Theatres, the Millenium Theatre and The Living Waters Theatre, both located in Strasburg, Pa. Eshelman said “Noah,” his company’s signature show, debuted in 1995 and has played to 2.4 million people.

Read about Sight & Sound Theatre’s set, costume and livestock in the March 17 issue.