BRANSON, Missouri – At the Shoji Tabuchi Show, you have to be impressed with the quality of the entertainment and the charming nature of the star.
A masterful violinist, Tabuchi, 75, loves his work and it comes through between musical numbers as he visits with his audience.
His medley from the classic musical, Fiddler on the Roof, is worth the price of admission. His mastery of the violin is part of the reason why people keep coming back to see the show over and over again.
Tabuchi said his favorite song of all time is Through the Eyes of Love (the theme from the movie Ice Castle). His violin solo on that was spectacular.
Tabuchi was born April 16, 1944 in Daishōji, Ishikawa, Japan (now Kaga, Ishikawa, Japan). When Tabuchi was 7, his mother wanted him to learn how to play the violin using the Suzuki Method.
He became a U.S. citizen in 1998 and he called America “the greatest country in the world.”
A fan of American country music, Tabuchi said something happened when he was in college in the mid-1960s that changed his career dramatically.
The late Roy Acuff of the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, played a concert in Osaka, Japan. Tabuchi met Acuff backstage and Acuff kindly told him to look him up if he were ever in Nashville.
Tabuchi formed a college band call The Bluegrass Ramblers and they won a national contest in Japan. With only his violin and $500, he set out for America. He wound up in San Francisco, Kansas City and Louisiana. He moved to Nashville and Acuff got him a shot on the Grand Ole Opry.
Tabuchi was a guest on the Grand Ole Opry 27 times, and played with Tammy Wynette, Mel Tillis, George Jones, Barbra Mandrell, Johnny Cash, Ray Stevens, David Houston, Dolly Parton and others.
In 1980, Tabuchi moved to Branson. In a bold move, he built one of the fanciest theaters in Branson, which was finished in 1990. He has played in Branson for 30 years.
In May of 2017, a fire did a great deal of damage to the interior of the legendary Shoji Tabuchi Theatre on Shepherd of the Hills Expressway. The 2,000-seat theater reopened on October 22, 2018. But now the show has moved to the Clay Cooper Theater on Highway 76 (3216 W. 76 Country Blvd.)
“We are very excited to have a place to perform this limited engagement at The Clay Cooper Theatre while our theatre is continuing to undergo fire restoration,” said his daughter Christina Lingo-Tabuchi. “We are very thankful for Clay and Tina Cooper reaching out to us, offering a temporary home to perform for the people we love, in the city we love!”
Tabuchi’s wife, Dorothy, is the executive producer of the show. She works with the elaborate costumes, choreography and interior design.
Christina is a featured singer in the show and the show’s producer, dance captain and vocal director.
His step-son, Thomas Jason Lingo-Tabuchi, tragically died at age 19. Tabuchi dedicated a song to his son, whom he says he misses very much. There is a scholarship in his name at Branson music school and there is a community center named for him in Oak Grove, Louisiana.
This year, the show has traveled and done tour dates in Texas in Texarkana, Carthage, Kerrville and Midland. In November, the show will take a brief exit from Branson and be in St. Cloud, Minnesota (November 4-6).
Beginning October 21 and running through December 16, Tabuchi will present his annual Christmas Show.
All of Branson gears up for Christmas, beginning in late October, and Shoji’s show is “must see” entertainment.
Christina has a website at www.christinalingotabuchi.com and the Branson show site is www.Shoji.com.
Shoji Tabuchi Show Schedule
October
- Mondays and Fridays – 7:30 p.m.
- Wednesdays – 2 p.m.
- Saturday (12 and 26) – 10 a.m.
November
- Mondays (11, 18, 25) – 7:30 p.m.
- Wednesday (27) – 10 a.m.
- Fridays (8, 15, 22, 29) – 7:30 p.m.
- Saturdays (9, 16, 23, 30) – 10 a.m.
December
- Mondays (2, 9, 16) – 7:30 p.m.
- Friday (6) – 7:30 p.m.
- Saturday (7, 14) – 10 a.m.
- Tuesday – Friday (10, 11, 12, 13) – 2 p.m.
- (Christmas shows are October 21-December 16)