Swimming pools on stage

[JakeB]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 12:33pm

What shows have swimming pools on stage?

I remember HITCHCOCK BLONDE in London had a pool, and THE BARBER OF SEVILLE by Lee Hall in Bristol had on onstage swimming pool.

[wickedfan]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 12:38pm

Metamorphoses' set IS a swimming pool.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 12:44pm

Wish You Were Here

[singtopher]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 12:47pm

Sunset Blvd. had a pool as part of the set. Not a real one, but..

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 1:05pm

Le Reve and Cirque du Soleil's O in Las Vegasalso take place in and around a giant onstage pool.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 1:09pm

The Tempest at BAM has an ankle deep pool onstage.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 1:11pm

I saw a regional production of South Pacific in the 70s with a pool on stage. Also the original production of The Frogs by Sondheim was staged in a swimming pool at Yale.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 1:12pm

Literal swimming pools others have listed. The Broadway production of Disney's AIDA had a FABULOUS swimming pool effect using scenery, lights, and flying. The Broadway production of CORAM BOY had a similar (although much better) effect of an ocean.

[goodoneinlou2]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 1:14pm

Aida had a swimming pool, albeit a scrim with a visual water effect, for the Amneris "Strongest Suit" segment.

As someone else mentioned, Sunset Boulevard encorporated 2 "pool" effects. 1) A scrim with a floating body at the show start. 2) The orchestra pit lit up at the start of Act 2 (Sunset Boulevard/There's been a call) and for finale 1 (Joe's demise) to visualize a pool.

Bombay Dreams had a "pool" of sorts... a fountain in the floor with a stage deck that had a pool lying underneath.

There was a very little known show around 2001 that never made it on the road or to Broadway called "Gumboots." It was a dance/rythm show featuring African Dancers (If memory serves me.) This show had panels that were opened up from the deck floor that had small pools of water in them. The dancers stomped/splashed/danced in them.

Edit: Capnhook beat me to the Aida info.


Updated On: 2/18/10 at 01:14 PM

[Jon]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 1:33pm

The Lincoln Center revival of TWELFTH NIGHT about 10 years ago had two small pools, as well as a rain effect that covered the width of the upstage.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 1:45pm

The entire stage of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre filled-up with ankle deep water during a portion of Act 2 in the 2003 Broadway revival of NINE.

[Weez]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 2:05pm

The recent production of Much Ado About Nothing at London's National Theatre had a swimming pool. You knew as soon as you saw it that sooner or later Benedick and Beatrice would end up submerged, but that knowledge didn't make it any less joyful or hilarious when it finally happened. I also remember hearing tales of a very wet Tempest at the Almeida.

Haha, I just did a google to check I got the play and theatre right, and I found pics!

https://ahds.ac.uk/ahdscollections/docroot/shakespeare/performancedetails.do?performanceId=11950

A VERY wet stage! Wow, I should like to have seen Adrian Scarborough's Trinculo...

[once a month]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 2:53pm

Tommy Tune and Twiggy frolicked in a water trough in My One and Only, cast members jumped into a "bay" and splashed in Love, valour Compassion....wasn't there a pool in the turkey WhoDoneIt? a decade or so back?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 5:02pm

Frank Galati's Broadway production of "The Grapes of Wrath."

The most recent Shakespeare in the Park production of "Romeo and Juliet."

The Lincoln Center production of 12th Night had a really nice set design. I remember when the women were coming ashore that they were carrying huge umbrellas.

[Patash]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 5:06pm

An Alan Ayckbourn play called Man of the Moment had a full scale swimming pool on stage (and into the stage) in London. Did that ever play on Broadway?

Lips Together, Teeth Apart takes place on the edge of a pool, and usually has an actual pool (downstage or "in the pit"). Curious how they will do the new revival.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 5:59pm

If you want to go REALLY far back (i.e., 1905 and the years following), the now-demolished Hippodrome always had a very large pool on stage -- large enough to simulate water battles and, of course, the bathing beauties of the time. And no, I wasn't there -- but I've seen pictures of them.

[Jon]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 6:18pm

There was a production of DEAD END in Los Angeles a couple of years ago in which they basically built "the East River" into the orchestra pit.m It was deep enough that the kids could dive in. Audience members in the first couple of rows were warned that they might get splashed.

[whatever2]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 6:49pm

A few summers back, Second Stage Uptown did a production of swimming with sharks that, incredibly, used mirrors and an actor on (I believe) a skateboard to simulate a shark swimming in an aquarium pool -- to excellent effect, i hasten to add.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 7:12pm

Swimming In The Shallows by Adam Bock, was the name of that play with Michael Arden as a boy who fell in love with a shark played by Logan Marshall Green. The swimming effect was done with a skateboard and a mirror, it was wonderful.

Updated On: 2/18/10 at 07:12 PM

[whatever2]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 7:21pm

my bad, CPD -- that's the correct title!

also meant to mention that Green was horizontal, not vertical, on the board.

it was a delightful play and a delightful production!

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 9:46pm

Metamorphosis.

[musicalbluemirror]

Posted: 2/18/10 at 9:49pm

this is Aida's pool set

[Mamie]

Posted: 2/19/10 at 9:15pm

Whizzer mentioned "Wish You Were Here". According to IBDB, this was the first show to feature a swimming pool on Broadway. Based on the pictures I saw in a program, I believe it also had a diving board.

[Fanb]

Posted: 2/20/10 at 11:15am

Cirque du Soleil - O

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 2/20/10 at 12:39pm

The Dirty Dancing Tour has a lake-swimming scene that is really coolio looking.