Swimming pools on stage
Swimming pools on stage
JakeB
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#1Swimming pools on stage
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.
#2Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/18/10 at 12:38pmMetamorphoses' set IS a swimming pool.
"Sing the words, Patti!!!!" Stephen Sondheim to Patti LuPone.
#2Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/18/10 at 12:44pmWish You Were Here
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
#3Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/18/10 at 12:47pmSunset Blvd. had a pool as part of the set. Not a real one, but..
"If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it." -Stephen Colbert
PiraguaGuy2
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/10/08
#4Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/18/10 at 1:05pmLe Reve and Cirque du Soleil's O in Las Vegasalso take place in and around a giant onstage pool.
Formerly SirNotAppearing - Joined 3/08
#5Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/18/10 at 1:09pmThe Tempest at BAM has an ankle deep pool onstage.
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#6Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/18/10 at 1:11pmI 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.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#7Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/18/10 at 1:12pmLiteral 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.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
goodoneinlou2
Stand-by Joined: 5/29/09
#8Swimming pools on stage
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#9Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/18/10 at 1:33pmThe 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
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#10Swimming pools on stage
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.
#11Swimming pools on stage
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...
#12Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/18/10 at 2:53pmTommy 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
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#13Swimming pools on stage
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.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
#14Swimming pools on stage
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/20/05
#15Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/18/10 at 5:59pmIf 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.
BroadwayEd
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#16Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/18/10 at 6:18pmThere 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
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/25/06
#17Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/18/10 at 6:49pmA 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.
"You, sir, are a moron." (PlayItAgain)
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#18Swimming pools on stage
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/25/06
#19Swimming pools on stage
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!
"You, sir, are a moron." (PlayItAgain)
musicalbluemirror
Stand-by Joined: 3/16/09
Mamie
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
#22Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/19/10 at 9:15pmWhizzer 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.
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mamie4 5/14/03
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mamie4 5/14/03
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AndAllThatJazz22
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/8/08
#24Swimming pools on stage
Posted: 2/20/10 at 12:39pmThe Dirty Dancing Tour has a lake-swimming scene that is really coolio looking.
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