Splash Your Troubles Away

A nice sentiment, yes, but also the title of a featured song for the Aquanettes during this year's final Big Splash to benefit AIDS Services Foundation of Orange County. As mentioned in a post quite a few weeks ago, I was honored to be invited to be a cast member in the grand finale of this lively, bawdy, sorta professional (but sorta not) production which has raised close to $10 million dollars for ASF clients in the past 24 years.

I found my way to the Big Splash back in 1997, when my mom was invited to a show by a friend and took me along for the ride. Back then, it was held in the backyard of a private residence in Laguna Beach. The show originated in 1985 in that backyard, and was only 11 minutes, involving a handful of men doing "water ballet" in the lap pool. They raised $33,000 that first year and a fundraiser was born. Each subsequent year additional elements were added, including dancers, showgirls, celebrity voiceovers, and a whole host of characters for the variety of different themed shows, which stretched in length to over an hour.

When I first saw the show, I couldn't stop laughing and knew it was something I had to get involved with. The Aquanettes (those guys in the pool) were a highlight of the show, but looked like they were absolutely drowning (think the SNL skit with Martin Short, except 10 times worse). So I called Ken Jillson, the show organizer (and owner of the amazing home where the show was held), to let him know I had been a competitive synchronized swimmer from age 6 through college, and I would love to lend my choreography skills to the Aquanettes. I never thought about actually being in the show because (a) I was a "real" woman, lol, and (b) I knew the same cast members had been in the show for many years and newbies were not regularly admitted.

Much to my delight, about 7 months later, I got a call from Ken, letting me know that he would love to take me up on my offer to help choreograph the Aquanette numbers. Oh, and by the way, they were short an Aquanette that year, so would I consider joining the cast?!! Hence, my career as an Aquanette was born.

I did the choreography for the Aquanettes and performed in the show from 1998-2004 (although after 2000, it moved from the backyard to the Festival of Arts grounds in Laguna, and the pool became more like a wading pool). The years the show remained in the backyard lap pool, the Aquanettes graduated from clumsy characters (albeit with wicked stage presence, amazing bods and delicious complexions) into a tight group of synchronized swimmers, performing real synchro moves and learning how to count to music (well, most of them - I'll admit to counting under my breath for every performance to help out). Of course I made sure to maintain some signature Aquanette moves that the very generous donors who attended the shows had come to expect - definitely think Saturday Night Live type arm and leg moves. I truly had the time of my life with the show. Not only were we raising loads of money for a worthwhile charity (the main focus of course), but I was able to meet and become friends with some of the coolest, most talented people involved in the production. From esteemed physicians to interior designers, the people who have participated in Splash each year are just incredible, good folk. It was 8 intensive weeks of rehearsal per year, culminating in only 2 shows each year (one of which was a dress rehearsal), but I don't think I have ever belly laughed so hard in my life as I consistently did during those 2 months each year (including during the actual performances).

I was rehearsing for Splash in the fall of 2005 when I found out I was pregnant. After a few weeks of rehearsals, my doctor put the kibosh on my participation that year, citing my relatively advanced age (almost 38) and need to not push myself with the pregnancy. So Splash lost an Aquanette. I was very sad, but knew it was the right thing to do. Of course for the first several years after Lauren was born, I couldn't imagine devoting that time to Splash again since I already felt I had so little time with her due to my work schedule (plus I felt like I had been in a haze of exhaustion on and off since her birth, so didn't know how I could even find the energy to do it again).

This summer, I received an email from Ken Jillson, announcing that this would be the final Splash EVER, and inviting everyone who had ever participated back into the fold. Plus the rehearsal schedule had been slashed from 8 to 4 weeks, so the time commitment wouldn't be nearly as great (or so I thought at the time). How could I say no?

We recycled the show from 2000 - "Splashin Under The Big Top - The Greatest Show on Earth", which I can proudly say I was involved in originally, having done the Aquanette choreography that year. This year we had an incredible new set of choreographers for the entire show, Amanda and Nate. They did modify some of the Aquanette choregraphy, but it was for the better. Rehearsals were much more brutal than in the past, mostly because we had to rehearse night after night for weeks, instead of just a couple of times per week over a longer period of time. The week of the show, I had rehearsals from 6-11 p.m. every night. Whoa. Mommy guilt set in big time. I was so tired I couldn't see straight, and even Norm said he thought I was burning the candle at both ends.

I made it to the show weekend, and of course, it was spectacular. Norm, Nanny Kristen, and Lauren came to the dress rehearsal on Thursday, September 24th. Several attorneys from my firm and my parents came on Friday night. And we played to a packed house of 350 on Saturday night, raising $400,000 this year, twice the goal.

We had 5 Aquanettes this year, only one of whom I had performed with previously. 2 days prior to the first show, one of the Aquanettes, Randy, was in a motorcycle accident and broke his arm, so could not perform. We were so bummed. Nate, one of the fabulous show choreographers, stepped in to become our replacement Aquanette. Needless to say, he was perfect for the part and learned everything in 1 day - an amazing feat.

So without further ado, here are my pics from my camera. The action shots were taken by Norm during the dress rehearsal, and the backstage shots by other cast members. The photos really don't tell the whole story - you'll have to buy the DVD that comes out in January to gain a better understanding of it, although maybe leaving it a little bit as a mystery isn't such a bad thing . . . . . .

The stage and set for the "Wonder Circus" (the pool was constructed on site, and was approximately 14 feet long by 8 feet wide and only 3 feet deep. It had a filter and chlorine too!:


The tables set on Saturday night for the major donors (note the blue Tiffany gift boxes on each table):


Show choreographer (and cast member) Amanda with me prior to the start of the show. MAC cosmetics dispatched about a dozen makeup artists who donate time (and all products) to work their magic for the show. Yes, the makeup is pretty scary, but it has to read from 500 yards away, dahling! Of course, the Aquanette makeup had to be waterproof, so my poor skin took a beating each night to get it off:


With "my" makeup artist on Friday night:


Lauren came backstage prior to the start of the show:


The Aquanettes right before the start of the show in costume for our opening number with one of the makeup artists:


Me with Carver Cossey prior to our first number. Carver has been in the show for many years, and we have shared some great routines together:


The Aquanettes' debut in the show - doing our "audition" number for the circus, Ziegfield Girls:


In the pool during Ziegfield Girls:


In costume for our second number, "Splash Your Troubles Away". This is Lauren's favorite song on the show CD, and she is still requesting I play it over and over on the drive to school . . . . .


With Yvonne, the only other "real" female Aquanette this year. Yvonne is a high school teacher in Corona del Mar and so much fun. Of course she is also 5'10" and the rest of the Aquanettes this year were taller than that, so I was dwarfed in comparison:


Performing Splash Your Troubles Away - the scary looking lead performer is Geoff Weiss, who is absolutely hilarious:




The Aquanettes' 3rd number: "Hello Dolly". Pretty much the entire cast is in this one, and we came in towards the end. Our main purpose was to enact the biggest sight gag of the show - pulling Dolly's dress across the pool (just tons of extra parachute fabric rolled up into "her" dress) before ripping the fabric from the dress (actually the entire dress gets torn off to reveal Dolly in a heinous bathing suit so she can make a big "splash" in the pool:


Our 4th number - "The Girl on the Flying Trapeze". The ringmaster "sings" the song, and we perform in the pool and end up carrying him across the water. The only pic I have of the number is this one at the end, where we are getting ready to pick him up and carry him from one side of the pool to the other:


Me in my Trapeze costume with the "Cotton Candies" (actually, show choreographers Amanda and Nate). Theirs was a number originated by long time cast members Michael Carey and Steve Frost, who always performed together but who now live in London and New York and couldn't make it back this year to be in the show:


The Aquanettes as classic Barbies before performing in "Black and White" - another number that involved most of the cast. This was our tribute to Michael Jackson, since he had helped the show out in prior years, and the person who produces the show DVDs every year is an award winning cinematographer who did MJ's Black and White video. I loved this costume for us the most - we wore actual wigs instead of the rubber atrocities and they custom made our bathing suits for us (all other suits were at least 8-10 years old from past years, and had to be altered dramatically to fit me):




Coming out for Black and White with our hot pink rafts:


Interacting as "Barbies" with the hunky Roustabouts:


Who then proceeded to push us into the pool on our rafts:


Choreography with beach balls while nuns are doing break dancing in the background. Oops, looks like some of the "girls" are losing their bathing suit tops - glad it wasn't me!!:


Final Barbie pose (I'm on the far right in case you couldn't tell):


The Aquanettes in our showgirl costumes for the grand finale:


Ric, one of the "real" showgirls in the finale with an insane headdress, plus one of the Roustabouts (actually he is a flight attendant - ahem, when is the last time you saw a flight attendant who looked like THAT??):


Not the most focused pic, but it shows some of the various performance groups during the finale (clowns, Aquanettes, Roustabouts):


About 15 seconds before the end of the finale, singing our hearts out to "Join the Circus" (yes, that's me in the middle):


Using our feet to give the audience one final splash before the curtain fell on 24 wonderful years of shows:


It's really too bad The Big Splash couldn't have continued for another 5 years. The youngest performers in the show have been around 6 or 7, and Lauren would have been a shoe-in for a featured role. Oh well, something tells me that there will be plenty of other performance opportunities for her. The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, after all . . . . . .