Longwood's illuminated fountain shows: Hottest tickets in region

KENNETT SQUARE, Pennsylvania — A high-pitched whistle breaks the expectant hush at Longwood Gardens main fountain complex as small blue-tinted blooms of water bubble up to start a music-, light- and fireworks-filled show set to the music of Leonard Bernstein.

The music and water swell, ebb and change tone and color as they build to a crescendo, underscored by the perfectly timed explosion of a single white chrysanthemum firework. The simplicity of its glittering, cascading tendrils showcase both a moment of delicacy in the song and the spectacular formal setting of the fountain complex.

"I think success for me is when there is a lot of contrast," says show designer Claire Kahn, who has designed shows at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas and the Dubai Fountain in the United Arab Emirates.

Her 30-minute "Happy Birthday, Leonard Bernstein" on Aug. 11 was another sold-out Fireworks & Fountain show at the Pennsylvania gardens that is one of the area's top attractions. 

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Just as with the baseball diamond in the movie "Field of Dreams," when Longwood spent $90 million to renovate its main fountains, crowds have come to see a performance fountain that can't be found anywhere else in the world since it opened in May 2017. 

A state-of-the-art lighting and computer system allows designers to choreograph 1,719 jets of water, some of which shoot as high as 175 feet, and others that can ignite flames that dance at the top of the sprays of water.

While Longwood doesn't count people at its illuminated shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, attendance for those days averages 4,200 on Thursdays, 4,600 on Fridays and 7,660 on Saturdays. Most people are at the shows, which are included with admission. The six-time-a-summer Fireworks & Fountain shows brings in 5,800 guests who pay $40 to $50 a pop.

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“The Fireworks & Fountains Shows at Longwood are the ultimate garden experience,” said President and CEO Paul B. Redman.  “Our Illuminated Fountain Performances are already spectacular, but adding fireworks takes the experience to another level. Our guests are truly wowed, and for many it is a favorite summer tradition.”   

Those shows feature 2,800 to 3,000 shells exploding above the fountains, just yards from where the audience sits (Longwood won't say how much the fireworks cost). Seats sell out in hours after tickets go on sale in the spring. The last fireworks show of the season will be on Sept. 28, and is sold out.

The best part for patrons who missed the fireworks tickets: The light-and-water shows themselves repeat during the summer season without the fireworks, giving people a chance to see the water and lights choreographed to the music.

Kahn, the show's designer, said Longwood's shows are unique in many ways, including the capacity of the designers to use the fountain's 1,467 LED lights and its nearly limitless palette of colors and the 8,676 controllable design choices. 

It's also an unparalleled setting, uncluttered by a city scape with illuminated looming buildings and other light pollution.

"Most of these big dancing fountains you see these days could be anywhere," she said. "They are not site specific. We did the Bellagio and suddenly every other client and developer wanted a Bellagio. We did a Bellagio in Dubai, only it's bigger."

At Longwood, shows are "born of, informed by, driven by Longwood Gardens," she says. "It couldn't happen anywhere else. It's a site specific piece of art and that's always the objective of a good designer — that it be contextural and not that it be generic."

Even better, she says, the shows happen in total darkness.

"There's no billboards, there's no hotels, there's no lights, automotive traffic and advertising, all the things we typically associate with light clutter," she says.

While the secluded feel of the shows are no accident — Longwood started as a Quaker farm before becoming the country estate of Pierre S. du Pont, who turned it into a public botanical gardens — even du Pont recognized the advantage of the setting.

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"Interestingly, when Mr. du Pont built the fountain garden back in 1931, he brought in mature trees to create a green backdrop during the day," says Longwood spokeswoman Patricia Evans.  "At the time, it would not have been considered essential after dark since it was very much a country setting with little lighting. Now, however, it is a plus in today’s world and those trees probably block some light from well-lit Route 1."

Kahn didn't grow up determined to design fountain shows. She didn't even know at the age of 30 that she was going to do it. Kahl earned a degree in design from Stanford University and worked for an architectural firm before going to work at fountain design firm WET, initially graphics.

Owner Mark Fuller had developed some fountain techniques and technology and encouraged her to design shows.

"He was not interested in hiring a water designer per se," Kahn said. "He felt he would have to unteach them. He was so unconventional that he wanted people who brought different things to the work, so having a graphic designer was a new thing."

A textile artist who now specializes in bead crochet using fiber, glass, metal and stone, "I was most interested in pattern," she said.

Their business blew up when hotelier Steve Winn asked them to create the fountains at the Bellagio, a $60 million project that many people thought was foolish, but wowed everybody when it was done. 

"It was a sensation for many, many years," Kahn said. "It was really exciting to participate in that project."

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But working with those fountains and others also offers a huge contrast to Longwood's shows. Most other fountains offer a dancing show to just one song, and that one song repeats every 15 minutes. At the Bellagio, it was from 6 p.m. to midnight. 

Longwood's illuminated shows, in contrast, run about 30 minutes and are set to multiple songs and musical styles within a theme.

"It's much more respectful to the artist who created the music and a much nicer way of choreographing water," Kahl said. "Not just a little bit, but a more evolved and develped work, which is a much nicer experience for the choreographer and the audience."

While most of Longwood's shows are designed by its in-house team, Kahl designed last year's salute to the music of Aaron Copland and said yes to this year's salute to Leonard Bernstein. She likes working in collaboration with Longwood's team and other designer such as Greg McLenahan of Great Britain.

They use a computerized system called Syncronorm that allows them to design a show on a computer, even from home. It takes about 40 hours, designers say. Then the show has to be tested and refined with the fountains — usually late at night at Longwood, another 40 hours for most shows.

There's one exception: The fireworks shows never get a test run using the fireworks, designed by Art Rozzi of Arthur Rozzi Pyrotechnics. 

Because he has a different agenda for the fireworks, which build to a lengthy, body quaking finale that lasts nearly the last son, Kahl said she left most of the choices to him, although she did ask for that single chrysanthemum bloom at the start.

She asked that when the music was slow and balladic that there be fewer fireworks, and when the percussion got big and bold to add more. Rozzi also knew what colors she would be using, so he could match or contrast the colors of his fireworks."

Kahl also wants her shows to be able to play without fireworks. The smoke from the fireworks often obscures the fountains by the end of the show, which happened Aug. 11, and she hopes people will be able to see them when they repeat on Sept. 6 and Oct. 18.

The best fountain shows look like the music is following the water, not that the water is following the music, she said.

"The objective is never to simply make it go with the music in a mechanical way," she said. "You're representing the music, the spirit and the feel of the music. Everybody who does it has a different interpretation."

Kahl also believes in being restrained with color.

"A lot of people use a lot of all-out color the whole time," she said. "I think color is kind of a precious thing and it needs to be more fleeting ... For me, when it gets really huge with the sound and the music, I tend to go white because that is the brightest candle power."

She's wondering where the field of fountain technology and construction will go.

With water increasingly a precious resource, she believes there will be fewer fountains built, especially in cities.

"Not matter how carefully it's done, no matter how much they recycle, they're dealing with water and liability. It looks bad," she says. "So cities are not paying for public fountains anymore. It seems indulgent and wasteful. I think that's public reality."

Longwood Gardens fountain shows

WHEN: Through Oct. 28, water-only shows daily at 11:15 a.m. and 3:15 p.m.; Through Oct. 27, illuminated performances at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, Fridays and Saturday.

WHERE: 1001 Longwood Road, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania

TICKETS: Daily water shows and night-time illuminated performances included in garden admission of $23 adults; $20 seniors; $20 college student; $12 ages 5-18. Fireworks & Fountains shows are sold out.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.longwoodgardens.org

Show themes

September 

Sept. 6: Happy Birthday, Leonard Bernstein

Sept. 7: Selections from Carmina Burana

Sept. 8: Sounds of Motown

Sept. 13: Pictures at a Fountain Exhibition

Sept. 14: Sounds of Summer

Sept. 15: Divas of Dance

Sept. 20: If It Ain’t Got That Swing

Sept. 21: Monet's Garden

Sept. 22: British Invasion

Sept. 27: Copland Classics

Sept. 28: Founder's Favorites

October 

Oct. 4: The Beatles

Oct. 5: American Songbook Reimagined

Oct. 6: Be Our Guest

Oct. 11: Sounds of Motown

Oct. 12: In the Mood

Oct. 13: On Broadway

Oct. 18: Happy Birthday, Leonard Bernstein

Oct. 19: Fanfare and Fountains

Oct. 20: A Night at the Movies

Oct. 25: Over the Rainbow

Oct. 26: Selections from Carmina Burana

Oct. 27: Solid Gold ’70s

Contact Betsy Price at (302) 324-2884 or beprice@delawareonline.com.