Some Pixie Dust, a Harness and Actors Shout, ‘I Can Fly’

NORWELL, Mass. —  “Keep in mind smoothness, and watch your space,” calls Joe McGeough to three floating children. He’s teaching them to fly.

All you need is a little fairy dust and some “lovely, wonderful thoughts,” according to Peter Pan. Plus ropes, cables, wires, pulleys, harnesses and strong stagehands with firm grips, McGeough would add. He works for Flying by Foy.

Any time you’ve seen a show with flying people, be it a musical, opera, ballet or rock concert, chances are that Flying by Foy had something to do with it. The company owns the patent on the flying harness.

It was McGeough’s father-in-law, Peter Foy, who started the company about 35 years ago. In fact, he flew Mary Martin in “Peter Pan” on Broadway in 1954. Foy’s son, Garry, flew Sandy Duncan in the musical’s reprise in 1979. McGeough helped fly both Mary Martin (for a benefit in San Francisco a few years ago) and Sandy Duncan. Overall, the company has more than 3,000 productions of “Peter Pan” under its belt.

Here, a community theater company, That New Theater, has been rehearsing hard for the musical version of the J. M. Barrie play. McGeough flew out (on a plane) from Las Vegas, to help the troupe achieve “that effortless look,” which is what flying is all about, he says. Foy provides the equipment.

At a dress rehearsal, surrounded by roughhousing Indians and Lost Boys, McGeough talked about his airborne adventures.

The trick is to make flying look real. The emphasis is not on the equipment, but on the choreography--the interplay of operators and actors. “There’s more to flying than strapping someone in a harness,” he says.

“If someone has a frightened look or doesn’t look quite right, the audience feels uncomfortable,” he says. Part of McGeough’s job is putting the actors at ease.

“Joe is so calm and collected, so good at what he does--I was never once afraid,” says Donna Milani Luther, who plays Peter Pan. She says her harness, which resembles a parachutist’s and is worn underneath costumes, is confining and often painful. “But I’m having the best time in years,” she says. For children, lighter in weight, it’s pure fun.

“To be up in the air, it feels like, ‘Wow! How can I be doing this? I must be dreaming,’ ” says Jason Reis, 11, who plays John Darling.

“Everybody’s dream, whether they’re a child or an adult, is to fly,” says McGeough, who has flown. “It’s a real sensation of freedom,” and for kids it’s a magical moment when they fly, he says.

McGeough has some hilarious Peter Pan bloopers to tell. There was the time during a rehearsal with Sandy Duncan when “we ended up flying Michael up Wendy’s dress,” he says. At another production, someone pulled the wrong rope in the last act: Jane (Wendy’s daughter) is asleep, and Peter is supposed to fly through the window. Instead, sleeping Jane flew across the room--blankets and all--and Peter Pan was left hanging.

Peter Pan is only one faithful customer of Flying by Foy. The company travels worldwide and does some very complicated flying scenes, McGeough says. He refers to “Nina and the Twelve Months,” a Russian play recently performed in Japan. The flying routines required motorized rigs with 12 people flying in a circle around one person suspended in the middle. A lot of engineering was involved.

When the Seattle Opera did Wagner’s “Die Walkure,” it had to fly women opera singers (each weighing about 220 pounds) riding model horses 20 to 30 feet in the air, he says.

Outdoor productions have different problems. Take David Bowie’s “Glass Spider” concert tour two years ago, for example. The company had to set up roof trusses and scaffolding, and take wind into account, says McGeough. In addition to Bowie, he has worked with David Letterman and Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby (“She flies very well”).

Are people ever afraid? Maybe at first, but for the most part, performers grasp flying quickly and enjoy it. But “every once and a while, you get someone who flies like a sack of potatoes--Liberace was like that; he was horrible!” he says, rolling his eyes.

Back in rehearsal, McGeough shouts instructions: “Windmill! Windmill!” he calls to flying Peter Pan. Then he scolds the people manning the ropes for not working together better. “I try to put myself in the air with the person,” he offers. That way, there’s a better chance the audience will come along for the ride, too.