Foy flyers set the stage for ‘Mary Poppins’

EL DORADO — When Mary Poppins (played by Barton Junior High’s Ella Langridge) makes her grand entrance on the stage – she will enter like many Mary Poppins have before her – she’ll fly!!

Andria Gleghorn, BJH teacher and director of the play, selected 45 students to star in “Mary Poppins,” which will be presented at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the El Dorado High School Auditorium.

Jason Wilson, one of the flying directors of Flying by Foy, a company based in Las Vegas, arrived in El Dorado recently to set the stage for Mary Poppins to make her dramatic entrance and exit. Flying by Foy is the most prolific and widely-respected theatrical flying service in the world.

“I don’t know that it’s (flying on the stage) has ever been done in El Dorado or been done in a long time,” Gleghorn said, explaining that Wilson spent two days on the stage in the auditorium, showing her and other BJH teachers, Jeannie Strother, Karen Millican, Mark Smith, Sally Baldwin and Lark Tommey and Principal Sherry Hill, how to use the flying mechanism. After Saturday’s final performance, those teachers will dismantle the device and pack it in crates. It will then be picked up by at truck for the ride back to Las Vegas.

Flying by Foy was established in 1957 by Peter Foy, whose innovative techniques and patented mechanical inventions revolutionized theatrical flight in the second half of the 20th century, elevating the ancient practice of stage flying to a modern art form, according to the Foy website.

In addition to the Las Vegas office, Flying by Foy also has locations in the Eastern United States and the United Kingdom and provides flying effects, Aereography® and state-of-the-art automation for Broadway shows, London’s West End, professional and not-for-profit theatres, ballet and opera companies, high school and university theatre programs, churches, theme parks, cruise ships, concert tours, industrial events, feature films and television productions worldwide.

Peter Foy’s creation of the Inter-Related Pendulum helped define Mary Martin’s barnstorming performance as Peter Pan for the 1954 Broadway musical and ushered in a new era of spectacular, highly-controlled, natural-looking free flight.

In the years that followed, Foy introduced a series of wholly new flying systems, each created to remedy a problem or redefine a flying aesthetic. He created the Floating Pulley system in 1958, as a means of flying actors in low-height venues. His determination to preserve the magic of theatrical flight by concealing its mechanism from the audience’s view led to his introduction of the Track-On-Track system, an arrangement that provides independent control of lift and travel, in 1962.

The Inter-Reacting Compensator, a complex flying system designed to be even less conspicuous to the audience, debuted in 1977, as a part of the first fully-motorized integrated touring truss developed by Foy for the special demands of the Ice Capades.

Flying by Foy provided simulations of weightlessness for NASA during the Gemini and Apollo space programs, sent Olympic Gold Medalist Nadia Comaneci soaring hundreds of feet above New York’s Time Square for the 2004 Olympic Torch Relay and glided the Wright Flyer Replica over the heads of dignitaries, aviators and luminaries at the grand opening of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, to mark the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ historic first flight.

Foy flying plays a supporting role in several of the shows currently running on Broadway: “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” “Honeymoon in Vegas,” “Cabaret” at Studio 54, Sting’s “The Last Ship,” “The Lion King” and “Phantom of the Opera.”

Peter Foy and the company that bears his name have also given flight to thousands of Peter Pans, including four Broadway incarnations: Jean Arthur (1950-1951), Mary Martin (1954-1955), Sandy Duncan (1979-1981) and Cathy Rigby (1990-1992). Foy flying was also featured in the NBC television production of Peter Pan Live. “Foy has flown more productions of ‘Peter’ Pan than any other theatrical flying company in history and the reason is very simple: We love to see you fly!” company officials said.

Foy has created aerial sequences for scores of televised awards shows, including nine Academy Awards® presentations. Its work for Broadway has been featured on the Tony Awards® and has also been featured on shows like The Colbert Report, Dancing with the Stars, America’s Got Talent and The X Factor.

The company has flown a number of stars throughout the years for the MTV Video Music Awards, American Music Awards, Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards. Flying by Foy is perhaps best known as the company that flew “Peter Pan” and “Mary Poppins” on Broadway

Flying by Foy employees have flown Christina Aguilera, Jason Alexander, Backstreet Boys, Julie Andrews, Alec Baldwin, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg, David Bowie, Bono, Drew Carey, Garth Brooks, Mariah Carey, Cher, Johnny Carson, Nadia Comaneci, Roger Daltrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Chris Farley, Richard Gere, Tom Hanks, Bob Hope, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Jordan, Alicia Keys, Martin Lawrence, David Letterman, Liberace, Jennifer Lopez, Howie Mandel, Steve Martin, Mike Myers, Edward Norton, Conan O’Brien, Katy Perry, Diana Ross, Frank Sinantra, U2, Usher, Mark Wahlberg, Emma Watson, Robin Williams and Renee Zellweger – to name a few.

Members of the Barton Junior High cast of Mary Poppins include: Anzel Preston, Brody McKinney, Brooke McCoy, Brooklyn Wells, Camille Terry, Carmelo Brown, Caylin Gadberry, Chloe Caputo, DeShun Mims, Ella Langridge, Emily Huddleston, Emma Gaul, Haley Talley, Haley Ellis, Hannah Wilson, Henley McAdams, Jackson Fite, Jamesia Sapp, Jana Powell, Journey Moreland, Kaleigh Nale, Karina Castanon, Karli New, Kennedy Langston, Khalia Sanders, Krystina Charles, Landon Langston, Layken Grimes, Macy Eads, Madi Bonsall, Maggie Toombs, Markayla McCree, Megan Walters, Melanie Miller, Nadia Vartenian, Olivia Floss, Patrick Mau, Rakivia Dunn, RJ Thomas, Sarah Faith, Shayla Smith, Sophia Anreder, Taylor Watkins, Tiffany Tran and Whitney Jones.

Tickets to Barton’s production of “Mary Poppins,” are $10 for adults and $5 for students and can be purchased at the BJH school office.

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