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curlique91

peter pan

i know this was on broadway recently with cathy rigby, but i couldnt go to see it. has anyone ever seen a high school or some other type of school production of peter pan? with flying and all? just curious...
Luc

Shocked I guess if you've got big budgets it could work.........

or just big imaginations, I guess! Wink
LiLy15

I was Wendy in my school's production. We didn't have flying because it was deemed unsafe by our school board and we didn't have the budget for it. For ours, we had different levels of black platforms behind the window and peter would jump out and her singing would echo around the auditorium like she was flying around if that makes sense, and then she would jump in from the other side. When I went out I jumped for a pull up bar hanging a few feet about the window, and then pulled my self up to the platform, so my feet would be the last thing scene. Then I would put my hand down so the audience could see only that and pull up Michael and then John would do the same as me. I think it worked pretty well, but one night our Peter jumped in and the curtin rod fell on her head so don't do that. Her wig also fell off in one scene and Captain Hook's hook went flying into the audience during the fight scene. It's a really fun show though, if you do it you'll have an excellent time.

I also know of another group that did their flying by having Peter, Wendy, Michael, and John carried by a bunch of people dressed in all black, and with the lights you couldn't see the people below. They looked like they were kinda floating around. This would require a lot more gymnastics and such.
Luc

^That flying stuff made no sense to me in your last post! Embarassed
Sammy_beck

I've seen the show done by a community theater in Carmel and an elementary school in Okinawa. The one in Carmel was wonderful and they did fly of course they had the budget for it and could rent the equipment. A lot of high schools aren't set up for the rigging that goes into having the people their for the flying. If you have the budget to hire professionals to do it then I would go for it. The ementary school that I saw do the show obviously didn't have the budget or the means for flying but it was cute none the less. I have never seen a high school, however, attempt to do the show.
what_the_heck013

I might be directing this show (the Comden/Green/Styne, et. al. version) next summer so I have a question which might sound like a dumb/obvious question, but... can anyone explain to me how exactly the fly systems work? And how to go about renting them. I know that you're on a harness attatched to a cable, but what does that attatch to?
Also, I really like the way with people carrying the actors. Very theatrical. But that would get kind of heavy.
Luc

I can't really help you with the flying, but this is what I know:

In a local production that did it, all of the actors that fly had little loops attached to each of their hips. Against the wall were two little holes where stagehands could stick their hands through, wearing gloves the same color as the wall. He would attach the wires, totally casually. It was really cool.

The flying company was from Vegas. I think they were called Flying by Foy or something. I'm not sure how to rent their equipment, but I'm sure that they have a site somewhere.

I hope that I helped at least a little!
what_the_heck013

Thanks. That's interesting. I've always thought they did it offstage. Anyways, I googled Flying by Foy. Very neat company. They even have bubbles and air balloons for The Wizard of Oz.
alexxboyle

I remember when i was in first grade my school did peter pan and i was jane (wendy's daughter) our set was simple, so instead of "flying" on stage, there was a full length window (center stage) with big shutters and curtains, and peter would jump out of the window and hide behind it until the curtain shut. not too amazing, but it was effective!
a Tech

LiLy15 wrote:
I was Wendy in my school's production. We didn't have flying because it was deemed unsafe by our school board and we didn't have the budget for it. For ours, we had different levels of black platforms behind the window and peter would jump out and her singing would echo around the auditorium like she was flying around if that makes sense, and then she would jump in from the other side. When I went out I jumped for a pull up bar hanging a few feet about the window, and then pulled my self up to the platform, so my feet would be the last thing scene. Then I would put my hand down so the audience could see only that and pull up Michael and then John would do the same as me. I think it worked pretty well, but one night our Peter jumped in and the curtin rod fell on her head so don't do that. Her wig also fell off in one scene and Captain Hook's hook went flying into the audience during the fight scene. It's a really fun show though, if you do it you'll have an excellent time.



That's so clever!
The budget and insurance to do Peter Pan with real flying must be so expensive, but if you can make it work, it's such a crowd-pleaser!

But yeah, I love the curtain rod idea.
BroadwayBabyEddy1

I once saw a production were their flying was very high tech. The stage had many blank, flat walls all around it. The actors lied on top of a green table in our green screen room and acted as if they were flying. We then edited in a background of the night sky and projected the image onto the walls from our light booth. It looked real!
happyguava

I was in a childrens theatre version a couple of years ago playing Starkey (Smee's friend who gets more lines than him - I'm not sure if Starkey is in other versions, I know he is in the original book though). We had to narrate the first scene, and then fly out the window after the children had left. Unfortunately this just meant running through the window doing fairly bad flying impressions, but it was fun at the time Smile
Luc

BroadwayBabyEddy1 wrote:
I once saw a production were their flying was very high tech. The stage had many blank, flat walls all around it. The actors lied on top of a green table in our green screen room and acted as if they were flying. We then edited in a background of the night sky and projected the image onto the walls from our light booth. It looked real!


Now that, my friend, is pretty freakin sweet!
BroadwayBabyEddy1

Yep, we did something similar for a production of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory regarding Mike Teevee and the shrinking television.
Celeste_SM

I've worked two productions of Peter Pan, one for a middle school and one for a community theater. We used Foy for the middle school production and ZFX for the community theater production, as well as the full Cathy Rigby set. Both were pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. The scene change from the bedroom to the london sky took nearly 20 stagehands for the community theater production (including the flight crew).
what_the_heck013

Celeste_SM wrote:
I've worked two productions of Peter Pan, one for a middle school and one for a community theater. We used Foy for the middle school production and ZFX for the community theater production, as well as the full Cathy Rigby set. Both were pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. The scene change from the bedroom to the london sky took nearly 20 stagehands for the community theater production (including the flight crew).


Would you happen to know about how much that all cost?
Baker

From what I remeber, ZFX harnesses are more comfortable than Foy. I played John in Peter Pan with Foy harnesses and those were not comfortable at all... I got the chance to try out a ZFX harness when I was a Munchkin in Wizard of Oz and it was definitely more comfortable than Foy... Foy has a hard back that ZFX doesn't have.
BroadwayBabyEddy1

Almost every major city has a theater shop which rents this type of equipment. Most of them offer discounts to schools and have people who train the performers on how to use the equipment properly. Your best set would be to search online in a local search to find one in your area.
OYPBelle

I was Peter Pan (yes I know that I'm a girl) in my community theater production. We used Foy. They sent out this man and he taught all of the kids who had to fly how to fly in about two days. Then he left. I don't know how much the flying equitment cost but it was worth it. It is my favorite play that I have ever been in.
Celeste_SM

what_the_heck013 wrote:
Celeste_SM wrote:
I've worked two productions of Peter Pan, one for a middle school and one for a community theater. We used Foy for the middle school production and ZFX for the community theater production, as well as the full Cathy Rigby set. Both were pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. The scene change from the bedroom to the london sky took nearly 20 stagehands for the community theater production (including the flight crew).


Would you happen to know about how much that all cost?


Around 60k, I believe (for the ZFX production - set and flight rig, 4 single point flight lights including one over the house, and 1 two point flight line, and the set). I will check with the producer and get back to you.
Baker

OYPBelle wrote:
I was Peter Pan (yes I know that I'm a girl) in my community theater production.


Peter is almost always played by a girl/woman. Wink
norayouadora

My school did this show (not the musical version) for our winter play this year. Our technical director would have loved to use a flyrack, and I believe they did use one the last time our school did the show about 10 years ago, but it simply wasn't in our budget this time. It's very expensive, and my school is pretty poor. Plus, we already had to have a big budget for costumes and set.

So, our flying scene was really lame. The boy who played Peter was really light on his feet, so they had him sort of jumping around up and down from great heights, so it sort of looked like he could fly. They also pumped a smoke machine onto the stage to make it a little more foggy and try to obscure the actors' feet a little more. We had a choreographer come in to teach Peter, Wendy, John, and Michael how to "look" like they were flying by moving in a certain way. I guess it could have worked, but none of them were very good at it (with the exception of the girl who played Michael, who is a dancer). So it ended up looking very cheesy and not convincing at all. I suppose we made do the best we could with what we had, but... Yeah.

The idea of people carrying the actors sounds really cool to me. I wish I would have heard of this idea earlier so I could have suggested it to our director back in January. Ooh, especially if you used black lights! It might look a little cartoony to have the actors glowing, but I bet the people carrying the actors would be almost invisible if they were entirely dressed in black. With a black background. It would probably be difficult to carry out, but the effect would be awesome. Mr. Green Man, I'm so mad now that no one thought of this for our production.
simplysar

i was Wendy at my middle school and we used "flying by foy". It was so much fun and probably a once in a life time experience to actually fly. the guys gave the leads lessons (peter, wendy, micheal, jon) and then we just had helpers from the community and teachers help us with it on opening night and the rest of the performances
Tinker Rigger

If you're going to fly for Peter Pan (and believe me, it's a must) there's only two places to go to:

Paul Rubin, who choreographed and flew Cathy Rigby on all her tours:
www.theflyguy.com

Hall Associates Flying Effects has what is hands-down the most adaptable and innovative flying equipment out there:
www.flyingfx.com
Rebk424

Celeste_SM wrote:
I've worked two productions of Peter Pan, one for a middle school and one for a community theater. We used Foy for the middle school production and ZFX for the community theater production, as well as the full Cathy Rigby set. Both were pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. The scene change from the bedroom to the london sky took nearly 20 stagehands for the community theater production (including the flight crew).


danggg. where do you go to school? My school can't even afford proper sets.
Celeste_SM

Rebk424 wrote:
Celeste_SM wrote:
I've worked two productions of Peter Pan, one for a middle school and one for a community theater. We used Foy for the middle school production and ZFX for the community theater production, as well as the full Cathy Rigby set. Both were pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. The scene change from the bedroom to the london sky took nearly 20 stagehands for the community theater production (including the flight crew).


danggg. where do you go to school? My school can't even afford proper sets.


I've been out of school for well over 10 years (and that's grad school). Cool
But these are all productions in the San Francisco Bay area. The middle school that hired me is a performing arts "magnet school" and seems to always have a pretty sizable production budget.
Rebk424

Celeste_SM wrote:
Rebk424 wrote:
Celeste_SM wrote:
I've worked two productions of Peter Pan, one for a middle school and one for a community theater. We used Foy for the middle school production and ZFX for the community theater production, as well as the full Cathy Rigby set. Both were pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. The scene change from the bedroom to the london sky took nearly 20 stagehands for the community theater production (including the flight crew).


danggg. where do you go to school? My school can't even afford proper sets.


I've been out of school for well over 10 years (and that's grad school). Cool
But these are all productions in the San Francisco Bay area. The middle school that hired me is a performing arts "magnet school" and seems to always have a pretty sizable production budget.


ooooh okay. yeah, we have a few schools like that around here but i bet they are even nicer in cali. all my school cares about is football lol
BroadwayObssessed

Our Peter Pan, Wendy, and the two boys (sorry, cant remember their names) all flew. they had their wires stuck in the windows and doors of the set, so when they'd start to fly, they'd go through the door or near a window, and a techie would quickly hook them up...

But fly can be very dangerous...on the night I went to see it, Peter flew into the curtain... Shocked d'oh!


I just went to see it...I could be wrong about all the technical stuff
wicked_boy

When I was Michael, we used Freedom Flying, harnesses are very comfortable.
zoomer15

I was an indian a few years back in a high school production we also used ZFX Efects or ou flying and sets! they were amazing....too bad i didint get to fly though....
Brigantine

So... I know I'm being lazy and haven't researched anywhere else yet... but a community theater in my area is auditioning for this show soon... what kind of roles are there for adults? (If it's a community show with both adults and chlidren) I don't even know if they are doing a play or musical or what... it doesn't really say on the website.
Luc

Hmm... for women, there is
Mrs. Darling
Wendy
Lost Boys
Pirates
Indians
Mermaids
Crocodile
Nana
Tiger Lily

All of those, except Mrs. Darling, are simply possibilities depending on how the director is casting it.
tinkrbell

flyin

i am auditioning for peter pan and if i get a part i will tell you if they fly
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