Sorry, kids ... IT'S NOT FAIRY DUST

W HAT MAKES PETER PAN fly?

ERIC RADDATZ/ FLORIDA WEEKLY Peter Pan, as played by understudy Jason Campbell, gets airborne thanks to two trained flymen and a sweet pulley system. Thinking lovely,

wonderful thoughts.

A healthy sprinkling

of fairy dust.

And at least $10,000 worth of specialized equipment and training.

Peter Pan (and Wendy and her brothers), fly eight times a week at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, including twice on Saturdays.

"It's an amazing thrill that everybody should experience," says Philip Groft, who plays Peter Pan, the boy who refuses to grow up. "It's great.

"It's a crazy feeling of being lifted and going (right or left) when you have nothing to do with it," he says. "It's crazy."

You just point, and then you're flying in that direction, he says.

Of course, standing in the wings are two handlers, or flymen, who manipulate the pulley system that enables him to fly in through the open window, or fly from floor to the top of a dresser.

Underneath his costume of leaves, Mr. Groft wears a harness with a hook in the back. It's not uncomfortable at all, he says.

ERIC RADDATZ/FLORIDA WEEKLY A backstage chart of cable pulls and pushes propel Peter Pan across the stage. It's minimally lit and carefully studied by flymen Kenneth Deuel and Paul Dreschel, right. He likens it to a baby's bungee jumper seat, but for adults.

"It's like a seat, I'm being flown in the seat," he says.

Actor Allison Fund, who plays Wendy, agrees with the comparison. She and Mr. Groft performed in "Peter Pan" two years ago at the Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre in Lancaster Pa., another Prather Entertainment Group theater. This summer, they perform the show at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre through Aug. 8.

"It's a lot of fun," she says. "I think it's not really scary at all. I feel very secure. They talk you through all of it, the harnessing. It's very rehearsed. You have a lot of time to feel comfortable with it."

But, she admits, "It's a little weird. You have no control."

But she loves flying.

"Magical. That's the word I use for this show," she says. "It's magical to watch and it's magical to be in."

"It's exciting," says Spenser Saso, who shares the role of Michael with Cody Vagle. Spencer, who lives in Cape Coral and attends Gulf Elementary School, is on the verge of turning 10.

In the show, he's told to think lovely thoughts in order to fly. He thinks about candy, but it isn't until he thinks about Christmas that he's able to leave the ground.

Flying on stage, he says, "is like something you never felt before. You feel it's never going to happen again."

According to Broadway Palm General Manager Susan Johnson, theaters turn to one of two major companies when putting on "Peter Pan": Flying by Foy, or ZFX. They decided to go with ZFX, a Kansas-based company that provided rigging and training for Cathy Rigby when she portrayed Peter Pan.

The company provided five harnesses and specialized equipment, as well as training for the actors and the flymen and 30 pounds of fairy dust.

They also sent Sandy Harned, a technician, to set up the cables and pulley system, train the flymen, and teach the actors to glide, dive and spin. She's trained so many productions of "Peter Pan" all over the world that she knows the cues in Korean, Japanese and Chinese.

The head flyman, Paul Dreschel, is responsible for Peter Pan's up and down flying motions, while Kenneth Deuel is responsible for his movements right and left.

"It takes all three of us to make it look right, to make it look smooth," Mr. Dreschel says.

And it took them three rehearsals to figure everything out, he says.

Audiences just see Peter Pan soar across the stage or the Darling children float into the air; they don't see the careful choreography happening behind the scenes in the wings.

While Peter Pan has two men controlling his flying, the actors playing Wendy, Michael and John each have one. In Act I, When Peter Pan sprinkles fairy dust on the three children, and they float into the air with him, there are five men in the wings pulling on ropes. They pull on the ropes so hard that sometimes they wind up on the floor; they look as if they're ringing giant bells in a belfry.

Mr. Dreschel, who's 6-foot, 4-inches tall and weighs 250 pounds, even gets lifted a good half-foot off the ground at one point.

"When I bring him through the window, he lifts me off the ground," he says.

To make another aerial maneuver, Mr. Dreschel has to jump off of a threestep staircase in order to lift Peter Pan higher.

He and Mr. Deuel work in concert; Mr. Deuel has different colored electrical tape on his ropes that tell him where Peter Pan is on stage, though they always keep an eye on the action on stage. Taped to the wall are large sheets of paper with diagrams showing Peter Pan's path each time he flies, along with the cues.

A pulley system runs along a silver track above the stage, pulling the aircraft cable connected to the hook in Peter Pan's harness.

"It's like an upside down monorail," explains Adam Trummel, the stage manager. Ms. Harned, the technician from ZFX, installed the system.

They stress safety all the time," Mr. Dreschel says. "We always check the harnesses, check the wires to make sure there's no fraying or defects."

"I really enjoy flying," says Mr. Deuel. "It's interesting, it's challenging.

And when the understudy for Peter Pan performs, the 20-pound weight increase can make a difference, he says.

Neither one has climbed into a harness to see what it's like to fly.

Mr. Dreschel declines the experience, but Mr. Deuel is game.

"I wouldn't mind seeing what it was like," he says.

The two spend the show in the wings, watching the stage, listening for cues, and pulling on ropes at the appropriate times.

The audience sees Peter Pan and the Darling children flying. Peter Pan, fearless, soars through the air. He comes through the Darlings' open bedroom window. He flies in the night air, against a wall of sparkling stars. He twirls in the air like a small green tornado.

Backstage, the floor sparkles with fairy dust. It looks as if a disco ball exploded, or a glittery snake has shed its scales.

"This is just from what falls off the actors as they walk off stage," Mr. Dreschel says. "We'll probably wind up finding fairy dust on this stage for the next two years."

Peter Pan never flies without it. Perhaps it's just as vital as the pulley system and aircraft cable.

.. If you go

>>"Peter Pan" >>When: through Aug. 8 >>Where: The Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, 1380 Colonial Blvd., Fort Myers >>Cost: $25 to $49, with a summer special: $18 for dinner and show for children 18 and younger. >>Information: Call 278-4422 or go to www. BroadwayPalm.com