A sampling of Flying by Foy Media Comments... [Foy Homepage]
7/28/2010 "Most of Tarzan takes place in the air and Tarzan’s entrance from out of the rocks is a sight to behold — pure magic" Robert Machray writing in Review of Tuacahn Amphitheatre and Center for the Arts' production of Tarzan in Utah - Going Ape for Tarzan at Tuacahn! Written by: Cyndy Sagendorf
6/16/2010 "The greatest challenge in this production was the “flying”! Scott Anderson (Director) has often referred to Tarzan as Peter Pan on steroids. After making some additions to their facility for Peter Pan in 2006 and with the engineering talents of Flying by Foy, aerial choreography by Cees de Kok and Cathy Perquin and stage choreography by Mic Thompson, Tuacahn has been able to overcome this difficulty in a thrilling way. In fact, I can only recall one scene where flying did not occur! It was so exciting!"
6/13/2010 "the flying by Foy convinces throughout and the fights of Simon Fon are splendidly flamboyant." Peter Pan: Superb acting the hook in Stratford triumph. Review by Richard Ouzounian
4/20/2010
West End Whingers Review – Green Day’s American Idiot, Phil and Andrew
Begrudgingly - "American Idiot may not be our cup of tea musically or book-wise
but it is spectacularly staged by director Michael Mayer. It must be the tallest
stage set ever (again giving Phil vertigo as he feared for the performers’
lives), dotted with dozens of TV screens, staircases and a cellist. And it
certainly has energy. And if it doesn’t win the Tony award for Best Bed-Bath In
A Musical we’ll eat our hats."
"And – most excitingly – there is flying! Of the Peter Pan variety. And even
more excitingly it was Flying By Foy. Why is that exciting? Because the Whingers’
Interesting People Radar had been set to High on our first night in New York as
we had a celebratory drink at the bar in Sardi’s and we got talking to a
fabulous older lady who turned out to be Barbara Foy, the widow of Peter Foy,
the creator of Flying By Foy who was there with her son-in-law Joe McGeough who
runs the operations side of the business. They were so nice that they bought us
drinks. In fact we are thinking of ditching our next-to-useless Virgin Atlantic
tickets and flying back by Foy."
3/22/2010 City Ballet of San Diego's PETER PAN: reviewed in Sandiego.com. "The "oos" and "ahs" began the moment dancer Girardo Gil flew threw the nursery window in City Ballet of San Diego's Peter Pan. Gil was a handsome renegade and soared over the stage with remarkable ease, suspended by almost-invisible wires. ... "But the real reward was seeing the Darling children kick and cycle their legs in flight and Peter land effortlessly to dance again. Flying by Foy directed the flying magic - with well-hidden harnesses and wires as thin as fishing line - that had dancers rise, change direction and land without a hitch. "
3/22/2010 City Ballet’s ‘Peter Pan’ takes euphoric flight "One of the thrills of dance – both to the dancer as well as the observer – is the momentary euphoria of suspension in space and the freedom of apparent flight. City Ballet of San Diego’s production on March 21 of Peter Pan at the Spreckles Theatre is a delight in every sense – including the sensation of flight." ..."This ballet in two acts is fraught with staging difficulty; ... An additional challenge was the complex choreography of several flights happening at once, and on musical cue, which could not be rehearsed in the studio but only on stage which rather restricted the time spent in rehearsal. Notwithstanding all this complexity of changing sets, flying and earthly choreography, it all spun out smoothly like a silken skein." . . . "The highlight was the aerial pas de deux between Wendy (Ariana Samuelsson) and Peter Pan (Gerardo Gil). From earth to air – from air to earth – the transitions were like those we experience in dreams; now we touch earth, now we are free." Review by Sheila Orysiek in the San Diego Jewish World
Argus Newspaper in Brighton review on the UK National Tour of Beauty and the Beast (publication date unknown): "the special effects are some of the best I have ever seen, especially the final scene when the beast once more becomes a Prince. "
12/15/2009 Charles Hutchinson in his review of Northern Ballet Theatre’s revival of Peter Pan.in The Press UK,"The dancers have to not only dance on terra firma but also perform spectacular moves in the air after intensive training with theatre-flying experts Flying By Foy".
3/17/2009 C.W. Walker writing at mycentraljersey.com (Courier News and Home News Tribune) of McCarter Theatre's production of Twelfth Night, featuring an underwater effect by Foy: "...So many of the images are unforgettable. We see, for example, Viola, just moments after the shipwreck, suspended underwater and then slowly swimming to the surface of the sea."
2/25/2009 Kitsap Sun
(Washington State): NKHS [North Kitsap
High School, Poulsbo, WA.] drama teacher Randy
Powell did a lot of research when he considered
staging Peter Pan this year. A few years back, when
NKHS staged The Pirates of Penzance and wanted to
fly some actors, Powell ran up against the
district's "no-fly zone" policy.
Flying By Foy's founder, Peter Foy, became famous
for designing the original flying equipment for the
1954 Broadway musical production of Peter Pan
starring Mary Martin. The company, based in Las
Vegas, has been flying Peter Pans ever since.
This time, with Flying by Foy and its excellent
reputation, Powell got the OK from district
officials.
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/feb/25/145peter-pan-takes-flight-in-north-kitsap/
11/20/2008 Frank Schenck writing in The Washington Post: ..."But it's the soaring aerial ballets that truly give the evening a phantasmagoric quality you won't soon forget." Heavenly Trip to Hell - New York Post review of Garden of Earthly Delights
5/8/2007 - Decent catch - Opera
Boston’s Pêcheurs de perles, By LLOYD SCHWARTZ
"Light flickered through mysterious darkness, and a
diver appeared overhead and descended, head down, in
slow motion, “swimming” in the direction of a large
pearl shining on the stage floor. He picked it up
and “floated” back up and out of view. “Flying by
Foy,” according to the program — the company
that put Mary Martin into the air as Peter Pan.
Magical!"
January, 2007 LiveDesign Magazine, on Dollywood's production of Babes in Toyland: "At the show's conclusion, a flying machine takes off from the stage, flys to the back of the theatre, and turns 180 degrees before returning to land on the stage again. The airborne finale was designed and created by engineers at Flying by Foy in Las Vegas."
9/22/2005 Grant Tyler Peterson review of Mabou Mines production of Red Beads published in OffOff Online: "Extending this effect are the show's puppets�both human and nonhuman. Flying on cables like marionettes, Besserer, Maleczech, and most of all Galilee expertly perform on the threshold of a puppet/human existence. Galilee, the Daughter (also Breuer's real-life daughter), is trained in Ningyo-buri, a Japanese form that venerates Bunraku through imitation, inverting the traditional paradigm by having humans mimic puppets. The result, as displayed in Galilee's dance solo with two hooded puppeteers, is mesmerizing, a meditation on mimesis."
2/22/2005 Kate Snedeker writing in Ballet-Dance Magazine of Northern Ballet Theatre's - 'Peter Pan "The colorful production, which debuted last December in Leeds, is strongest when it soars - thanks to Flying by Foy"
July, 2004 Oak Park
(Illinois) Journal review of the Chicago
Shakespeare production of Peter Pan:
"In a word, I would call it; "Delightful". The sets
are imaginative and the special effects of flight
will delight the dreams of children and the young at
heart for months. The gravity defying motions of
travel aimed at transporting the cast are
beautifully executed. The production is a
combination of genius casting, performance, and a
dash of special Cirque Du Soleil magic powder mixed
with that of the famous Tinkerbell."
02/27/2004 “Pretty Darn close to miraculous”
John Rockwell remembering
the Flying by Foy for Martha Clarke’s
Garden of Earthly Delights (New York Times)
03/21/2002 Houston Ballet’s Peter Pan -
Houston Press:
"But what's most spectacular, the dancers fly. This
is not floating in the old Mary Martin style
(although the same company, Flying by Foy, made both
levitations possible); this thrilling flight is the
logical next step in the art of ballet. Male dancers
in particular have been pushing the art skyward for
decades, and Cañete takes full advantage of this
manufactured weightlessness with innumerable spins
and somersaults."
12/14/1990 "Ms. Rigby, a world-class gymnast turned actress, has stage presence and a pleasant singing voice and, as one might expect, her physical capability in flight exceeds that of her predecessors. Maneuvered on wires by Flying by Foy, those masters of aerial theatrical engineering, she soars high above the stage, back and forth, in dizzying patterns that would dismay actresses without her gymnastic training." New York Times Review by Mel Gussow
07/23/1988 "The most stunning theatrical
achievement in the show is a flying ballet that
occurs during a black light number. The routine
begins in standard fashion but quickly becomes
spellbinding when cast members rise high above the
ice on invisible wires and execute graceful
acrobatics that would make Peter Pan envious.
Review of an Ice show in
The Press, Atlantic City
12/07/1988 "When a script calls for flying, directors call Peter Foy. The world's leading expert on stage flying teaches Peter Pans, Wendys, and Wicked Witches around the world how to get their feet off the ground" Chicago Illinois Daily Herald
11/09/1981 "A box at the bottom of the credit
page in the program of Peter Pan, now playing at
Pantages Theatre through January, states 'Flying by
Foy.' Such 'boxed' credits are usually reserved for
guest artists or someone who rates special
acknowledgement or for those who have cagey agents
who want that extra bit of attention given their
client. In this case Foy deserves a whole special
page in the program as the 'flying' in this
[production] is super spectacular. Not that Sandy
Duncan couldn't have carried off the role as the boy
who never wants to grow up without Foy. But together
they make a thrilling evening. Thrilling? It's more
than that. It's an exciting, breathtaking,
heart-rendering, spirit-lifting experience."
Variety.
04/17/1981 "Forget the Space Shuttle Columbia.
The snappiest flying really belongs to Sandy Duncan
in Peter Pan." Boston
Globe
05/18/1984 "Move over George Lucas. Peter Foy is
in town and his actors don't depend on spaceships to
propel them into orbit, just pleasant thoughts and a
little fairy dust."
Salt Lake Tribune Review of
Peter Pan
09/17/1979 "Perhaps special credit should go to Peter and Gary Foy who supervised the flying sequences. Under their direction, flying seems not only effortless, but fun. In one spectacular moment at the end, Duncan even soars over the balcony, an extra delight for those who stay for the curtain calls." Time Magazine
07/31/1975 "Miss Duncan, with the assist of Peter Foy does some fancy flying that would be the envy of the Great Waldo Pepper. Zipping near the rafters she does back somersaults." Joy S Ream writing of the Kenley Players Peter Pan in The Advocate of Newark, Ohio
08/25/1976 Peter Foy "The genius that makes the impossible possible" F. C. Anderson writing in The Independent, Long Beach, CA
10/18/1959 "There's a big flying boom in show business, you know. Peter Foy never had it so good. He's the young fellow who flies famous names the hard way -- no plane!" Erskine Johnson - In Hollywood
--/--/---- "The town's top gasp-inducer is the
aerial ballet on the Radio City Music Hall stage. A
troupe of gee-whizzers. . ."
Walter Winchell
--/--/---- "The world's most successful organizer
of special charter flights is a young Englishman
named Peter Foy. Not only does he operate without
airlines, he manages with no planes at all."
--/--/---- "I have never known a more exciting moment in the theatre than Miss Martin's first swooping ascent, her head back, her throat bursting with song." Harriet Van Horne
--/--/---- "From her first electrifying entrance through the Darling children's bedroom window to the curtain, when Peter and the three kids fly away to Neverland, soaring breathtakingly back and forth across the stage, it is one of the thrilling first acts in memory." - Variety