ST. CLOUD -- St. John's Prep students will be soaring to new heights inside Paramount Theatre this weekend.

The school is performing the Disney classic Mary Poppins, filled with music, dancing and high flying effects.

Theater Director Paul-Vincent Niebauer, OSB says students have spent the last few days working with ZFX Flying to help get the show off the ground.

They're excellent. This is actually the third show we've used them for, the first was Wizard of Oz, the second was Peter Pan and now Mary Poppins.

The company provides hands on training with the students, teaching them how to properly secure the actors to the wires and how to use the ropes to complete the effect.

Victoria Grandy plays the role of Jane. She says being a part of the show is an unbelievable experience.

This is a once in a lifetime experience. You're off the ground, looking like you're free flying with nothing assisting you, even though you know there is a bit of stage magic happening there.

For every one actor this is flying around the stage, there are two people off stage running the wires, and tracks of the equipment.

Olivia Schleper plays Mary Poppins and says this is her second show working with ZFX, but her first time flying.

At first it was more fear than anything, hoping I wouldn't be dropped or the harness wouldn't be too uncomfortable. But getting past that I'm starting to get into the mindset that this is magical and I'm really excited to bring that to other people.

There are two sets of harnesses an actor can use, one is for simple movement such as up and down, while the other is for more acrobatic movement. Something William Taft, who plays the role of Bert, is a little nervous about.

Being able to move around out there and the idea of me being able to do somersaults and stuff like that is going to be interesting to learn.

Tickets for the show are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors and $12 for students. Performances run Friday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

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