The Snowman: 'I'm walking in the air - but feel like a trussed-up turkey' Besides the accidents that afflicted Spider-Man on Broadway, the art of stage-flying - which dates from the deus ex machina thrills of Greek drama - rarely involves injury, but it's no walk in the park. Bailey's warnings set my pulse a-flutter. There's no back-up braking system, as that wouldn't allow the smooth movement we need. In theory, if the lift operator lets go of his lift-rope, you'll fall straight down on the floor. He pauses: "That has never happened yet." James Leece, 33, returning to take the lead as the Snowman for a second year, confides that he has qualms about the single wire. "But it's like being in a plane," he says. You can always think 'What would happen if...? The music helps make you feel you're in control. For him, the chief worry concerns overheating in the white fluffy costume: "You can eat as much as you like over Christmas, you will sweat it off." For me, the main danger isn't so much loss of life as loss of dignity. Rising on a single wire brings with it the possibility of unwanted spinning. Each performer needs to keep legs and arms in motion. Do too little and you look like a trussed-up turkey. Do too much and you can come across as a chicken getting in a flap. Bailey has seen plenty of novices, including Ann Widdecombe, who made a memorable airborne entrance on Strictly Come Dancing two years ago. I feel destined to join the ranks of the graceless as we start our first try-outs, and a desire to pedal like billy-o takes over my legs. Even three yards off the ground feels perilously high, and the orchestra pit seems to get larger, like some beast opening its maw to devour its prey. For his part, Lucas beams away as we rise higher, brushing close to the white Christmas trees on either side of the set and moving more rapidly over the stage in circling motions, while Walking in the Air booms through the theatre. He has taken to it like a duck to water - and, actually, water is the best medium to visualise: wading movements help conjure a sense of air being trodden underfoot. After only half an hour in harness, I'm hardly one to dispense advice, but I can say that having wanted it all to stop at first, after a short while I don't want it to end. I haven't made it look effortless but I still find the experience, well, unexpectedly magical. How many out of 10? I ask Bailey. "By the end, nudging six," he politely suggests. Later on, we watch the pros do it; they float, glide and shift as though weightless, executing dainty dance-moves as if it were second nature. Three boys will share the role of James in London this season: one, Joe Sheridan, 10, is a newcomer; Oliver Fazzio and Joseph Darcey-Alden, also 10, debuted in the show last year. "When you're up there in front of the audience and they're waving their little light sticks, it's amazing," Joseph enthuses. "It's just beautiful," murmurs Oli in excitement. By coincidence, one of the first two boys to play James in the original 1993 Birmingham Rep production was also called Oli - Oliver Ashford. "He's now 30," Bill Alexander says. Incredible how time flies. With this beloved show signed up for another eight years at the Peacock, and perhaps destined to become as perennial as Peter Pan, it takes your breath away to realise that somewhere out there, still in nappies and clueless as to the fun they have in store, are the Jameses of Christmas future. Lucky devils, think Lucas and I as we tramp home in the rain.