Extrav Co-Author

Extravaganza this year has happily returned to its traditional role of lampooning local, national, and international politics and personalities.

Dave Cohen deserves high praise for the production which made the most of the script, although the songs had, in most cases, too many verses.

The music was bright and the use of "traditional airs" is always appreciated by Wellington audiences.

My main criticism is that it is time that script writers, present and potential, realised that a theme, not dependent on some mechanical device such as a lamp or buzzard, is absolutely essential to clarify the action. Ron Meek, Extrav maestro, demonstrated this very effectively, and the main failing of recent Extravs, to measure up to his standard, has been a lack of appreciation of this fact.

The cast contained some good voices and strong choruses but, if my guess is correct, the players were mostly new to the Extrav stage and unable to ad lib to cover gaps. The tendency on the other hand to insert lines and thus confuse the cues without adding to the show was noticeable.

Thursday's performance was unfortunately marred by the addition of remarks which, however much they may appeal to the dressing room occupants or to a half drunk at a "doo," usually meet with a stony silence from a sober audience. The reaction to the unfortunate "banana skin" anecdote every night should have taught these "improvers of the script" the fact that to get a laugh the humour, no matter how low, must be clever, subtle and not perverted.

The men's ballets as usual, stole the scenes when they appeared and Win Stevens, except for one lapse (Saturday), gave his usual exhibition of inspired showmanship.

On the whole this show was an honest attempt to be an Extrav and the writers, producer, stage manager and cast deserve credit for the performance.

Jean Melling.