'Aznagavavartxe'

Salient popped in at the first casting meeting of Extravaganza, 1961, to get an early look at V.U.W.'s "Who's Who in the "Entertainment World."

Proud Extrav. Production staff were rushing everywhere with beaming faces—there had been quite a muster at their first meeting. They off-handedly spoke of numbers in the vicinity of 100-120. (Round figures perhaps? Salient tried hard to count to more than 70 or so, but had no luck. However, we must admit, it was like trying to count a mob of milling sheep—there is certainly no lack of early enthusiasm among the up-and-coming performers.

As for this year's Who's Who: Geoff. Stewart looked down on a mixed array. Among the many old faces spied in the group were old faithfuls Phil Levy and Terry Brown, David Lind-Mitchell, Tony Knight, John Koolman and Julian Watts. Liz and Margo were also hovering around—and, naturally, not in the background. (Do they need any further introduction?)

There were many new faces there, too. Salient will not try to predict which of these faces will later be seen in the front line on stage because we just cannot predict the whims of the production staff. But we are hoping to see at least some of them. There seems to be a certain amount of useful, fresh talent.

When things got under way it was obvious that Phil Levy, in his inimitable style, was going to give the authors a hand in re-writing the script. He managed to get quite a few laughs from the prospective cast. We hope the first-night audience will be as appreciative.

Another who raised a laugh was Margo (with an entirely different, but equally inimitable, style), who, in the words of Geoff Stewart, "put her heart and soul into singing" what is going to be a very popular song. We'll see more of Margo!

At that stage, Salient had had enough for the first night.

(But don't be disheartened, Extrav., 1961. We liked our first glimpse of you!)

—Man Friday.