Saturday, June 8, 1974

THE AMCHIGAN DAILY

Page Five

he Extension' arrives
with impro visa tional fun
By DAVID BLOMQUIST
The longest running show in Boston
uses a rebuilt bakery for a playhouse
The show is a musical, but the custom-
ary gargantuan cast and flamboyant set-
tings of musical theater are completely
absent. In their place is the director's
almost incredulous claim that one could
attend every evening for a month and
z never see two identical performances.
An amazing concept? Of course. But
then, The Proposition is an amazing
show - a truly exciting piece of theater.
And now, a new version of this delight-
ful show, entitled The Extension, has op-
ened for a two-month run at the down-
town Rubaiyat restiurant.
What makes Extension so different is
its improvisational for-t. The audience
suggests topics for sketches, the four
cast members huddle for about 4. sec-
- nds, and presto! - we have an instant,
ad lib exercise in comedy.
The cleverness of the cast - Martin
Anderson, Jane Burton, Christopher Mc-
Gowan, and Judith Niklas - while work-
- ing off the top of their heads is abso-
tately astounding.
The first skit the audience requested
on opening night concerned the dairy
lobby's alleged contributions to the Nix-
on campaign. Burton, playing a Jewish
Nixon supoirter, casually quipped that
the news medit should ask the nation's
cows whether "they did or did not spout
Mimilk foit Mr. Nixon."
~ - - A later sequence placed a male would-
be streaker in the first White House
co-ed bathroom, discussing with a fe-
male dignitary the pros and cons of
streaking the President's beroom.
"Let's have a trial run," suggests the
dignitary.
The evidently shy fellow blushes.
"Come on," she urges, "I've seen fel-
alows before."
"But I'm a Democrat," he coyly ex-
plains.
Diy Photo ho KARtN KASMAUSKI How can they do it? Well, the secret
lies in the intricate design for the show
'The Extension' worked out by director Allan Albert. The
See THE EXTENSION, Page 8
JimmyVMartin: Finger pickin'good
By GARY THOMAS
With the advent of performers like
Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, the New
Riders of the Purple Sage and Com-
mander Cody, country music was made
"legitimate" among the younger mem-
bers of the record-buying public.
But while men like Prine and Kris- ~
tofferson were still in diapers, there
were other country musicians picking
and singing for the hardcore devotees r /,
of country. A few names immediately
spring to mind: Hank Williams, Jimmy
Rodgers, Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff and
the Carter Family. These were the per-
formers who blazed the trails in coun-
try, and many of these patriarchs are
still performing, not only for the old fans, ;
but for their new country constituency. "
Thursday night saw the appearance
in Ann Arbor of just one of those men.
Jimmy Martin brought his Sunny Moun-
tain Boys to the Pretzel Bell for some -
finger-pickin' good bluegrass music.
Martin is one of those who has helpedt '
bridge the gap between the old and new -

fans. Martin joined forces with fellow "
giants Roy Acuff, Maybelle Carter, Doc -a-kq '
Watson, Merle Travis, and the Nitty
Gritty Dirty Band for Will the Circle Be
Unbroken. This three-record album, al-
ready a classic, saw the Dirt Band link
up with the greats to reach a whole new,-
audience.
The boy from Sheedville, Tennessee,
has made his mark in country, picking Daitv PoI ywTOM GOTTLILIB
his way across the country for the past
25 years, His perforsnsce at the P-Bell J m y M ri
See FINGER, Page 8i m M ri