By Thom Smith

Oh, what a lovely life.
In 1962, David Short, the oldest of five children, died in a car crash and his mother, Olive, was diagnosed with cancer. Doctors gave her three months.
    7960601070?profile=originalBut I have one last child to raise, she responded defiantly. Five years later — her fifth child, Martin, on the verge of manhood at 17 and her job done — she succumbed.
    “It’s a big difference between losing your mother at 12 and at 17,” actor, singer, writer and producer Martin Short told more than 1,500 guests at the Boca Raton Regional Hospital’s 12th annual Go Pink luncheon, Oct. 21 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. “I realized I had been an extraordinary beneficiary of willpower.”
    Before Martin hit 20, his father died from a stroke. Undaunted, he pressed ahead, always looking on the bright side of life.
    With a degree in social work in his pocket and stars in his eyes, he auditioned for the Toronto production of Godspell. The cast included his college classmate Dave Thomas, Paul Shaffer, Victor GarberEugene Levy and Gilda Radner. Short and Radner made a fine couple for a couple of years until his attention was commanded by “the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen in your life,” Nancy Dolman, Radner’s understudy.
    They married in 1980. TV, movies, Broadway, an Emmy, a Tony — he was a star. She landed a role in Soap, but retired from show biz to stay home with three kids. It seemed an idyllic life. Then in 1997, Nancy was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent a double mastectomy and the Shorts moved on with their lives only to hit another roadblock a decade later.
    Ovarian cancer had claimed Gilda in 1989; in 2007 it struck Nancy. Three years later, she was gone. The National Enquirer broke the story before he could tell his family.
    Of writers and analysts who suggest that he turned to comedy to relieve his pain, Short scoffs, “Great stuff, it writes itself — but it wasn’t me. My childhood was a blast. It was unequivocally happy. There were difficult times, but they yielded important lessons. They gave me information about life that few guys my age had, as well as a certain fearlessness that would deeply influence my career.
    “When I look back at my life, I can see moments where it might have been understandable that I might have turned to drugs … or ice cream, but I succumbed, no matter what the situation might have been, to my natural tendency to be happy. Tom Hanks likes to say that of all the people he knows in comedy, I’m the only one who’s laughing on the inside.
    “But my upbeat nature is also a function of resilience, a firm belief that tough experiences Teflon coat you and strengthen you against further adversity. Along the way, I picked up the wisdom that bad things happen and yet the sun still comes up the next day and it’s up to you to keep living your life and keeping your setbacks in perspective. You also have to understand that on some level these horrible, sad things happen to everyone. But the mark of the man or the woman is not just how they survive but also what wisdom is gained from the experience.”
    One of every three women and one of two men will confront cancer and everyone is affected by it in some way. But, everyone responds differently, observed Short. Every decision a person makes is the right decision, because everyone instinctively knows what he or she needs.
    Despite the subject, Short’s address was hardly a downer, laced as it was with the occasional dig — for laughs — as when he asked the audience:
    “Are you all wearing Spanx? You look so-o-o-o good.”
    Or “I have three children . . . one of each.”
    And “I’m Canadian. We’re the aliens Donald Trump doesn’t want to deport.” He later described Trump as “the man who screams out his own name when having sex.”
    Advice: “Never carpool with Suge Knight.”
    Celebrity intellect: “Kim Kardashian thinks soy milk is Spanish for ‘I am milk.’”
    And drawing most raucous applause of the day: “Never ask Bill Cosby to mix your wife a drink!  It just makes sense, everyone.”  
    “It’s amazing,” Short observed, “how cancer alters one’s glibness.”

***
                                    
 Let’s see. You’ve got your Alpine marmot, the forest-steppe marmot, Menzbier’s marmot, the Brooks Range marmot and the Himalayan marmot. Colorful varieties include gray, black-capped, yellow-bellied and golden. But no matter how hard you try, you will not find an Okeechobee or Everglades marmot. Not even a Suwanee species.
Marmots, which are actually large squirrels, can’t take the heat. Most live in colder regions ­— the Alps, Siberia, Alaska, Canada. Aside from zoos, the closest point of contact for a Floridian would be Punxatawney, Pa. Yes, groundhogs are marmots.
7960601254?profile=originalBut come Dec. 22, South Florida and Boca Raton, in particular, will be crawling with ’em. In its second year, the Boca Raton Bowl has found a corporate sponsor. The Marmot Boca Raton Bowl, played at sunny Florida Atlantic University Stadium, will be selling outdoor equipment and clothing, much of which is associated with mountain climbing.
Founded in Grand Junction, Colo., in 1974 by a local resident and two California college students, Marmot Mountain was one of the first companies to utilize Gore-Tex fabric. It’s big, just not in Florida.
So why sponsor the Boca Raton Bowl?
Simple. Marmot is one of many companies held by Jarden Corp., a Fortune 500 comglomerate that just happens to be based in Boca. Jarden, which started with Mason jars, has acquired such diverse brands as Diamond (matches), United States Playing Cards, Coleman (camping gear), Mr. Coffee and Yankee Candle. Last month it acquired Jostens, the high school memorabilia company. Jarden sells lots of products that football fans buy.
Citing high-quality products geared to a high-adventure lifestyle, bowl game executive director Doug Mosley called Marmot’s sponsorship “a great fit with the vibe of Boca Raton and Palm Beach County.”
                                    ***
    Seeing is believing, especially for the trustees at FAU. A year and a half into John Kelly’s tenure as president, reports around campus suggest that the mood of faculty, staff, students and more significantly the board of trustees has never been better. In an annual review by the board, Kelly was rated “excellent” and rewarded with a $40,000 bonus. He took office in March 2014, for a salary reported to be $400,000 plus expenses, car and other perks. 7960601464?profile=original
    FAU may not be having a great season on the football field, but many of its former athletes are faring well: Washington Redskins running back Alfred Morris remains among the top rushers in the NFL; Brittany Bowe is preparing to defend her 2015 title as the world’s best speed skater.
    But universities aren’t judged solely by touchdowns or hundredths of seconds. FAU grads have become leaders in business, government and education. Since it opened half a century ago, the school has been an international leader in ocean sciences.

***
    The original University Theatre was revolutionary in design, with dozens of rigid panels that could have be raised and lowered to create mini-scenarios — until the Legislature cut funding for the lifting mechanism. Undeterred, the theater department produced amazing work. A 1971 FAU production of Arthur Kopit’s Indians was the only Florida college play selected to compete in the southeastern regional division of the American College Theatre Festival.
    After finishing at FAU in 1988, Marc Kudisch headed for Broadway, picked up Tony nominations for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Thoroughly Modern Millie and 9 to 5, and featured roles in Sex and the City and more recently House of Cards as Senate Majority Leader Henry Mitchell.

***
    Look for more innovation with Louis Tyrrell. A familiar face in South Florida theater circles for three decades, Tyrrell founded 7960601079?profile=originalTheatre Club of the Palm Beaches, which later became Florida Stage, and most recently the drama program at Arts Garage in Delray Beach.
But now as “Dorothy Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Arts,” Tyrrell has a new challenge: Theatre Lab. Its purpose is to develop and produce new work in American theater and provide a training ground for FAU students interested in careers in professional theater and related fields.
    “Theatre Lab will establish FAU as a force in the national professional theater movement,” Tyrrell said. “With the goal of making great theater accessible, Theatre Lab will bring thousands of community members together with the FAU faculty and student body. A true ‘globe theater,’ the lab will provide world-class professional theater experiences, but it also will develop project-based partnerships, workshops, conversations with leading playwrights and theater artists while offering enrichment activities at the theater, on campus and throughout the community.”
    In a sense, Tyrrell is reviving the dreams professors Harold Burris-Meyer envisioned with his revolutionary theater design and Bob Boyd pursued with Indians.
    Until a permanent site can be selected, an intimate 150-seat “theater in the raw” will be created on the ground floor of the Parliament Hall residence at the northeast corner of the campus. Beer, wine, drinks and snacks will be available for purchase.
                                    ***
    “Lee Roy? It’s Carol. Carol Channing. I’m doing a revival of Hello, Dolly! and I want you to play Cornelius Hackl. Jerry Herman and Lucia Victor, the director, don’t know you, darling. So, you have to audition, but don’t worry, you got the part.”
    Lee Roy Reams’ first encounter with “the” Dolly Levi earned him a Tony nomination, and a long-term relationship as cast member and director that brings him back to The Wick Theatre in Boca for the second time this year.
    Last winter he reprised one of his other well-known roles, Albin/Zaza, one of the transvestites in La Cage aux Folles. When the curtain goes up Nov. 5, Reams will take a more unusual turn, not as Hackl or Horace Vandergelder, but as … Dolly herself.
    That’s right, for the first time ever, Dolly will not be played by a woman.
    Though Reams’ performance will be historic because the character and Channing are theatrical icons, it’s hardly a new concept. In Elizabethan England, all the roles were played by men.
    “I don’t do Carol Channing,” Reams told South Florida Gay News. “I wouldn’t want to do Carol Channing. I want to bring the character to the fore and that’s what I will do.
    “The point of being an actor is to play roles you can’t play in real life. In today’s world, sexuality — transgender, bi-, tri, quad-, whatever — it’s time people have become more comfortable with it all.
    “We’re not reinventing the wheel; we’re just doing Hello, Dolly!”
                                    ***
     Gimme a head with hair . . .  It’s been 49 years — yes,
f-o-r-t-y  n-i-n-e — since Hair, The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, radicalized American musical theater.
    The show helped launch such stars as Melba MooreRonnie Dyson (who sang Aquarius), Diane KeatonBen VereenKeith CarradineBarry McGuireTed LangeMeat Loaf and Heather MacRae. The original production lost out at Tony award time, ironically, to 1776, but the 2009 production claimed a best revival Tony.
    The music remains part of the American soundscape. Hair’s shock value may have been diminished over the ensuing half century, but as Time magazine noted in 2008, the show “seems, if anything, more daring than ever.” Assorted road shows have come through over the years, but a new staging next May by MNM Productions, the South Florida company founded by Marcie Gorman-Althof and Michael Lifshitz, will be the first locally produced version. Auditions, Nov. 16 and 17, could be interesting. A new Keaton? Another Meat Loaf?
    To schedule a tryout at Organic Movements Dance Studio in Boca Raton, hopefuls should email Lifshitz at mnmprods@gmail.com and put “Hair Auditions” in the subject line. Candidates should bring a headshot, resume and Equity Card, if applicable, be prepared to move, to perform a one-minute song with sheet music in his or her key (accompanist provided, no recorded accompaniment or a cappella singing permitted) and a one-minute monologue and, especially important, “If you can play acoustic guitar, be prepared to show your stuff.”
    Asked if the final requisite “to show your stuff,” was an allusion to the Hair’s legendary “nude scene,” Lifshitz played it close to the vest: “Oh my! Did we really say that?”
                                    ***
    Bolstered by a successful inaugural season, MusicWorks plans to double the fun with four “folkie” shows at the Crest Theatre in 7960601094?profile=originalDelray Beach. Picking up where John Sebastian and Livingston Taylor left off, pianist George Winston opens the series Nov. 19. He’ll be followed by Peter Yarrow Jan. 14, Tom Rush Feb. 10 and Roger McGuinn March 11.
    MusicWorks promotes concerts and special events with a philanthropic tilt at not-for-profit venues, several in South Florida. It was the brainchild of Rusty Young, founder and former CEO of the Count Basie Theatre Foundation in Red Bank, N.J., and Lee Babitt, a businessman, builder and music promoter with ties to Philadelphia and Miami.

***
                                    
    In Lake Worth, the music raising the roof at Bamboo Room is a bit more heavenly this year — at least on Sunday. Common Ground Church, a Southern Baptist affiliate, had been holding services at Common Ground Coffee Bar, just across the street, but worshipers had outgrown the space.
    Fortunately for Mike Olive, pastor of Common Ground, he bumped into Bamboo Managing Partner Dave Minton, explained his plight and Minton took it to his partners, who saw the positives and even agreed to reduce the rent. Don’t be surprised to hear Will the Circle Be Unbroken with splashes of hallelujah.    
                                    ***
    All gussied up by a $14 million makeover by decorator Carleton Varney, The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach has launched its winter cabaret season in the Royal Room with Billy Stritch and Jim Caruso, described as Manhattan’s most sophisticated musical goofballs, Nov. 6 and 7, followed by perennial favorite Nicole Henry for two weeks. Also on the bill: Tony Danza, Tommy Tune, Aaron Weinstein and Bucky Pizzarelli, The Four Freshmen, Steve Tyrell, Melissa Manchester, John Pizzarelli, The Lettermen and Marilyn Maye.
                                    ***
    Though management refuses to confirm or deny, The Breakers is reported to be the site for the biggest wedding of the year. Sofia 7960601267?profile=originalVergara is expected to marry Joe Manganiello Nov. 21 or 22 before a cast of hundreds, if not thousands.
While not releasing every detail, Sofia has dropped crumbs.
Keeping details, dates and locations secret is difficult, she told Howard Stern (a sometime Palm Beacher), “because you can’t control 350 people.”
    The 350 will include three families — Manganiello’s from Pennsylvania and Vergara’s from Colombia, plus her Modern Family. Her TV hubby Ed O’Neill told Entertainment Tonight the entire cast will attend.
    Organizing the weekend: L.A. party planner Mindy Weiss. Gown by Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad.
    Honeymoon: Not so soon. On Good Morning America, Vergara defined “honeymoon” as “the thing that I’m not going to be able to have much of after my wedding … because I’m gonna have to go back to work.”
                                    ***
    The Breakers is a short Uber ride from Delray Beach, but you can bet one occasional resident is not invited to the wedding. Former fiancé Nick Loeb is still pursuing his legal battle with Vergara for custody of frozen embryos the couple created during their relationship. 7960601473?profile=original
Loeb, who lost a race for a Delray City Commission seat in 2005, is trying to raise money for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s Republican presidential campaign and seeking investors for his Onion Crunch. It’s billed as “America’s first kosher pareve and vegan crunchy onion condiment!” Loeb reportedly is offering 8,000 shares for a $1,000 investment.
                                    ***
    If you’ve served in a branch of the United States armed forces and have the I.D. to prove it, march over to Boston’s on the Beach in Delray on Nov. 11, Veterans Day. From 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Boston’s will serve a complimentary lunch or dinner, up to $20, to any present or former member of the military.

Reach Thom Smith at thomsmith@ymail.com.














                                    
 

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