Martin Short bringing many voices to IRIS show

Photo by AP

Martin Short

Wait, is that Ed Grimley? Performing with IRIS? Has the orchestra gone completely mental?

Maybe, but in a good way. The featured artist for IRIS's season opener is Martin Short, who created Ed's hypernerd character. But Grimley won't be there.

Well, actually he might be, because Short is bringing his vast talents to two pieces that IRIS is playing Saturday night at the Germantown Performing Arts Centre.

Martin Short

The program is well suited to his talents as a comedian, actor and singer. IRIS's 12th season starts off with the well-known Prokofiev work, "Peter and the Wolf," which Short will narrate and very likely populate with characters — including Ed Grimley (known for such phrases as "makes me completely mental," and "I must say") — that he has created and made a part of the popular culture landscape.

And then there's "Frankenstein!!"

Yes, IRIS is performing a satirical, offbeat musical version of the popular monster tale by composer H.K. Gruber.

"It's completely, wildly original," Short said in an interview this week. "My experience in anything involving the theater is that the more original you become, the more fascinating it is for the audience, especially when they feel they're watching something that's in the moment. There's a lot of spontaneous elements to this piece — the fact that I'm playing so many characters, the fact there are so many whistles — and then there's the story of Frankenstein. So it's going to be exciting."

IRIS maestro Michael Stern, a longtime fan of the entertainer, contacted Short about participating. "I said absolutely," Short said. "I suggested 'Peter and the Wolf' to him, and he suggested 'Frankenstein!!' to me."

Short has done "Peter and the Wolf" before, but the Gruber piece, composed in the 1970s, is new to him. "There's nothing more exciting than something you've never done," Short said. "The first anything is the most intriguing and adventurous. Anything that demands that you rethink what you already know is best."

The piece tells the Frankenstein story, but with a blend of Viennese tradition, Weimar Republic cabaret, black humor and surrealism. Short is the chansonnier, which, as Stern says, "is like a vocalist, but he whispers, sings, narrates, screams and does a lot of voices."

Short is known to most people as an actor and comedian, but he grew up in a family steeped in classical music. His father was president of the symphony in Hamilton, Ontario, and his mother was concertmaster.

"I grew up with string quartets in my living room," Short said. "My mother practiced five, six hours a day during the season, and that's how we grew up. I remember the first time going to a concert when I was 5, and being stunned to hear the music pour out live like this, and I thought this is so strange because I'd only heard music come out of speakers. I remember being struck by the strangeness of that sensation — to realize that these are pretty good speakers."

This weekend's program is one activity among a flurry of things Short is doing. He's in some episodes of the CBS TV comedy "How I Met Your Mother," and he is performing in more concerts. He just finished an hourlong special for HBO called "I, Martin Short, Goes Home," a fictitious look at his life. And he's doing voices for upcoming films "Frankenweenie" and "Dorothy of Oz."

"At a certain point in life when you're no longer concerned about the rent, you're interested in keeping things fraught with variety and keeping yourself interested," Short said.

And the rest of us engaged as well.

IRIS Orchestra with Martin Short

8 p.m. Saturday at the Germantown Performing Arts Centre, 1801 Exeter. Tickets: $55. Call (901) 751-7500 or go to irisorchestra.com.

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