It's her life, summed up in a song

News flash: Life really isn't a cabaret, old chum. But a good cabaret show will tell you a lot about life. That's the premise of Annie Sharkey's cabaret show, "Look to the Rainbow," which debuts at the Club Caf in Boston at 7 p.m. March 14.

The Newton chanteuse said the semi-autobiographical show "touches on things I've done that were meaningful in my life," from her work singing with girl groups in New York and Boston in the '70s and '80s, to getting married and raising children, to seeing those children off to college and returning full time to her art.

Sharkey is well-known in the Boston area for her work with the oldies show band the Shittons and as a featured singer with the Winiker orchestras. Last spring she appeared in "A Tribute To Judy Garland" at the Riverside Theatre in Hyde Park.

Sharkey recalled that some of her most fun gigs were with the Shittons. The movie "Animal House" had just come out, and the group was in demand to play at toga parties on college campuses. They also played at the Boston premiere of the movie "Grease."

Some of the toughest times were keeping her career going after she had children.

"When the kids were little and I had to make dinner and then go out and sing -- I just wanted to stay home and go to bed. Of course, once I got there and felt the audience and started performing, then I was happy I went," she said with a laugh.

With all her performance experience in bands and on stage, it is somewhat surprising that Sharkey feels a little nervous about singing cabaret style. But, she said, "it's the first time I've had to relate to the audience as me."

The music in the show will draw from Sharkey's professional and personal experiences, using musical theater numbers, oldies, American standards, and big band tunes. It will also have a bit of an Irish theme, reflecting Sharkey's Irish heritage. "Look to the Rainbow" is a song from the musical "Finian's Rainbow," and the song title sums up her hopeful philosophy of life.

''The through-line of the [cabaret show's] story is that songs are the stuff that dreams are made of, and in life, you have to look to the rainbow, no matter what happens," she said.

Sharkey will perform with Brian Patton on piano. Make reservations by e-mailing anniesharkey@rcn.com or calling 617-767-1172.

RISKY BUSINESS -- When a Nobel laureate likes your book on risk management and financial derivatives so much he wants to use it as a textbook, you have every right to be proud. But perhaps John E. Marthinsen's bigger achievement is his ability to explain financial derivatives in a way that the average person can not only understand, but also enjoy as a great read.

Marthinsen's recently published book, "Risk Takers: Uses and Abuses of Financial Derivatives" (Addison-Wesley, 2004), uses real-life stories to explain how particular companies have used financial derivatives to create or to destroy shareholder value. Marthinsen, who lives in Sherborn, is an economics professor at Babson College in Wellesley.

"The problem with most derivatives books is that they are excellent, but all mathematics. I wrote the book to bridge the gap between theory and practice," primarily for his risk-management students, Marthinsen said.

But even people who aren't pursuing MBAs can relate to risk management and financial derivatives if they have ever refinanced a mortgage, locked in a rate on heating oil, or considered an employee compensation package with stock options, Marthinsen said in a phone interview.

For example, if your oil company calls in August and offers to lock in your winter rates at a low price -- regardless of how cold it gets in January -- that's an option derivative. Buying a round-trip plane ticket (guaranteeing the price of your return flight) is a forward derivative. And buying a time-share condo, then swapping your time for a better one, is an example of a swap derivative. Derivatives transform the risk you face into the risk you want.

In some cases, however, companies actually increase their risks, and that's when disaster strikes, Marthinsen said.

"Risk Takers" takes five examples of the abuse of financial derivatives and thoroughly dissects them, often going beyond the business story to tell what happened to the main players after the catastrophe.

Robert Merton, a 1997 Nobel Prize winner who was on the board of Long-Term Capital Management, noticed one of Marthinsen's students reading "Risk Takers" on a plane recently. He read the book, then sent a letter to the author telling him he was so impressed he would be using it to teach his Harvard classes.

"You're not going to get any higher than that," Marthinsen said.

DOLLARS AND SENSE -- For too long, parents have neglected to teach their children -- particularly their daughters -- how to manage their finances. But with credit card companies and advertisers targeting the teen and even adolescent market, it's important to get the message across, said Gail Shapiro of Wayland, executive director of the Womankind Financial Literacy Project.

That is why Shapiro is excited about the debut of the 10-year-old organization's new offices in Framingham, which offer space to expand on the project's basic six-week financial literacy course for women. The new offerings will include one-night sessions covering single topics, such as "Avoiding Seduction by Plastic," specifically aimed at teenage girls.

An open house will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m. today at 945 Concord St., located across from the MetroWest Y. Darthea Tea of Natick will provide refreshments.

Other new one-session courses include ''Living Together, You Can Be a Philanthropist -- At Any Income Level," and ''Money Types: Are You a Saver or a Spender?" The courses begin March 10, and Shapiro said liberal scholarships are available.

For more information, visit www.womenkindflp.org or call 508-358-8111.

HEAD OF HER CLASS -- Marlborough's Supriya Gundewar, 16, is one teenager who probably doesn't need a money management course, at least when it comes to business. She is already applying her financial talents to the many school and community service organizations she belongs to, such as the Marlborough Youth Council, the school yearbook committee, and her high school's Business Professionals of America program, for which she is treasurer.

Gundewar's teachers nominated her to participate in the National Young Leaders Conference, held this month in Washington D.C.

The Marlborough High School junior is also a leader in academics. She is a member of the student leadership council, Peer Leaders, the student council, and the National Honor Society, and a representative to the Student Advisory Committee.

Gundewar was one of approximately 400 outstanding scholars from around the country at the conference. Gundewar and the other students met with with members of each branch of government, the news media, and the international community, and participated in leadership-building simulation sessions.

Before she left for Washington, Gundewar said she was most excited about the workshop where she would have the chance to address a foreign policy crises as if she were president.

"But mostly, I'm just interested in learning more about the US government," she said.

CRIMINAL CRASH COURSE -- Suzanne Grillo of Medway hopes to teach area teenagers about driving safety and potential careers with a program she has put together sponsored by Dean College and the Tri-County Partnership, with the assistance of Franklin police, on March 18.

"This event will give students a close-up look at what really happens when a motor vehicle homicide occurs. Students will see the accident, watch EMTs aid the victim, see law enforcement investigate the crime scene, and follow the case through the courts," said Grillo, workplace developer for the partnership. "We'll have police officers, detectives, forensics experts, paralegals, attorneys, judges, probation officers, and counselors. It's this kind of exposure that helps students figure out what they want to be when they grow up."

Grillo said she expects about 400 teenagers from high schools and tech-prep schools in Medway, Millis, Bellingham, Franklin, and Seekonk to attend one of two sessions that day. Students, primarily juniors and seniors, may sign up through their schools.

With a high school senior of her own, Grillo said she has seen first-hand how hard it is for teenagers to think about future careers and make college choices accordingly.

"There's so much pressure on them," she said.

Last December the partnership ran a similar program on health care careers, again following crash victims, this time through the emergency room, operating room, and other hospital areas.

For more information, call Grillo at 508-533-3866 or Julia Tanen at Dean College, 508-541-1668.

Cate Coulacos Prato can be reached at prato@globe.com.