LABORS OF LUFT : Judy Garland’s <i> Other</i> Kid Isn’t Wildly Famous, but the ‘Doll’ Keeps Busy

Lorna Luft.

Lorna who?

You know, Judy Garland’s other daughter. The one who isn’t Liza Minnelli.

The one who used to play Nurse Kegler on the TV series “Trapper John, M.D.”

So she’s not wildly famous. So who cares? As Adelaide, the adenoidal Hot Box chanteuse in “Guys and Dolls,” Luft is one swell doll who knows how to sneeze.

Not that she invented the funny little vocal squeak in “Take Back Your Mink,” Adelaide’s crowd-pleasing second-act vamp. Director Jerry Zaks came up with that. “The eek,” she says, “is pure Jerry Zaks.”

But Adelaide’s wheeze, or at least Luft’s particular brand, is strictly hers. “I came up with the wheeze,” she says.

Actually, it wouldn’t be surprising if Luft really did have a case of postnasal drip. She’s been on the road with the national touring company of “Guys and Dolls” for 15 months.

The musical classic--which has played 27 cities, including Tokyo, virtually nonstop--opened Tuesday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa and stays through New Year’s Day before moving on to Denver.

“To be quite honest with you, I don’t want to pack another suitcase again,” Luft said by telephone from her home in Los Angeles, where the show recently ended a five-week run at the Pantages Theatre.

“I grew up in hotels. So I understand what that’s all about. But when you’re doing a show in Tokyo for two months without your kids, that’s very hard. I don’t care how much you understand about the life on the road.”

Luft, 41, has a son, 9, and a daughter, 3, from her former marriage to producer-musician Jake Hooker.

Even so, she added, “Nobody twisted my arm to go into this business. Nobody said to me, ‘Do it, or else.’ This is something I chose. The two things I learned from my mother was how to laugh about it and how to survive it--because this isn’t an easy business, it’s not a pretty business, it’s not a nice business.”

Sounding like an iron butterfly, Luft explained that she long ago learned not to expect kid-glove treatment because of her family heritage.

“I don’t think I’ve had it any more difficult than anybody else,” she said. “A lot of doors were opened for me. But when I got in the door, more was expected of me, say, than the person who couldn’t get in the door.”

Another survival lesson she learned was not to regret losing roles to others.

When Luft first auditioned for the 1992 Broadway revival of “Guys and Dolls”--on which the touring production is based--Zaks chose Faith Prince instead. As it turned out, Prince went on to win a Tony Award for her Adelaide in a career-making performance.

“I wasn’t sought out to audition,” Luft recalled. “I just went in with everybody else--and they saw a lot of people.

“So when they said, ‘Jerry has a big decision to make between you and Faith,’ and Faith got it, I said, ‘Fine. I’ll do something else.’ And I went on an English tour with a show called ‘Hollywood and Broadway.’ ”

But Zaks remembered her audition, she said. And right after she came off that tour, he called her for the national company of “Guys and Dolls.”

As good as she is, though--and Luft is top-notch--even a stylish road revival can’t do for her career what the Broadway production did for Prince’s. Nor can it do what “Cabaret” did for Minnelli’s.

Luft says she doesn’t mind.

But what about the inevitable comparisons with her legendary mother and her celebrated half-sister? (Luft’s father, the producer Sid Luft, was Garland’s third husband. Minnelli’s father, director Vincente Minnelli, was Garland’s second husband.)

“People compare everything,” she said. “When you have nothing better to do, you compare. I think it’s really dumb.”

What irks her most, however, is when people assume she and Minnelli are rivals. She insists nothing could be further from the truth.

“We’re close,” Luft said. “We’ve always been close. Don’t forget, there are seven years of difference between us. I was 7 when she was 14. That may not sound like much now, but we were never rivals. She used to baby-sit me.”

Even now, Minnelli keeps an eye on her.

“She’s been very supportive of my performance,” Luft said. “She’s seen this show so many times she could do it.”

* What: “Guys and Dolls.”

* When: Today, Dec. 23, through New Year’s Day at 8 p.m.; and matinees Saturday, Sunday and New Year’s Day at 2 p.m.

* Where: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

* Whereabouts: Take the San Diego (405) Freeway to Bristol Street and go north and then take a right onto Town Center Drive.

* Wherewithal: $19 to $45.

* Where to call: (714) 556-2787.

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