Review of Eartha Kitt in The NYT today:
Cabaret Review | Eartha Kitt
Fabled Feline Charms, in Fine Working Order
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: June 10, 2006
"Shakira, eat your heart out," said Eartha Kitt, as she shimmied discreetly in a sleek black gown and executed a partial back bend at the Café Carlyle on Wednesday evening, while performing a traditional Turkish song.
The redoubtable Eartha Kitt, at 79 still slinky and immobilizing audience members with her stare, at the Café Carlyle on Wednesday night.
Indestructibly seductive at 79, this greatest and wittiest of all singing tigresses has lasted even longer on the stage than the original glamorous grandmother, Marlene Dietrich. Stacked up beside Ms. Kitt's archetypal gold digger, the material girl herself, Madonna, comes across as a loud, pushy pretender to a jungle throne carpeted in mink and crusted with diamonds.
The only thing out of date about Ms. Kitt's imperial courtesan act is her quaint use of the term "millionaire" to describe her chosen prey. Aspiring trophy wives worth their baubles nowadays know that that number should be multiplied by a thousand.
The latest edition of an act Ms. Kitt has been performing for decades is the lightest, swiftest and funniest one I've seen, and that's all to the good. More than ever, she pauses to poke fun at herself. After growling the words "I'm through with flirting" in "Ain't Misbehavin'," there was a flash of the old Eartha as she momentarily locked eyes with a man at ringside and flashed him the Look, an expression of such ravenous ferocity that it can reduce a big-game hunter to a stuttering little boy, but it was just a passing glance.
As always, Ms. Kitt exhibited her impressive multilingual skills. Her comically guttural Japanese version of "Come On-a My House" never fails to make me laugh out loud. The Philippine song "Waray-Waray," sung in Tagalog, prompted a scalding anecdote about the time she performed it for Imelda Marcos (flanked by a retinue of male courtiers), who insisted on joining her and sang out of tune.
Her quiet rendition of "All My Life," a 30's love song by Sydney Mitchell and Sam H. Stept, brought out a rare moment of tenderness. Even during the triumphant summing-up songs that ended the show, her hauteur was softened. The nostalgia of "It Was a Very Good Year," which Frank Sinatra treated as the autumnal dirge of a sated romantic, was infused with optimism.
"It's still a very good year," she emphasized. And indeed it is. Better than ever.
Eartha Kitt appears Tuesdays through Saturdays through July 1 at the CaféCarlyle, 35 East 76th Street, Manhattan; (800) 227-5737.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/10/arts/music/10kitt.html?_r=1&oref=slogin