Eartha Kitt
((Cinegrill; 120 seats; $ 30))
Promoted inhouse. Band: Daryl Waters, Greg Poree, Louie Spears, Howard Gordon. Opened July 26, 1995; reviewed Aug. 7; closes Aug. 20. More than 40 years afterher sizzling New York debut in Leonard Sillman's revue "New Faces of 1952," Eartha Kitt is still a fireball who could easily steal the stage from practically any other performer alive. Though cabaret singing remains a viable idiom, there are few who personify the art so well as Kitt, a legitimate showbiz legend who can still connect with audiences on an intimate level. Her current set includes a few of the numbers identified with her through the years --"I Want to Be Evil" and "C'est Si Bon" among them on the night reviewed -- a selection or two ("Ain't Misbehavin' " and "Close Enough for Love") from her current DRG album "Back in Business" (said to be her first U.S.-made disc in nearly 30 years) and a few surprises (Alan Jay Lerner & Burton Lane's "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life," from the 1950 Fred Astaire pic "Royal Wedding").
A relatively recent addition to the set is a sequence of "survivor" songs --"Free Again,""I'm Still Here" and "I Will Survive"-- that, coupled with the reflective "September Song" and "It Was a Very Good Year," point at Kitt's age (a proud 67) far more than, say, her sexy carriage would.
Singing in German ("Mein Herr"), French ("C'est Si Bon") and Turkish ("Uska Dara") as well as English, she tormented a ringsider for his lack of a second language --"What, you're from Los Angeles and you don't speak Spanish?"
While mercilessly funny in her kidding of some audience members, she generously acknowledged Charlotte Rae -- in Sunday night's crowd -- as an early Kitt champion, back in the days when producers, audiences and record companies didn't know quite what to make of her.
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