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Eartha rules the roost
at 80
EARTHA KITT
Shaw Theatre
THERE are about half a dozen performers left in the world who can truly hold a stage, alone, for two hours doing nothing more than a bit of singing.
Of course, however, with Eartha Kitt, there’s quite a bit more than just a bit of singing going on. This inimitable lady, who has been going for 80 years, still commands a stage with the power of a cabaret goddess who knows her territory completely.
She is not only still stunning to look at, wearing a tight, velvet dress split to the upper thigh and displaying legs that would not look bad on the average 20-year-old, but her performance, at once playful, cutting, witty and emotional, pushes to the very limits of her talent.
One senses this is a show made truly splendid by the performer’s maturity. She does not put a high-heeled foot wrong, even when the notes are a struggle and she’s blowing her nose, which she does throughout.
“I have more fun with myself than anyone,” she says, bending over and laughing with abandon, and that is the essence of her charm.
She looks as though she is having a marvellous time, even with that grimly serious school ma’am face she puts on for the wilting male audience members in the front row.
“We have a destiny, if you invest in me,” she sings, and she trades unashamedly on that image of the gold-digging luxurious femme fatale with just a hint of danger.
It is a pleasant surprise that she still has a pretty good voice, too: “I may be 80 but I’m still burning,” she purrs.
In the second half she comes out again in exactly the same clinging dress, but this time midnight blue. She strides onto the stage and begins to raucous applause.
Watching her is a masterclass in performance. She gives away very little of herself, telling only one story, really, about an encounter with Nat King Cole.
One longs to know what she would have made of Orson Welles’s assertion that she was the most exciting woman alive, or how the Catwoman persona has made its mark with her, but, indeed, her performance is itself in many ways revealing.
Alongside her own classics, Old Fashioned Girl, C’est Si Bon, she does a stirring rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s disco hit I Will Survive, and her encore, Mein Herr from Cabaret, gives new life to Kander and Ebb. They could have written it for her.
Beg, steal or borrow a ticket to see this legend in action.
Until Feb 17
click here to book tickets
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