A growing excitement is barely contained as the overture begins, the foot tapping, body swaying rhythms setting the tone for the evening. The quartet of musicians with Daryl Waters, Music Director and at the piano; Calvin Jones on bass; Brian Grice on traps; Tony Citron on the conga, sounded like the orchestra of a Broadway show, rising out of the pit .

Arriving center stage, Eartha Kitt, resplendent in a velvet cape, a dé colleté gown underneath with a thigh high glimpse of stockinged leg, poses briefly in the crook of the piano, her smoldering eyes looking deep into the faces of the ringside fans as she begins with Dave Frishberg’s Peel Me A Grape (“…romance me, champagne me, caviar me….”) at once exciting, magnetizing and very hard to resist.

Launching into C’mon a My House, m’house a c’mon she leans over to one of the numerous men sitting ringside challenging him to take her up on the delectable invitation, even though she sings it in Japanese!

Speaking to the crowd she says “by now you’ve guessed I’m Continental, but Great Britain has been very good to me, yet I’ve never been approached by an Englishman, oh yes, Spaniard, Portuguese and in the breeze a Viennese…but, an Englishman needs time…” segueing into a song she wrote about an Englishman who takes his time. Alternating between being a world wise vamp, a gamin, a daring, playful kitten it is impossible to believe that, as Eartha put it, “I’m 80”. But, she has the posture and figure a 30 year old would envy.

Her energy doesn’t flag for a moment. This is a strong woman who has fought much in her life, poverty (having worked in cotton fields, factories and menial jobs), as well as bigotry from both white and black communities (black due to her light skin). She bravely spoke out against the Vietnam war at a luncheon with Lady Bird Johnson, resulting in being black listed for many years. It was Jimmy Carter who invited her back to the White House and said, “Welcome Back”. She also tried to bring awareness to both black and white communities in South Africa about the devastation of apartheid. Although she does not believe she was that effective, Eartha Kitt did have two schools built there for black children. She is brave and a survivor whose life is a clear record of giving, rising above adversity to become an exemplary person and distinctly unique performer.

Later in this show Ms. Kitt, sings in the Tagalog dialect of Manila in the Philippines about women who are just as strong as any man and can fight their own battles. Could be a personal statement.

Included in the evening performance is La Vie En Rose (sung in French, of course); What Is This Thing Called Love; I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (wherein she comments, “I may be 80, but I’m still burning”); C’est Si Bon; September Song; It Was a Very Good Year; After a Love Affair is Over, but it was during Uska Dara – a Turkish song – that she added a little belly dance. Enviable.

There is always a touch of tongue in cheek sauciness as she sings lines like “speaking of love, I’d be compassionate…especially if there was cash in it.”

This professional gives her accompanists full credit and during solo riffs she stays still as a statue, allowing the audience time to give their attention to each.

She croons, soothes and cajoles, growls, purrs, makes enticing visual love to every man in the audience, all this to the driving arrangements of bossa nova, samba, conga rhythms. Eartha Kitt well deserves her title of “sex kitten”.

Café Carlyle

New York City