My, oh, my! Eartha Kitt swept into Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall like a proverbial force of nature last night – I don’t think that the place will be the same ever again!
What an amazing talent, first of all, and what a consummate professional she is. White-hot intensity for the entire evening – yes, this was a full evening set, not the half-concert set that artists forty-odd years younger insist upon for specials or pops concerts – and a special brand of sex appeal that has hardly diminished in her 81 (!) years. Unbelievable!
The near-capacity audience was rapturous in their reception of this great artist, introduced by Portland’s own Pink Martini front man and Oregon Symphony booster Thomas Lauderdale, and Oregon Symphony president Elaine Calder.
Clearly, they don’t make artists like this anymore – or if they do, they are few and far between these days – and the entire evening was devoted to showing off her formidable assets, including thinking on her feet while interacting with the evening’s rambunctious front row audience members. Ms. Kitt has honed her craft to a razor’s edge, and none of us escaped being cut by it last night – not mortally, of course, but enough that we gained a new appreciation for our vitality and mortality, and left the hall invigorated and elated.
As Stephen Brookes of the Washington Post wrote:
“Is any woman on the planet more dangerous than Eartha Kitt? Even at 80, the original sex kitten can wreak more damage on men’s hearts with a simple glance than today’s pop tarts can with their entire bodies.”
Ditto.
I wonder who Mr. Lauderdale wants to bring to town next – I can’t wait to find out!
Meanwhile, check out this 1962 video of Eartha Kitt singing I Want to be Evil:
and C’est Si Bon: