Judging from appearances, Eartha Kitt, glamorous and seductive at 78, is probably in better shape than you or me. As you watch the original Material Girl growling and grasping at diamonds, minks, yachts and the millionaires who can supply them, this godmother of gold diggers seems totally up to date, except that now millionaires are small potatoes; you must multiply by a thousand.
The difference between Ms. Kitt, who has returned to the Café Carlyle after several years' absence, and her descendants, whether entertainers or trophy wives, is the keenness of her still slightly scary sense of humor and her intelligence. The scary part is when she locks eyes with a shy male admirer and undertakes a demanding examination of his occupation and financial assets, coldly working her wiles until she breaks into brittle laughter.
Her hyper-sophisticated repertory has changed little in recent years. Vernon Duke and Yip Harburg's obscure "Speaking of Love," which has been called the most mercenary song ever written, remains the comic high point, with its gold-plated lines like "We'd have a destiny/ If you'd invest in me." The comedy continues with her partly Japanese rendition of "Come On-a My House" and a version of "I Can't Give You Anything but Love," delivered to another male admirer with the word "love" strategically withheld until his upper-income status has been certified.
As the show continues, the comedy fades, and the proud, unbowed show business survivor and international diva takes over. Her early years in France, when she left the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe to become a nightclub star, are remembered. Ferocious renditions of two of Édith Piaf's signature songs, "La Vie en Rose" and "Hymn to Love" ("If You Love Me, Really Love Me"), evoke those days in Paris.
The show culminates in a medley of summing-up songs that combines "When the World Was Young," "It Was a Very Good Year," "September Song," and "Here's to Life" in a cumulative wallop that leaves you slightly dazed and wondering what has been the personal cost of being Eartha Kitt.