From croaker sack to Chinchilla, Orson Welles called Kitt “the most exciting woman in the world”. In 1968 she was blacklisted for making the 1st Lady cry. “I Wanna Be Evil” chronicles Eartha’s kinship with James Dean, her affairs with Revlon and her volatile relationship with Hollywood.
“I Wanna Be Evil: The Story of Eartha Kitt”
Reviews
Janelle Lynn Randall gives a lasting impression of the passion and heartache that was the one of a kind Eartha Kitt. Looking and sounding like her, Randall is an outstanding performer who will leave her mark just as Kitt did.
After three SOLD OUT performances at the 2019 Hollywood Fringe Festival, Jenelle Lynn Randall returns to bring actress-singer-dancer-author-activist-legend Eartha Kitt’s Rags to Riches story to life in I WANNA BE EVIL: THE EARTHA KITT STORY on Monday, September 16, 2019 at Feinstein’s at Vitello’s in Studio City.
Randall shares Eartha’s life story via monologue and song, beginning with her birth on January 17, 1927 to an unwed African America mother and white father, who she never knew. From her childhood in Harlem where she was discovered at age 16 by Katherine Durham who changed her life as a performer forever, Randall inhabits the legendary Eartha Kitt from her days in Paris as a nightclub singer through her ups and downs on the world stage and in Hollywood films.
Thanks to Randall’s portrayal and sexy purr, you will certainly understand why Orson Welles called Eartha “the most exciting woman in the world.”
This is an astonishing show from start to finish! Jenelle Randall's Eartha Kitt is on target both in interview vocal inflection, tone, and quality, as well as in her song vocals. With a live band and singing top hits like "C'est Si Bon," " Let's Do It "and of course, "I Want To Be Evil," and more, Randall makes gentle use of the famous Cat Woman's famous trilling purr, while presenting Kitt's best and most tragic historical aspects of her life in interview-style story. I should note here that there are no extensions and no idea of when the show might return. However, this show was sold out every night and with good reason. If you find it, see it!
From the moment Jenelle Lynn Randall appeared at the top of the Studio C staircase, there was magic in the air as she descended with great style and bravado to share the life, music, and oversized personality of Eartha Kitt. As the writer, creator and executive producer of the Fringe 2019 show, it's easy to realize you are watching an incredibly talented artist perform her dream role from start to finish!
It’s a sobering as well as laugh-filled 50 minutes as Randall totally embodies Kitt, from rolling her R’s as if they were tires to sensually playing with the men in the audience as well as her interviewer.
From her first appearance from the top of the stairs until the closing credits, Jenelle Lynn Randall embodies Eartha Kitt persona in such an electrifying way that I had to pinch myself to remind me I was watching a Fringe show rather than the multifaceted and outspoken artist that “made Lady Byrd cry” with her wit, her charm and her unspoiled gender. A tour de force in every way, Eartha Kitt will have you gagging but also reflecting on political and social issues that still exist in today, like they did in the 60’s and 70’s.
Janelle Lynn Randall gives a lasting impression of the passion and heartache that was the one of a kind Eartha Kitt. Looking and sounding like her, Randall is an outstanding performer who will leave her mark just as Kitt did.
After three SOLD OUT performances at the 2019 Hollywood Fringe Festival, Jenelle Lynn Randall returns to bring actress-singer-dancer-author-activist-legend Eartha Kitt’s Rags to Riches story to life in I WANNA BE EVIL: THE EARTHA KITT STORY on Monday, September 16, 2019 at Feinstein’s at Vitello’s in Studio City.
Randall shares Eartha’s life story via monologue and song, beginning with her birth on January 17, 1927 to an unwed African America mother and white father, who she never knew. From her childhood in Harlem where she was discovered at age 16 by Katherine Durham who changed her life as a performer forever, Randall inhabits the legendary Eartha Kitt from her days in Paris as a nightclub singer through her ups and downs on the world stage and in Hollywood films.
Thanks to Randall’s portrayal and sexy purr, you will certainly understand why Orson Welles called Eartha “the most exciting woman in the world.”
This is an astonishing show from start to finish! Jenelle Randall's Eartha Kitt is on target both in interview vocal inflection, tone, and quality, as well as in her song vocals. With a live band and singing top hits like "C'est Si Bon," " Let's Do It "and of course, "I Want To Be Evil," and more, Randall makes gentle use of the famous Cat Woman's famous trilling purr, while presenting Kitt's best and most tragic historical aspects of her life in interview-style story. I should note here that there are no extensions and no idea of when the show might return. However, this show was sold out every night and with good reason. If you find it, see it!
From the moment Jenelle Lynn Randall appeared at the top of the Studio C staircase, there was magic in the air as she descended with great style and bravado to share the life, music, and oversized personality of Eartha Kitt. As the writer, creator and executive producer of the Fringe 2019 show, it's easy to realize you are watching an incredibly talented artist perform her dream role from start to finish!
It’s a sobering as well as laugh-filled 50 minutes as Randall totally embodies Kitt, from rolling her R’s as if they were tires to sensually playing with the men in the audience as well as her interviewer.
From her first appearance from the top of the stairs until the closing credits, Jenelle Lynn Randall embodies Eartha Kitt persona in such an electrifying way that I had to pinch myself to remind me I was watching a Fringe show rather than the multifaceted and outspoken artist that “made Lady Byrd cry” with her wit, her charm and her unspoiled gender. A tour de force in every way, Eartha Kitt will have you gagging but also reflecting on political and social issues that still exist in today, like they did in the 60’s and 70’s.