Not your usual fairy godmother

Young Chang

If anyone can bring an edge, an electricity and a hip acerbity to the

stereotype of Cinderella’s fairy godmother, it’s Eartha Kitt.

She doesn’t wear a tutu or hold a magic wand. Instead, Kitt’s fairy

godmother is robed in a glittery dress that’s flimsy and surreal and

gives the illusion that she’s coming out of a tree.

She’s thin -- not assuredly chubby -- and a jokester with Cinderella.

“She’s teasing her, which is what I do anyway,” Kitt said.

The 74-year-old actress and singer, who has been nominated for Emmy,

Grammy and Tony awards, wouldn’t play the role any other way.

Charming, feisty, terrifyingly determined and of an absolutely

no-nonsense attitude, Kitt is a believer in self-sufficiency.

It’s what drew her to this role in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s

“Cinderella,” which will be staged Tuesday through June 10 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

“It’s very good for young girls to see, particularly because it shows

you shouldn’t stand there and ask for help because the magic is in you,”

Kitt said from her home in New York. “The fairy godmother, she helps

Cinderella but after telling her the magic is within herself.”

The cast includes Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who plays Meadow on HBO’s “The

Sopranos,” as Cinderella, Paolo Montalban as Prince Charming and Ken

Prymus as the king.

“It really is an innovative production because of the people who are

performing the roles,” Montalban said.

Prymus said it’s purposely a nontraditional cast.

“The king and queen are racially diversified, the son is Filipino and

some of the language is changed to update [the show],” he said.

Kitt has the background to play Cinderella, though the fairy godmother

role works well for her.

She was born on a cotton plantation, given away to an aunt as a child

and never knew her father.

Kitt’s career began as a dancer and vocalist with the Katherine Dunham

Dance Troupe. Orson Welles later noticed her and Leonard Stillman did

too.

She hit Broadway in the 1950s and eventually recorded numerous hits,

including “Love for Sale” and “Folk Tales of the Tribes of Africa.” Among

her television roles was playing Catwoman on “Batman.” Kitt also is the

author of four books.

“I always had to depend on myself in order to survive,” she said. “I

tried to stay physically fit and mentally alert because I never wanted to

be helpless. I’m responsible for me . . . and I’ve always been proud of

that because I never wanted to be a burden to anyone.”

When she first became famous, relative-wannabes crawled out of the

woodwork, Kitt said. People claimed to be her cousin, her uncle and other

relations.

“I don’t know who’s who anymore,” she said. “Where were they when I

was being given away?”

Now an international star, Kitt shares her strategies on making it on

her own in her latest book, “Rejuvenate: It’s Never too Late.”

“It’s to have people realize that the magic is within them too,” she

said. “It’s not like you can go to the gym. Everybody cannot find time to

get to a gym or to a trainer.”

Kitt suggests these alternatives for rejuvenation: walking a lot and

simply eating right; spitting out the seed in the next orange you eat and

potting it to grow more (“Everything that I eat goes back into the

ground,” she said); and avoiding soda.

“One of my biggest angers and arguments is soda pop,” she said.

“Nothing but water and sugar or whatever else they put in there to make

you want more of it.”

And most important, Kitt insists that we help ourselves.

“When I was a little kid living in the cotton field, if you didn’t go

out there and pick your own [darn] piece of cotton, you didn’t get your

piece,” she said. “Why are we in general asking others to help us? God

helps those who help themselves.”

Kitt knows where to count her blessings.

“The help of the public,” she said, “that has become my own fairy

godmother.”

FYI

* What: “Cinderella”

* When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. June 9 and 2 and

7:30 p.m. June 10

* Where: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

* Cost: $22-$57

* Information: (714) 740-7878