NEW YORK POST
MAY 23, 2003

Two Troubadours True
By BRIAN SCOTT LIPTON

KIKI, the 70-year-old lounge singer and ultimate survivor - the
alter ego of the brilliant Justin Bond - has been on the New York
club scene for nearly a decade, accom-panied by her
"gay Jewish retard" pianist, Herb (Kenny Mellman).

The dynamic duo has now graduated to the legitimate stage -
specifically, the Cherry Lane Theatre - in the often hilarious
and sometimes touching "Kiki & Herb: Coup de Theatre."

In this 90-minute gaband songfest, well directed by Scott Elliott
("The Women"), the still-glamorous Kiki recounts the details of
her tragicomic fictional life, from her childhood days with Herb
in the "institutional" to her friendship with Princess Grace,
the death of her 7-year-old daughter, Coco, and her
estrangement from her surviving daughter, Miss D.

What makes this act so unusual is that Kiki and Herb comment
on these stories, and society in general, through remarkably
idiosyncratic renditions of songs by such diverse writers and
performers as Bob Merrill, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd, Suede,
Eminem and Radiohead. Indeed, Kiki's rendition of
Gil Scott-Heron's poem, "Whitey's on the Moon," is
worth the price of admission.

Fans of the pair - and there are many – may find "Coup de
Theatre" a little less raw than their previous shows at Fez
or Westbeth. (Kiki even stays sober this time out.)

But there's still plenty of audience interaction (first-rowers,
beware), plus an all-new "flashback" sequence not to be missed,
set in Monaco in 1967.

Mouths will drop open at the unbelievably funny, decidedly non-p.c.
comments that spew forth from Kiki's unpredictable lips. Lucky for her,
the dead can't sue!