Catherine Zeta-Jones made her Broadway debut last night in A Little Night Music, and these are photos from both the curtain call (white gown) and the red carpet (blue gown). I think Catherine looks gorgeous here. There has always been gossip about Catherine, especially in Britain, that she maybe shaved several years off of her official age. There’s also been gossip about some very high-quality plastic surgery. Personally, if she’s gotten anything done, it’s very, very good, because I think she’s looks totally naturally beautiful.

Reviewers were pretty much in agreement about Catherine’s beauty, but some criticized her performance. The Daily Mail, of course, compiled some of the greatest hits of the criticism:

In recent months, Catherine Zeta-Jones has been criticized for dressing years beyond her age. But last night she was every inch the glamorous star as she attended the opening night of her new Broadway show in New York. Dressed in a floor-length navy gown, with plunging neckline, the actress oozed sophistication.

Catherine, 40, kept the accessories simple but stunning with diamond and pearl drop earrings, and an understated slick of lipstick. But while her glamorous looks won her rave reviews in A Little Light Music, and her singing voice was praised, Catherine’s acting was criticised by some.

The Guardian’s Emma Brockes said: ‘While [she] can act and sing, she can’t do both at once in this production – at least not in one take.’

While the AP’s Michael Kuchwara wrote: ‘Zeta-Jones has a throaty, sensuous voice which she uses to good, flirty effect…. She is much better in the musical’s quieter scenes and shines in Act 2 during her rendition of the show’s best-known song, “Send in the Clowns,” a touching moment of grown-up introspection.’

Ben Brantley of The New York Times declared: ‘In addition to being drop-dead gorgeous… Ms Zeta-Jones brings a decent voice, a supple dancer’s body and a vulpine self-possession to her first appearance on Broadway.’

Catherine and husband Michael Douglas have temporarily relocated to the Big Apple while she stars in the play.

The musical, which opened last night, is fast becoming one of the hottest tickets on Broadway, with tickets selling for $300 on eBay. She plays Swedish actress Desirée Armfeldt alongside Angela Lansbury as her mother Madame Armfeldt in the Trevor Nunn revival of the 1973 play.

Catherine began her career on the stage, before finding fame in the TV series The Darling Buds Of May. She told the Evening Standard after last night’s show: ‘I can’t believe it’s taken me 20 years to actually do this. It’s quite shocking because I love the camaraderie and I just love the theatre life. It was just like going back home to a family.’

Asked when she would be performing in front of British theatregoers again, she said: ‘Now it’s back in my blood and I’m back on the boards, it may be sooner than they want it to be.’

Catherine said there were similarities between her own life and that of Desiree, a veteran actress reunited with an ex-lover. She said: ‘I have lived a bit of the life of a gypsy the way that Desiree has. I’ve found the love of life in my husband – I’m not searching for that at this particular point in my life.’

The production means Catherine and her family will spend the next few months living in the New York instead of their usual Bermuda home.

As well as marking her Broadway debut, Catherine will also be promoting her new film The Rebound, which is scheduled for release in April. The romantic comedy stars the actress as a single mother who falls for her children’s babysitter soon after her divorce.

[From The Daily Mail]

I love the while-cream gown that she wears for the play. It’s breathtakingly beautiful, and just seeing pictures of the gown made my mind wander. Hmm… God, I love costume pr0n. I just had a nice little daydream about going back in time to the days when women really dressed like this. I think I would have done well in the corset-wearing past, I really do.

Catherine Zeta-Jones on the red carpet for ‘A Little Night Music’ and at the curtain call, in New York on December 13, 2009. Credit: WENN.

Catherine Zeta Jones, who claims to be 39, has some very economic beauty treatments to recommend. The dark-haired beauty raids her refrigerator when she wants to whiten her teeth, condition her hair, and smooth her skin. She may have a lot more resources than most of us, but she’s not wasting them on overpriced creams and potions when natural alternatives are just as effective:

‘I rub a mixture of honey and salt all over my body to moisturise and exfoliate,’ she says.

‘You wash it off and your skin is gorgeous. Also, I love to eat an apple after a meal, just to cleanse my teeth – they always look polished afterwards.’

If there aren’t any apples in the fruit bowl, a strawberry will suffice.

‘The juice or pulp of strawberries contains malic acid which serves as an astringent and can lighten surface stains,’ she explains. ‘ Pineapples work the same way.’

However, while her rather unusual beauty regime appears to have its benefits, she admits it has its drawbacks too. ‘I do condition my hair with honey and beer.

‘I smell like the bottom of a beer barrel for days afterwards but it’s very good for the hair.’

[From The Daily Mail via OK! Magazine]

I used to use Origins ginger body scrub, but it costs $31 for a jar of salt and oil. Sure it smells good and uses salt that comes from the dead sea, but how much better is that than other sea salt you can buy for $3 mixed with some virgin olive oil? Are those benefits worth over $25 when you consider the cost of cheaper replacement ingredients?

At least once a week I’ll put on one of those single use face masks, I love those, but if I run out there are always eggs in the fridge and whipped egg whites are a good mask for combination skin.

Good for Zeta-Jones for using all natural at home beauty treatments. When there are harmful ingredients like parabens and chemicals in cosmetics, and natural alternatives like Keihls are so expensive, it’s nice to remember that you can do it yourself and save money. It’s also good for the environment.

If you’re interested in seeing the safety ratings of the cosmetics and body treatments you use, the Environmental Working Group’s “Skin Deep” website has a searchable database that assigns a risk rating to thousands of products.

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are shown at the 20th Annual Producers Guild Awards on 1/24/09. Credit: WENN

Catherine Zeta-Jones is nothing if not optimistic. The girl with it all, Hollywood husband, two cute kiddies, and that beauty, says she still has great things coming to her – she hasn’t reached her sexual peak.

I don’t mean the big ‘O’, I’m talking about her sexual appeal level. She talks about her career future and hints that she’s going to get naked for her next role:

“Obviously, my career is expanding and I am a mother and so I’m not going to be rip-roaring in corsets playing a 19-year-old because I’m not, I’m 38 years old,” she told reporters.

“I’m actually really lucky and glad these other roles have come along and I can play a mother.”

But, she said, she wasn’t about to abandon sexy roles altogether.

“In my next movie, which is an untitled movie at the moment, you’ll be seeing a lot more of me, put it that way,” she said.

“I’m not going to be playing old grannies anytime soon.

“You see, I haven’t actually reached my sexiest point yet.”

New Zealand Herald

What Catherine isn’t saying is that her most beautiful, physically perfect days are to come, but that her sexiest days are to come. I’m sure that Catherine will never again have the tight bottom and abs of steel of a teenager, but she can be sexy right up until her death. Sexy is not really a physical thing but an emotional thing, the way you feel about yourself.

I’m finding the whole concept of being sexy right into my 80s very heartening.

On a side note, I recently saw this picture of Michael Douglas last year and realized what happens when a young woman marries an attractive middle aged man – a few years down the line she’s still sexy, and he looks old. Very old. I don’t think he’s too bothered about it though – he’s going to bed with Catherine Zeta Jones. The couple were married in 2000 and have two children children Dylan, 7, and Carys, 4.

Catherine made her comments while in Sydney promoting her new film Death Defying Acts, which is a fictional story about an invented affair that Harry Houdini had with a Scottish con woman who claimed she could help him contact his dead mother. It also stars Guy Pearce. According to IMDB, it is due for release in Australia on March 13, and will be out in South Korea, Brazil, Spain and Russia by the end of April. It was premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September of last year and is not slated yet for a US release. Cinematical says it’s a decent film and that Zeta-Jones gives a good performance, but that the chemistry between the lead characters is lacking and that gets boring toward the end.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is shown at the premiere of the film in Sydney yesterday.

One of the downsides of celebrity is everyone not just noticing but also commenting on your every little pound. Add a few and you’re pregnant or fat (sometimes both depending on the article). Drop a few and you’re anorexic. It seems Catherine Zeta-Jones has dropped a few from her normally slightly curvy frame, and everyone’s making a thing out of it. I say “slightly curvy” meaning she wasn’t one of those pin-thin-without-boobs-or-ass actresses, not as a euphemism for fat.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is brushing off questions about her recent weight loss, saying she’s merely exercising and eating well to keep her svelte figure.

The actress told PEOPLE she laughed when her husband, Michael Douglas, informed her that reports had surfaced suggesting she had an eating disorder. “Michael was laughing at me. He told me what [people had] said – that stories say I’m anorexic. Do I look anorexic?” she told PEOPLE Saturday at the Savannah Film Festival. “How could I ever, ever be anorexic?”

The actress, who joined her husband and their two children, Dylan, 7, and Carys, 4, at the Savannah College of Art and Design’s 10th Annual Savannah Film Festival where Douglas was given a Lifetime Achievement Award for acting, said that her eating habits have simply changed a little.

In the past she was a “bread girl,” she said, adding, “I looooove bread.”
 But these days, “I’m just working out and not chomping down what I usually chomp down.”

Zeta-Jones, wearing a black strapless dress at a festival afterparty, said she’s concerned about the attention on women’s weight. “There are many women [who are] maybe a little fragile, and it becomes a huge issue.”

[From People]

Catherine Zeta-Jones has an amazing body and she definitely doesn’t look anorexic to me. Though Nicole Richie could have said that halfway through her weight loss and I would have believed her too. Losing weight certainly doesn’t indicate an eating disorder in and of itself, especially if that weight loss is due to healthier eating habits. It just gives us something to speculate about. Now if the bones of her back are all visible in a few months, then there’s something to talk about. I feel badly though – women always feel like they’re under the microscope in terms of their weight – I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to try to be healthier, and then have papers writing that you’re sick.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Catherine at the “No Reservations” New York Movie Premiere on July 25th. Images thanks to PR Photos. Header image from the third annual ‘A Fine Romance’ benefit on October 10th. She’s definitely lost a little weight, but nothing dramatic.

I pride myself on being a down-to-earth sort who shops at Old Navy and Ross and still buys her jewelry at Claire’s. But every once in a while, even I become stricken with envy at the sight of beautiful, sparkly jewelry. The older I get, the prettier it all gets. A lot of people would argue that the best part of being a celebrity is all the swag. Catherine Zeta-Jones was recently the guest of honor for the high-end jewelry line Di Modolo, and showed up wearing over $2 million in diamonds. The article doesn’t say if the diamonds were her own, given to her by Di Modolo, or just on loan, but I think it’s safe to say that most of us are pretty freaking jealous. Don’t lie guys, you find the sparkles intriguing too. I know how men are with shiny objects.

“A svelte Catherine Zeta-Jones sparkled in £1million of diamonds at a party to launch a high-end jewelry range. The Ocean’s 13 star was in attendance as the face of the Di Modolo line, and she certainly dressed for the occasion, wearing a purple strapless cocktail dress accessorized with a diamond necklace and matching earrings. Zeta Jones, 38, was the guest of honor at the unveiling of a watch range by jewelers Di Modolo in New York, and was clearly enjoying being the centre of attention – or maybe she just enjoyed wearing the diamonds. Looking a million dollars – literally – Zeta Jones showed off her trim figure, and her beautifully shiny locks.

“Husband and double Oscar winner husband Michael Douglas, recently revealed just what attracted him to his Welsh-born wife. He said: ‘We share the same birthday. We both like golf. We both like to do the crossword puzzle. We both love the news.’ And surprisingly, the Hollywood power couple don’t like watching films either. ‘Neither of us is a big movie fan’, said 68-year-old Michael. ‘We like making movies but we do have to make an effort to watch them. We’re big on kids’ movies, though’. The couple’s two children Dylan, 7, and Carys, 4 are what really keeps them busy – and close. Douglas told the Daily Express: ‘I go to school events and recitals and all that stuff. I pick them up after school. I love it. It keeps me out of trouble. We spend a lot of time together as a family unit.’”

[From the Daily Mail]

That’s so freaking sweet. If my heart hadn’t turned stone cold recently, I would find that really touching. So know that intellectually, I find that really touching. I know that people mocked Douglas and Zeta-Jones a lot for their age difference, but I think they seem really happy and well-adjusted. They definitely do a good job of laying pretty low, while still being glamorous. My ultimate goal in life. That’s pretty classy. They’re not in your face or anything. Now if only I could find a knock-off for $2 million worth of diamonds from Claire’s, I’d be all set.

This sounds disgusting. Catherine Zeta-Jones goes to a salon, where a combination of Sturgeon eggs and truffles are smeared on her head. At the cost of $400 a pop.

“Catherine discovered the caviar treatment last summer and was astounded by the difference it made to her hair,” said a source.

“She has an incredibly rich and vibrant natural hair colour but the creamy, almost oily nature of caviar really brings this out, making the colour even richer and making it so much more glossy.

Husband Michael Douglas is also a fan of caviar, but he uses it for eating, not conditioning

“The eggs are packed with omega-3 fatty acids necessary for the formation of structural proteins. It is these proteins that repair dry and damaged hair and smooth over any split ends.”

The two-hour pampering treatment at the celebrity salon, Hari’s, also includes a complimentary glass of champagne and caviar canapÈs to nibble on.

[From The Daily Mail]

Even if I could afford this (I’m trying to do the math, to work out how much it is is $NZ. Lots.) I don’t think I would. Are you sure it wouldn’t smell? And why would you take up the offer of a serve of caviar while it was on your head?

This must be why she and husband Michael Douglas didn’t donate at a recent charity event held for tsunami victims, Petra Nemcova’s Happy Hearts Fund. Too many hair treatments.

There’s a rumor that Brad Pitt requested that Catherine Zeta-Jones’ character meet an untimely death in Oceans 13, due to the nasty comments about his relationship with Angeilna made by her husband, Michael Douglas:

Brad may seem like a pansy now that he’s holing up in Namibia with Angelina, but he may be capable of being fierce when someone mocks him. Or maybe Angelina put him him up to it.

Update: Al Pacino has joined Oceans 13.

Angelina’s exclusive interview from Namibia with Ann Curry will air on the Today show tomorrow morning at 7am and on Dateline Sunday at 7pm. Angelina says she doesn’t talk about her relationship with Brad either to the press or with Brad himself and that she hopes to bring awareness to the need for education for children around the world.

She also said she knows the sex of the baby, but won’t reveal it.

Here’s a picture of Angelina with Anne Curry.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is filming “Mostly Martha” in NY. “Mostly Martha” is a remake of a 2001 German film of the same name. I’ve seen the original. It’s a thoughtful film about a single female chef who cares for her niece after her sister dies. The chef is a workaholic who avoids relationships and tries to express her emotions through cooking. Hopefully the remake will be as good as its predecessor.

Catherine Zeta-Jones and her husband, Michael Douglas, are the latest celebrities to lend their star power to a cause for the United Nations. They will attend a UN dinner on April 4th to raise funds for landmine removal.