This April 18th, at the Jane Mallett Theatre in Toronto, Louise Pitre, the multi-award actress and singer, known for her Tony nominated role in Broadway’s Mamma Mia!, will be recording a live concert, marking her first CD, in her native French.
“It will be mostly French material,” says the star of theatre, television and concert stages across North America and Europe. “I will be with my trio Diane Leah on piano, the drummer is Tom Jestadt, and the bass player is George Koller.
“I am really well-known for having done the Edith Piaf show, when I do concerts; I usually sing something in French. People love for me to sing in French…those Piaf and Brel songs. I have been asked so often, if I have a recording of all French songs, and I don’t. So, I decided to do this concert, make a live recording and then I’ll have a CD. This concert also gives a chance for the audience to be part of the recording and I think that is kind of neat.”
Pitre wowed audiences while performing in the Toronto, Broadway and US touring company casts of Mamma Mia!. Other stellar theatre performances included Fantine in Les Misérables , as the title character in Edith Piaf, Annie Get Your Gun, Song & Dance, Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; The World Goes ‘Round; Blood Brothers; Tartuffe; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?; The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd; Applause; Rock ‘n’ Roll etc.; The Toxic Avenger and most recently, A Year With Frog and Toad.
Pitre had the honour of performing at Carnegie Hall in September of 2009, singing the role of Ulrika in the concert version of the musical Kristina by ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. She reprised this role when Kristina was performed at London’s Royal Albert Hall in April, 2010. She often appears in concert throughout North America and will be performing in Florida and California this March.
The actress has been seen on television in Lifetime’s AChristmas Wedding, Recipe for a Perfect Christmas, MVP and the CBC biopic Celine in which she played Céline Dion’s mother, Thérese. Currently, she hosts Star Portraits on Bravo!.
Pitre has released three solo CD’s: Shattered, All of My Life Has Led To This and Songs My Mother Taught Me, in addition to cast recordings of Les Misérables and Kristina.
The Smooth Rock Falls, Ontario native moved back to Canada from New York City in 2005 after her Broadway run in Mama Mia, with husband, actor Joe Matheson. The two bought a country home in Alliston, Ontario.
“When we came back from New York, and bought this place and fell in love with it, it felt like we had stopped running. The last two and a half years we rented it out because we had to be in Toronto, my husband was doing Jersey Boys and I was shooting Star Portraits. We moved back in on December 1st,. We are finally back in our home again with all our stuff and we are in heaven!”
For more information about Louise Pitre visit her website: www.louisepitre.com
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