Interview: Louise Pitre On ENCORE! at The Rose in Brampton

Canada’s First Lady of Broadway, Louise Pitre, takes to The Rose Mainstage in Brampton, Ontario on Thursday, October 29, 2026 with ENCORE!, an intimate evening of songs and stories from her legendary career. The concert features favourites from LES MISÉRABLES, MAMMA MIA!, and PIAF, plus heartfelt tributes to Judy Garland, performed alongside virtuoso collaborative pianist Diane Leah.

A Tony Award nominee and one of Canada’s most celebrated musical theatre performers, Pitre originated the role of Donna Sheridan in the North American and Broadway premieres of MAMMA MIA! and originated Fantine in the Canadian premiere of LES MISÉRABLES, later performing the role in Montreal and Paris. Her extensive stage career also includes acclaimed performances as Edith Piaf, Mama Rose in GYPSY, Joanne in COMPANY, and Marya in NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812. Most recently, she starred in the title role of the Canadian premiere of KIMBERLY AKIMBO, presented by the Segal Centre and Mirvish Productions. Her honours include four Dora Mavor Moore Awards, a National Broadway Touring Award, a New York Theatre World Award, a San Francisco Theatre Critics’ Award, and a Betty Mitchell Award.

BroadwayWorld spoke with Pitre about shaping ENCORE! as a personal journey, the exhausting joy of opening MAMMA MIA! on Broadway after 9/11, and why singing Piaf feels like putting on her most comfortable outfit.

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What inspired you to create ENCORE! and shape it as a personal journey through your career rather than a straightforward concert?

Well actually my concerts are always personal. However, at this point it seems particularly appropriate to take a look back and travel through my journey. Call it sentimental, but I find myself thinking about time passing... and the meaningful moments.

How did you go about selecting which songs and stories from your decades on stage would make it into the show?

I was once told by a friend that I never “just sing” a song but sing it like it’s the last time I will ever sing it. I have never forgotten that. I took a hard look at the song list to make sure that every song on that list would be one of my choices if I had to pick the last song I could ever sing.

Looking back on originating Donna Sheridan in MAMMA MIA! on Broadway, what do you remember most about that experience and receiving your Tony nomination?

To be totally honest, the first thing that comes to mind is EXHAUSTED! It was an incredible time for me, but I don’t think I have ever done so many extra interviews, events, and appearances while doing eight shows a week. The very next thought is always about the time following 9/11 when we started previews, and the overwhelming gratitude from countless audience members who would wait at the stage door to hug me as soon as I walked out after the show to say, “Thank you for letting us forget for two and a half hours!” I have never felt so loved. I will never forget the joy of playing to constant sold-out houses and seeing an entire theatre dancing on the spot through the entire finale! What a gift!

How does it feel revisiting the songs from MAMMA MIA! now, so many years after creating that role?

In a way it’s as though it was just yesterday... in a way it was a lifetime ago... it feels good paying homage to a chapter of my career that was so thrilling.

Your history with LES MISÉRABLES spans playing Fantine in Canada and Paris. How has your relationship with that role and its music changed over time?

I would say it has not changed. I will always have a special place in my heart for that show. I still adore ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ (or ‘J’avais rêvé d’une autre vie’) because it takes me back to the first opening of that show in Toronto. My parents were there. I could see them in the audience and when I took my bow I looked right at them! It was a defining moment when we knew I could actually do this for a living as opposed to teaching music in high school. I also love talking about the Montreal production where the cast learned the entire show in English and in French. We did five French and three English shows a week. A unique experience!

What continues to draw you to Edith Piaf’s music, and what does performing her songs bring out in you as a performer?

Edith Piaf was one of my mother’s favourite singers. That is how I first got to know her songs. After all these years and a few productions of shows about Piaf, I still have to say that those songs reach deeply into my heart and gut. I swear I feel I have lived before when I sing them. I sing her songs in the same keys as she did. When I sing ‘Mon Dieu,’ ‘La Vie en Rose,’ ‘Hymne à l’amour,’ or ‘Non, je ne regrette rien,’ I feel like I’m putting on my most comfortable outfit.

What made Judy Garland such an important influence on you, and what can audiences expect from your tribute to her in ENCORE!?

Judy Garland and Edith Piaf are my two top performers. Those two ladies have strong similarities for me. They both gave three hundred percent when they sang a song. I hold them both in the highest esteem. They also were both masters at choosing great songs to sing, new or old. I especially love the wonderful arrangements of old songs Judy Garland did: ‘Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody’... ‘When You’re Smiling.’ I love the slow and steady build to a full-out swing treatment! I will sing these two songs at this concert.

How did you first connect with pianist Diane Leah, and how has that collaboration evolved over the years?

I met Diane Leah doing a workshop of a new musical in 1997. We got along well, musically and personally, so when I was offered a concert tour of Northern Ontario I felt I could spend three weeks travelling and singing with Diane. And it worked! We have done countless concerts together. We have achieved the kind of shorthand that can only exist after years of collaboration. I LOVE the fact that she will never play exactly the same way every time. She does not write out the accompaniment note for note. She feels it along with me. It is a gift. It takes a special accompanist to be “right there with me” in a song like ‘Ne me quitte pas’ by Jacques Brel. I have cried so many times singing that song, not only because of the emotion of the song but because of the way she played it.

Coming off Marya in NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 and the title role in KIMBERLY AKIMBO, how does it feel to return to the concert stage with ENCORE!?

It feels great being able to put on a gown of my choice and just talk and sing without having to run up and down a million stairs! Ha! It is what I have loved about my career: the incredible variety. I adore playing a role and telling a story from start to finish in a musical, but there is something just as rewarding being myself on stage for a whole concert. I cannot say which I prefer. And how amazing is that?!

What do you hope audiences take away emotionally from experiencing ENCORE! at The Rose?

I hope they walk away saying that they have never laughed and cried so damn much in the same concert. I hope they feel they have really met me. I hope they walk out saying they’d love to have dinner with me.

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