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Culture Stage

Louise Pitre

ON THE ROCKS written and performed by Louise Pitre, music by Pitre with W. Joseph Matheson, directed by Jen Shuber. Presented by Theatre Passe Muraille (16 Ryerson). Opens Wednesday (September 25) and runs to September 29, Wednesday-Saturday 7:30 pm, matinee Saturday- Sunday 2 pm. Pwyc-$32.50. 416-504-7529, passemuraille.on.ca. See listing.


Over three decades, Louise Pitre anchored blockbuster musicals like the Toronto production of Les Mis and the original Broadway production of Mamma Mia! Now, in a big departure, she’s debuting an intimate autobiographical solo show featuring original songs she penned with her partner, W. Joseph Matheson. It’s a revealing backstage look at her life and work.

“This was an exercise in scaring the shit out of myself!” Pitre laughs over the phone, describing the emotionally wrenching process of adapting her life story from age seven to the present for the stage.

The idea started off as a simple carte blanche invitation from Theatre Passe Muraille artistic director Andy McKim to Pitre to kick off the season with a show of her own devising.

“At first I wanted to do three concerts in rep, because I also do a lot of concerts all over the place, but then I thought, ‘That’s boring! I already do that. I should do some original songs and then talk about them afterwards.’ But that seemed half-assed, too.

“Then I just decided to go all the way and write something totally new, and I found myself getting all excited about it. It was time for a shakeup!”

So this past spring Pitre accompanied Matheson to Halifax, and while he was busy performing in a production of Legally Blonde, she holed up with a piano in their rented house by the shore and did nothing but write, write, write.

“I had to immerse myself in it. Hiding out on the coast with only my piano wasn’t a luxury it was a necessity to get away from all the crap that eats up your day.”

Pitre says the product is much more than a walk down memory lane she uses her own songs to describe what it was like to do shows like Mamma Mia!, Les Mis, Applause, Beehive and Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris.

“I didn’t want the show to be self-congratulatory or a cabaret, like ‘Then I did this show, and let me sing you a song from that….’ It turned into an extremely personal story. For instance, when I talk about Blood Brothers, my first big role, I don’t talk about the show or sing anything from it. I talk about the time my parents came to see it, what their reaction was and what that meant to me afterwards.”

For Pitre, this level of intimacy with the audience is both exciting and scary.

“This isn’t acting, it’s a performance, but I will have to work very hard at not acting. This is me. This is not someone else’s story I’m trying to make interesting – it’s mine. And because of this it will be difficult to keep my emotions in check. I want other people to feel those things, but I can’t be losing it up there.”

After the show’s six performances, Pitre plays Miss Hannigan in Young People’s Theatre’s production of Annie (opposite Matheson as Rooster), and then Mama Rose in Chicago Shakespeare’s production of Gypsy.

So maybe there’ll be an On The Rocks 2 in a few years.

stage@nowtoronto.com

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