Excerpts from social media related to Louise Pitre’s arms while performing as Doctor Madden (Doctor Fine) in Next To Normal, the Musical Stage Company/Off-Mirvish production, April/May 2019 at the CAA Theatre in Toronto:

“It’s a fantastic production. And Louise Pitre is jacked (vocally and her ARMS!).”

“Just saw #Next2NormalTO. What a phenomenal show with an even more impressive cast. Ma-Anne Dionisio is one of my new aspirations, @louloupit makes me want to go to the gym and @brandon_antonio is my new musical theatre crush.”

“I believe in strict gun controls, but I’ll make an exception for @louloupit and #BrandonAntonio #Next2NormalTO@MusicalStageCo

In response to a Zoomer Radio interview where Next To Normal and Louise’s workout regimen of knuckle push-ups was discussed: “You should discuss your diet and exercise routine. You look amazing!”

Now Magazine, Gleen Sumi:  “And Pitre has the pipes and presence (not to mention the firmest biceps of any actor this stage season) to sell any line.”

THE ANGEL & THE SPARROW
Segal Centre for Performing Arts, Montreal
April 15 to May 13, 2018

Louise Pitre’s Édith Piaf soars in The Angel and the Sparrow
    Louise Pitre caps her many stage incarnations of Édith Piaf with a remarkable, heart-raking portrayal of a scraggy, diminutive goddess in self-destructive free fall. It is, rightly, hellish to watch — and heavenly to listen to, as Pitre, with incredible technical expertise, burns her way through more than 10 iconic numbers…

    This last incident gives Pitre one of the most monumentally impassioned renditions of the night in Mon Dieu. And yet every song she sings is so electrifyingly aquiver, I sometimes wondered if she couldn’t perhaps nudge down the intense-o-meter every now and then, if only to give us a chance to draw our breath. Actually, one song does take a different tack, and to great effect, when Piaf, high on booze and opiates, hectors the audience into a contagious yet grotesquely disturbing singalong to the jolly Bravo pour le clown.   

    Yet the costuming emphasizes that there’s a spectre at the feast: Piaf herself. It’s a measure of the tough love the production feels for its tragic heroine that the inevitable rendition of Non, je ne regrette rien is performed in a shabby hospital gown and a ragged, balding wig. Pitre, of course, soars above such distressing ugliness on gilded sparrow’s wings.
          Jim Burke, Montreal Gazette  April 20, 2018

The Angel and the Sparrow pour tous au Centre Segal
    Louise Pitre nous jette par terre, surtout avec deux chansons, celle de Mon Dieu dans la première partie, qui suit la mort tragique de son amoureux Marcel Cerdan, et dans la deuxième partie, lorsqu’elle sort de sa chaise roulante pour nous chanter, Non, je ne regrette rien.
          André Maccabée, Cité Boomers  24 avril 2018

Touched by an Angel, Stung by a Sparrow: Two Legends Enthrall All at the Segal Centre
    Canadian stage and screen icon Louise Pitre makes Piaf alive again at the Segal, with unabashed grace, gusto, a set of pipes the Scottish would admire, yet also a tinge of sadness, her inevitable descent virtually assured that would etch her in the minds of people everywhere as a tortured and tragic figure.
          Carey, Orca Sound  April 23, 2018

The Angel and The Sparrow: une histoire inattendue
    Louise Pitre nous offre une prestation de haut vol reprenant parfaitement les mimiques, la gestuelle, la fragilité et l’intensité du personnage : je l’ai trouvé excellente. Pour ce qui est de la reprise du répertoire de ce monument de la chanson française, le public avait l’air subjugué, je pense donc que le pari était réussi.
          Cindy Dormoy, Passion Montréal  24 avril 2018

La comédie musicale The Angel and the Sparrow: deux comédiennes d’exception et mille émotions
    Louise Pitre dans le rôle d’Édith Piaf est tout simplement sublime. Elle est crédible à chaque instant autant par ses gestes que ses intonations. Sa voix de poitrine puissante et solide nous bouleverse dans les chansons de Piaf. Son interprétation de Mon Dieu à la mort de Marcel est touchante et on est soufflé par son chant du cygne Non, je ne regrette rien.
          Daniel Ouimet, Info-CULTURE.biz  21 avril 2018

Un Emble­má­tico Dúo Revivido
La actua­ción de Pitre es fas­ci­nante. Esta con­sa­grada y ver­sá­til come­diante, ha tenido la opor­tu­ni­dad de inter­pre­tar varias come­dias musi­ca­les inclu­yendo su par­ti­ci­pa­ción en tres pre­vias pro­duc­cio­nes del musi­cal Piaf, por lo tanto no es extraño que aquí encarne nue­va­mente al Gorrión de París. Verla en escena con su asom­broso pare­cido físico a la inol­vi­da­ble can­tante es como estar pre­sen­ciando lare­su­rrec­ción de PIaf teniendo en cuenta la modu­la­ción de su voz, la mar­ca­ción per­fecta del fran­cés con el énfa­sis en la “r” al can­tar pero sobre todo obser­vando sus ges­tos, su mirada y sus momen­tos de desam­paro cuando la tra­ge­dia gol­pea a su puerta. Vol­cando la música hacia el alma, la emo­ción brota a gra­nel en sus momen­tos feli­ces con “L’accordéoniste”, “Padam, padam” y el emble­má­tico tema “La vie en rose”; igual­mente con­mueve ento­nando “Mon Dieu” con el gran dolor que la embriaga al ente­rarse de la muerte en un acci­dente aéreo de su gran amor, el boxea­dor Mar­cel Cer­dan. A cada paso Pitre va mar­cando las ins­tan­cias glo­rio­sas de la carrera de la inol­vi­da­ble can­tante así como los nefas­tos efec­tos pro­du­ci­dos por su adic­ción a las dro­gas y al alcohol dejando hue­llas en sus actua­cio­nes y su estado físico. Es impo­si­ble que­dar indi­fe­rente cuando la Piaf, invá­lida en una silla de rue­das, inter­preta desde lo más pro­fundo de su cora­zón “Non, je ne regrette rien”.
          Jorge Gutman, Tribuna Cultural  April 22, 2018

• “Pitre comes as billed. The woman could mine a range of emotion from a blank slip of paper and perform it like it was the last song she’ll ever sing. Her take on A Case Of You will bring some in the audience to tears. Pitre is always in the moment, clearly embracing and interpreting Mitchell’s lyrics.”

• October 22, 2016  |  London Free Press
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“Every time Pitre’s snake slithers into a scene she dwarfs every thing and everyone around her because it is one of those consummate musical theatre performances. She has the voice, the statue and the confidence a stage villain needs.”

• January 23, 2016  |  Calgary Herald
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• Louise Pitre is both singer and actress, as well as a professional entertainer to her fingertips.She took command of the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium stage Friday night, as Symphony Nova Scotia’s Pops Concert star of the evening, in a program of showbiz classics that ranged from Charlie Chaplin’s Smile to ABBA’s Mamma Mia!April 6, 2014  |  The Chronicle Herald
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• Superb cast propels dazzling musical
• Chicago Sun-Times  HEDY WEISS  |  15 Feb 2014
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• Autobiographical musical filled with new works she co-wrote with her husband
• The Toronto Star  |  Richard Ouzounian Theatre Critic, Published on Thu Sep 26 2013
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• “It’s the most difficult role to cast,” says the musical’s composer Jerry Herman during a phone interview from his home in Los Angeles. “It’s much more difficult than Dolly [in ‘Hello, Dolly!’] to cast. Mame is tricky because for me she has to have, first and foremost, innate elegance. She also has to have charisma and charm and you have to immediately like this lady. You can’t hide that with acting.
  “Second, she really has to sing because there are a lot of songs she sings that should give you [goose bumps]. Lastly, she has to have a special sense of humor. Humor is so important. Having all of these qualities is quite a lot to ask of any one woman.”
• May 6, 2012  |  Hartford Courant
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• Heading a matchless cast is Louise Pitre, in the title role, and she is incredible. From her entrance and that first blast on the trumpet, Pitre delivers every favorite number and every measure of humor and tenderness called for. She is sensational.
• May 13, 2012  |  In The Spotlight Inc.
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• Louise Pitre knows how to punch home a song. Starring as the irrepressible title character in ”Mame” at the Goodspeed Opera House, she lends a fierce energy to the snazzy choreography by Vince Pesce and the efficient book scenes of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. But it’s not until everyone else departs and she’s left alone on James Youmans’s stylish set to sing the show’s rueful, climactic Jerry Herman ballad, ‘‘If He Walked Into My Life,” that this production comes fully into its own.
• June 10, 2012  |  New York Times
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• Those lyrics are tough descriptions for an actress to live up to. Mame has to be extraordinary in “Mame,” and the performer who plays the title character can either make or break the whole enterprise. The happy news for Goodspeed Musicals’ productions is it stars a firecracker named Louise Pitre.
• May 15, 2012  |  The Day – Arts, New London, CT
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• The singer and actor, with her soaring voice, would be perfect for the Broadway show to finally be staged in Toronto
  The Toronto Star  |  May 13, 2011
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• If the great chanteuse Louise Pitre does not get nominated for a Dora Award for her performance, there is no justice. Her Toad is enchanting. With a skip and a hop, she conjures up the worrywart Toad, be he wistful or excited. She absolutely captures Toad’s obsessive if endearing personality, particularly his constant emotional roller coaster which swings from enthusiasm to despair in seconds.
• The Globe and Mail | November 18, 2010
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• Love, Loss and What I Wore is a show that wears well and leaves a pleasant glow.
• Her tale is a charming one, just tart enough to be different, but sweet enough to be familiar, and Louise Pitre is the one who delivers it on and off during the evening, with her familiar knowing smile and instant ability to access emotion making her the perfect narrator.
• Toronto Star  |  July 21, 2010
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• LOUISE PITRE to Star in the Canadian Premiere of THE TOXIC AVENGER Presented by Dancap Productions Inc.
  August 6, 2009Book & Lyrics by Joe DiPietro
  Music & Lyrics by David Bryan
  Based on Lloyd Kaufman’s “The Toxic Avenger” OPENING NIGHT HALLOWEEN 2009
  The Music Hall, Toronto
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• Pitre, Odekirk, Altay, Mastrone, McLeod Will Join Sjöholm and Watson in Kristina Concerts
• Playbill  |  August 18, 2009
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• Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus’ epic musical about a group of Swedish immigrants gets a thrillingly-sung concert staging.
• 24 September 2009  |  Theatermania
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• Pitre gives powerhouse performance; Star of Mamma Mia! brings big passion to tiny Savoy stage
• June 30, 2007  |  Toronto Star
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