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Pia Douwes (born 5 August 1964) is a Dutch actress in musical theatre in Europe. She is best known for having created the title role in the German-language musical Elisabeth .
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Pia Douwes (born 5 August 1964) is a Dutch actress in musical theatre in Europe. She is best known for having created the title role in the German-language musical Elisabeth .
Douwes was born in Amsterdam, North Holland, The Netherlands, as Petronella Irene Allegonda Douwes, to an arts dealer and a social worker, and is the grandniece of Doris Day. Initially Douwes wanted to become a nurse for mentally handicapped children, then she danced in a disco when she was 19 years old and realised that she wanted to dance. She went to London and searched for a dance school in the Yellow Pages. She chose the Brooking School of Ballet. Without any prior dance education, she auditioned (with a sprained ankle) and was accepted. One year later she attended a musical workshop with Susi Nicoletti and Sam Cane in Vienna. Cane is said to have told Douwes' father at that time: "If she doesn't become a star, I'll hang myself!"
In 1986, she got her first small part in the German-language premiere of Little Shop of Horrors in Vienna. More small parts followed, and in 1987 she got her first part in a larger production, as a Swing in Cats in Amsterdam. With this production she toured Russia in 1988, playing Grizabella and Jellylorum.
More parts followed, including Fantine in the original Amsterdam production of Les Misérables in 1991, but the great break came in 1992, when she got the title role in the world premiere of Elisabeth in Vienna, Austria. Though the Viennese papers wrote a lot of scathing criticism, such as "Munter geht die Sisi unter" ("Sisi perishes") and they denied Douwes singing and acting talent of any kind, Douwes became (along with Uwe Kröger) an acclaimed musical star and reprised the title role numerous times. Elisabeth is today the most successful German-language musical of all-time.
Until 1994 she played Elisabeth, then played more parts like Rizzo in Grease (Vienna) and Eva Perón in Evita in the Dutch touring production.
She was also active in other areas; she sang and spoke the leading part for the Dutch versions of the movies Pocahontas and Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World . Additionally she did the gala evenings In love with Musical along with her colleagues Uwe Kröger, Marika Lichter and Viktor Gernot.
In 1999, she played Velma Kelly in the Dutch premiere of Chicago . Then Douwes went back to her roots and played the leading part of Elisabeth again in the Dutch and German premieres of the musical. After a total of 900 performances as the Austrian empress, she went back to the Netherlands in February 2002 to take part in the Broadway musical Fosse , along with Dutch musical stars Simone Kleinsma and Stanley Burleson .
In March 2003 she got the chance to play Milady de Winter in the world premiere of the Dutch musical 3 Musketiers (The Three Musketeers). The musical was later recorded (with her) and is now available on DVD.
In 2004 she played Velma Kelly in Chicago again, but this time she performed in the West End of London and then on Broadway, being the first Dutch actress to take a leading role in a production on Broadway.
Back again in the Netherlands she played Clara in Passion. Then she went back to Germany to play Milady de Winter again in the German premiere of 3 Musketiere in Theater des Westens in Berlin. She played the part until 30 October 2005.
In 2007, she was seen as a judge on Op zoek naar Evita (In search for Evita), a Dutch reality show. The winner was cast as Eva Perón, a role Douwes played over a decade ago, in a new Dutch production of Evita .
In 2008, Pia was a judge on the German reality show Ich Tarzan du Jane in which they looked for both Tarzan and Jane to star in the German production of Tarzan and returned as a judge and coach on "Op zoek naar Joseph", similar to the search for Evita, but this series searched for the male lead in the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat .
In late 2008, she donned the turban as the infamous Norma Desmond in the Dutch touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard , alternating in the lead role with her friend and previous Les Misérables, Chicago and Fosse co-star, Simone Kleinsma.
In 2009 she returned yet again to judge and coach the contestants of a new Op Zoek Naar... series, this time searching for the woman who would play Mary Poppins.
After the program ended, Pia played the role 'Velma Kelly' for six weeks on the West End in 2009.
From August 2010 until January 2011 she played the 'Killer Queen' in the rock musical We Will Rock You in Utrecht.
She then toured all over the Netherlands with the Dutch production of Master Class, in which she played the part of Maria Callas. The tour lasted until the end of May 2011, with two extra performances in September 2011.
Pia has played the role of Mrs. Danvers in the Stuttgart production of Rebecca, Claire Zachanassian in the Vienna production of Der Besuch der alten Dame , Diane in the Fürth production of Next To Normal , and currently she is playing Mrs. Wilkinson in the Dutch production of Billy Elliot the Musical .
Pia Douwes is the most famous European musical actress alongside Ute Lemper. She has taken part in over 25 CD productions, and was a duet partner of José Carreras.
In 2023, she took part in the television show Het Onbekende . [1]
Pia has also been given the award for Female Leading Role six times by the readers of the German magazine "Musicals" for her performances in Elisabeth also the best Female with the most beautiful voice.
Evita is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. It concentrates on the life of Argentine political leader Eva Perón, the second wife of Argentine president Juan Perón. The story follows Evita's early life, rise to power, charity work, and death.
Chicago is a 1975 American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Chicago in the jazz age, the musical is based on a 1926 play of the same title by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, about actual criminals and crimes on which she reported. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal".
Cats is a sung-through musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It is based on the 1939 poetry collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot. The musical tells the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles and the night they make the "Jellicle choice" by deciding which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. As of 2022, Cats remains the fifth-longest-running Broadway show and the seventh-longest-running West End show.
Grizabella the Glamour Cat is a main character in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats. Lonely and decrepit, Grizabella seeks acceptance from the other Jellicle cats but is initially ostracised. She sings the most famous song from the musical, "Memory".
Elisabeth is a Viennese, German-language musical commissioned by the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien (VBW), with a book and lyrics by Michael Kunze and music by Sylvester Levay. It portrays the life and death of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, also known as "Sisi", wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I, from her engagement and marriage in 1854 to her murder in 1898 at the hands of the Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni, through the lens of her growing obsession with death, as her marriage and her empire crumble around her at the turn of the century.
Rebecca is a musical based on the 1938 novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. It was written by Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay (music), the authors of the musicals Elisabeth, Mozart! and Marie Antoinette. The English-language version was translated from the original German production by Christopher Hampton and Michael Kunze in 2023. The plot, which adheres closely to the original novel, revolves around wealthy Maxim DeWinter, his naïve new wife, credited as "I", and Mrs. Danvers, the manipulative housekeeper of DeWinter's Cornish estate Manderley. Mrs. Danvers resents the new wife's intrusion and persuades the new wife that she is an unworthy replacement for the first Mrs. DeWinter, the glamorous and mysterious Rebecca, who perished in a drowning accident. The new Mrs. DeWinter struggles to find her identity and take control of her life among the shadows left by Rebecca.
Maya Hakvoort is a Dutch musical actress.
Jellylorum is a principal character in the musical Cats. One of the Jellicle cats, she is usually portrayed as a motherly caretaker and is principally a vocalist. The musical is based on the 1939 collection of poems by T. S. Eliot from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, and Jellylorum is named after the poet's own cat.
Uwe Kröger is a musical star in the German-speaking countries of the world. Besides starring on stage, Kröger has taken part in galas and concerts, as well as making television and film appearances. He has released cast recordings and solo CDs.
Jeroen Phaff, b. 1965 in Wormerveer, is a Dutch musical artist.
3 Musketiers is a Dutch musical, also known as 3 Musketiere (German), 3 Musketeers (English) and A 3 Testőr (Hungarian) written by Ferdi Bolland and Rob Bolland. The story is based on Alexandre Dumas, père's 1844 novel The Three Musketeers. It premiered in Rotterdam in 2003 starring Bastiaan Ragas as d'Artagnan and Pia Douwes as Milady de Winter.
Ann Van den Broeck is a Flemish actress and musical star. She ended her studies in 2000 at the Koninklijk Conservatorium of Brussels in the musical department.
Willemijn Verkaik is a Dutch singer and actress. She is best known for her stage roles in Wicked and Elisabeth, and for providing the singing voice for Elsa in both the German and Dutch versions of Disney's Frozen. She was the longest running Elphaba in the musical Wicked, having played the role over 2,000 times, and is the only person to have played the role in three languages. Her first performance as Elphaba was on 31 October 2007, in Stuttgart, Germany, and her final performance was on 22 July 2017 in the West End of London.
Op zoek naar Joseph was a 2008 talent show-themed television series produced by the AVRO in the Netherlands. It searched for a new, unknown lead to play Joseph in a 2009 Dutch revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Op zoek naar Evita was a 2007 talent show-themed television series produced by the AVRO in the Netherlands. It documented the search for a new, undiscovered musical theatre performer to play the role of Eva Peron in the 2008 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita.
Marc Robert Clear is a British opera singer, musical performer and director.
Anita Louise Combe is an Australian actress, singer, dancer who has worked extensively in the entertainment industry all around the world. Combe attended the Gwen Mackay School of Dancing and trained in the Cechetti method of ballet with Jennifer Pollard in Adelaide, South Australia before making her first professional appearance on stage as Sillabub in the Australian Premiere Production of Cats at the Theatre Royal in Sydney. She is one of the few people in the world to date who has played both roles of Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly in the production of Chicago in the West End. Anita created the role of Stephanie Mangano in the World Premiere Production of Saturday Night Fever opposite fellow Australian, Adam Garcia and produced by Adelaide born, Robert Stigwood.
Madalena Alberto is a Portuguese actress, singer and composer who has developed her career in the West End. Alberto received rave reviews for her role as Eva Perón in Evita in the West End, where the show arrived after its UK Tour. Alberto played the role of Fantine in the 25th Anniversary production of Les Misérables.
Anna Montanaro is a German actress. She is one of Germany's most famous musical performers. After Hildegard Knef and Ute Lemper she made it as the third German artist to play in a leading role on Broadway.
Johanna Maria (Joke) de Kruijf is a Dutch musical theatre performer, actress and lyrical Soprano, mostly known for her roles in musical theatre and various Dutch dubbings for Walt Disney productions.
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