By Andrew Gans
04 Sep 2009

	Louise Pitre in Mamma Mia!
	photo by Joan Marcus

Question: Switching gears, did you get a chance to see the Mamma Mia! movie?
Pitre: Yes, they invited me to the premiere in New York, and I went.

Question: What was that like?
Pitre: You know what, it was the weirdest experience ever. I don't even know how to describe it to you. It was surreal. I was conscious of the fact that I was sitting there watching this movie feeling like nobody else. It had been a long time since I left the show, of course, so I've forgotten all the dialogue. I've forgotten a lot of the lyrics of a lot of the songs. As I was watching it, because they did it so much like the stage version, I was remembering stuff as I was hearing it. It was so weird! It was like a dream where you think you don't know your script, and it's just coming out of your mouth and you're not sure where it's coming from. You know? [Laughs.] It was a very surreal feeling.

The night of the premiere they sat me next to Tina [Maddigan], who played my daughter in the show. She had just had a baby, and I had seen her the day before and I had held her baby. That night we sat together, and I tell you, during "Slipping Through My Fingers," which was so beautiful in the film, we just had our arms around each other bawling! [Laughs.] I couldn't believe it. It was just one of those amazing [moments] — you realize how much time has passed and how much time we gave to the show. My God, it was an incredible feeling. I can't even critique the film because I couldn't even step outside to really look at it like I usually do.

Question: You've been in so many shows. Do you have a favorite stage role?
Pitre: I think Piaf is probably still the one, but I would have to say Mrs. Lovett [in Sweeney Todd] is right there just below it. That's the most fun I've had — a lot of fun, extremely challenging, but that's good. That's a great thing. Doing Piaf, by the time I would take my bow, I really felt like I had given everything I had to give. You don't often feel that way. It's a nice way to feel, as exhausting as it was. It's like, "Okay, man, I have given at the office. There is nothing else I could do for you people!" [Laughs.]

[Tickets for the Kristina concerts are available by visiting the Carnegie Hall box office (57th Street and Seventh Avenue), by calling (212) 247-7800 or by logging on to www.carnegiehall.org. For more information visit www.kristinathemusical.com.]

DIVA TIDBITS

	Barbara Cook
	photo by Mike Martin

To celebrate its 17-year collaboration with Tony Award winner Barbara Cook, DRG Records will release the six-disc "The Essential Barbara Cook Collection" Oct. 14. Hugh Fordin, the president of DRG Records, told me earlier this week that the recording will include four CDs from Cook's back catalogue — "Close As Pages in a Book" (newly remixed and remastered digitally in July 2009), "Live from London," "All I Ask of You" and "Live From The Met" — plus the DVD of "Mostly Sondheim," which was recorded live at SUNY Purchase. A four-track bonus CD will also be included. Entitled "Give Me the Simple Life," the disc was recorded July 23, 2009, especially for the six-disc box set. Songs on the sampler include "Give Me the Simple Life," "It Was Written in the Stars," "I've Got You Under My Skin" and "I'd Rather Be Blue." (These four tracks will also be included in a new album that Cook will complete for DRG in the fall.) For more information visit www.drgrecords.com.

Tony Award winner Shirley Knight and Tony nominee Alison Fraser , most recently on Broadway in the acclaimed revival of Gypsy , will head the cast of the world premiere of Arthur Laurents' Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are, which begins previews at the George Street Playhouse Oct. 6. Laurents will also direct the production, which will officially open Oct. 9 and continue through Nov. 1. The cast will also feature Jim Bracchitta, Leslie Lyles and John Carter. For tickets call (732) 246-7717 or visit www.GSPonline.org. George Street Playhouse is located at 9 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, NJ.

	Liz Callaway

Broadway favorite Liz Callaway will celebrate the release of her new PS Classics recording, "Passage of Time," with a week's engagement at the Metropolitan Room in Manhattan. Callaway will play the New York City venue beginning Oct. 20, the day her CD arrives in stores; performances will continue through Oct. 26. The Metropolitan Room is located at 34 West 22nd Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues. For reservations call (212) 206-0440.

Five-time Tony Award winner Angela Lansbury, who co-starred with Beatrice Arthur in Mame, will host a memorial for friends and family of the late Tony and Emmy Award winner Sept. 14 at Broadway's Majestic Theatre. Directed by Mark Waldrop, Celebrating Bea Arthur will feature remembrances and performances from the late actress' family and friends, including Adrienne Barbeau ("Maude" co-star), Zoe Caldwell, Billy Goldenberg (Arthur's longtime accompanist), Sheldon Harnick (Fiddler on the Roof lyricist), Charlie Hauck ("Maude" head writer), Norman Lear ("Maude" producer), Clinton Leupp, Anne Meara, Rosie O'Donnell, Chita Rivera, Daryl Roth (Bea Arthur on Broadway producer), Jerry Stiller and Rue McClanahan ("The Golden Girls"). The afternoon event will begin at 1 PM; seating is open to the general public on a first-come, first-served admission basis.

A starry list of performers will take part in The Actors Fund's upcoming benefit concert, Chance and Chemistry: A Centennial Celebration of Frank Loesser. South Pacific's Christopher Gattelli will direct and choreograph the evening, which will be held Oct. 26 at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre. Annette Bening, Kevin McCollum and Jonathan Tisch will host the one-night-only event, which will boast performances by Liz Callaway, Debbie Gravitte, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Chita Rivera, John Stamos and Lillias White. Tony winner Hugh Jackman will also be part of the evening, although he will not sing, according to an Actors Fund spokesperson. Additional casting will be announced shortly. The evening will feature musical direction by Brad Haak. For more information and sponsorship opportunities, call The Actors Fund at (212) 221-7300, ext. 133.

Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.