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As the original Donna in the original Toronto and Broadway casts of "Mamma Mia!," Louise Pitre stole the stage nightly with ABBA's classics like "Money, Money, Money" as well as "Super Trouper" and blowing the socks of the audiences with her incredible show stopping rendition of "The Winner Takes It All." For her evoke strong emotional responses out of her audiences, she was nominated for a Tony Award, one of the few nominations "Mamma Mia!" earned.

Since starring on Broadway, Louise has been performing in various shows and even recorded a wonderful album of torch songs entitled "Shattered," and will be portraying Celine Dion's mother in an upcoming television movie about Celine Dion for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, but one of the most exciting projects she's been involved in is very near and dear to her heart. Her latest starring role has been in a musical play called "Could You Wait?" The show has been written by and also stars Joe Matheson, Louise Pitre's real life husband.

According to an interview with "The London Free Press" (That's London, Ontario, Canada), since Pitre and Matheson got married, they've been looking for plays they could do together. While they did the Michel Tremblay play "For the Pleasure Of Seeing Her Again" together in early 2007 in London, Ontario, they've been looking forward to launching "Could You Wait?" which is a collaboration between Matheson, Pitre, and their long-time friend and Diane Leah. Together the trio has been working on this show since 2000.

The premise of the musical is a married couple, Matt and Mary, who on a Senior's bus trip stop at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto which seems to hold some significance to them, and suddenly the clock is turned back and we see a young Matt and Mary meeting for the first time at a dance on the eve of Matt's going off to war. Their shy romance by correspondence builds in the hopes that Mary can wait until Matt returns home from the war. Both express concern in their letter about what their respective mothers would think of their romance by mail. Mary moves to Toronto and Matt on leave has to try to make it to Toronto in hopes of being able to propose and ask Mary to wait for him. Turns out the proposal happens in the Imperial Room of the Royal York Hotel.

The story is told through the use of several songs popular from the World War II era of the 1940's such as "I'll Be Seeing You" and "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now?" as well as five original songs penned by the trio of Matheson, Pitre, and Leah. One review of the stage production indicates how expertly the show captures the sense of exuberance of young love and the confident affection of mature love. While I haven't personally seen the show (as it's only played in limited runs at the Theatre Orangeville and Grand Theatre in London, Ontario between Mid September and Mid November 2007) I have special ordered the Original Cast album, and find that again I have had my socks off yet again, by Louise Pitre.

While World War II era songs might sound like they might be too dated to enjoy now, the opposite is true. The wonderful vocal performances of Louise Pitre and Joe Matheson coupled with Diane Leah on the piano, sound refreshing and vibrant that captures a timeless quality. I might be going out on a limb here, but if you can appreciate singers who can actually sing, then you can't go wrong enjoying this cast album which feels more like a collection of standards than a cast album. The songs would not be out of place adding them into a random playlist of great vocal performers. They can stand on their own and don't need to be heard in the context of the show to be enjoyed although I can imagine the stage performance certainly enhances the album.

If you're a fan of Louise Pitre, it'll be well worth your time to seek out a copy of the cast album for "Could You Wait?" It can be ordered from a link on Louise Pitre's website, at http://www.louisepitre.com  or go directly to Indie Pool Canada http://www.indiepool.com  where the album can be purchased as well as Louise's three other albums, including "All Of My Life Has Led To This" which contains Louise's interpretations of the ABBA classics "The Winner Takes It All" (in both English and French) and "Slipping Through My Fingers".

Ryan