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.
