Pia Douwes

For the Dutch-born Pia Douwes, show business is also "family business". She is the great-niece of none other than Doris Day. Pia began her studies with dance at the Brooking School of Ballet in London, voice in London, Hamburg and in Vienna took part in a musical course directed by Susi Nicoletti and Sam Cayne in Austria. After appearing in the first German language production of "Little Shop of Horrors" (Vienna), she went on to "Grizabella" in "CATS" (Vienna, Amsterdam and Moscow), "Maria" in "West Side Story" (Holland, Belgium, and Austria) and to "Fantine" in the Dutch premiere of "Les Misérables" in Amsterdam. Pia's break was the world premiere of "Elisabeth" by Sylvester Levay and Michael Kunze, where she starred in the title role as the ill fated Austrian Empress Elisabeth. She received the very first "Image Award" (a European Tony) for her performance. Her first appearance in a play was as "Kate" in "Other People's Money". She also did lead roles in the plays "Jane Eyre" and "Savannah Bay". Other musical theater credits: "Rizzo" in "Grease" (Vienna), "Sally" in "Cabaret"(Germany; People's Choice Award), "Eva Peron" in the Dutch premiere of "Evita" (Joop van den Ende, producer), "Janet" in the "Rocky Horror Show" (Germany) and "Velma Kelly" in the Dutch premiere of "Chicago", again for producer Joop van den Ende. He asked her to re-create the role of "Elisabeth" first in his Dutch production. In March 2001, Pia switched to Essen, Germany. (new direction, choreography and some new songs by composer Sylvester Levay). In 2002, she starred in the Dutch version of "Fosse". She currently can be seen in the all Dutch musical "The Three Musketeers" as "Milady Winter".