Louise Pitre and Kevin Odekirk Complete the Cast of Kristina

Tony Award nominee Louise Pitre and Kevin Odekirk have joined the complete cast of the upcoming concert performances of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus’ musical Kristina. The show, directed by Lars Rudolfsson, will be performed at Carnegie Hall on September 23 and 24 featuring a 50-piece orchestra conducted by Paul Gemignani.

Pitre and Odekirk join previously announced stars Helen Sjöholm, who originated the title role in the Swedish production of Kristina, and internationally renowned tenor Russell Watson. The 27-member cast also includes Derin Altay, Chris Bohannon, Jane Brockman, Walter Charles, Rebecca Eichenberger, Osborn Focht, Blythe Gruda, Liz Griffith, Joy Hermlyn, David Hess, Michael James Leslie, T. Doyle Leverett, Rob Lorey, Frank Mastrone, Raymond Jaramillo McLeod, Linda Mugleston, Jan Neuberger, Robert Ousley, Sal Sabella, Greg Stone, Jessica Vosk and Kathy Voytko.

Kristina features music and lyrics by ABBA songwriting partners Andersson and Ulvaeus, who also created the musical Chess and the worldwide sensation Mamma Mia!, and English lyrics by Ulvaeus and Herbert Kretzmer. Originally titled Kristina från Duvemåla, the musical premiered in the creators’ native Sweden in 1995 and ran for almost four years, winning four Guldmasken Theatre Awards (Sweden’s Tony). Based on The Emigrants series of novels by Vilhelm Moberg, Kristina tells the epic story of a family’s migration from Sweden to America in the mid-19th century. A concert version was performed in Swedish in 1996 in Minneapolis, where many events in the novels take place.

Pitre received a Tony nomination for her Broadway debut performance in Andersson and Ulvaeus’ Mamma Mia!. A Toronto audience favorite, she has starred in Les Misérables, Edith Piaf, Annie Get Your Gun, Song and Dance, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris; I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change; The World Goes 'Round; Blood Brothers; Tartuffe; Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?; The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd; Applause and Rock 'n' Roll.

Odekirk originated his role in the New York workshop presentation of Kristina after making his Broadway debut as Marius in Les Misérables. He has performed in concert alongside singers that include Barbra Streisand, Bernadette Peters, Angela Lansbury, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Josh Groban.

Universal Music will release a cast recording of Kristina through its Decca Records label.