Musical Theater Maven Rene Pfister Looks to His Inspirations for Latest Show

It is often said, "If you want to get something done, give it to a busy man." Rene Pfister, (pronounced REE-nee PHIS-ter), out teacher, pianist, violinist, songwriter, musical theater writer, producer, director, and MAC-nominee, epitomizes this phrase. As Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music in the Voice Department, with a focus on musical theater, Pfister has helped countless students develop their craft in musical theater, while also raising awareness of musical theater for Boston's youth.

Pfister has written 300 original songs and 32 musicals in the past 30 years, and created the Musical Theater for Young Audiences Program, bringing a new musical to Boston Public School audiences every year. In 2016, he directed three sold-out performances of "In the Heights" for the Berklee musical theater community, a first for the college. In 2017, he helped create the musical theater minor for the musical theater programs at both Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee. In addition to teaching, he has performed his musical revues, one-man shows, and cabaret shows in various venues in Boston and New York. And this isn't even the half of it.

Last year, Pfister performed two shows at the Napoleon Room: "What I Learned from All My Ex-Boyfriends...if Anything," an autobiographical cabaret show, and "A Gay Country Christmas," a comic holiday romp that filled the stage with a large cast, many of them Pfister's talented students. On Saturday, October 19, Pfister returns to the Napoleon Room with an updated version of one of his past shows, "What I Learned from Years of Therapy...if Anything." EDGE caught up with Pfister to find out why this show still resonates with audiences, what he was doing the past year on Sabbatical in the Far East (besides getting engaged to his longtime partner now fiancé Rowie Ortiz [pronounced ROO-ee or-TEEZ], only to return on August 20th, days before classes were to start at Berklee), and his and Rowie's upcoming wedding this week, the day before Pfister's Napoleon Room show on Saturday, October 19, 2024, 4 pm, at Club Café in Boston. Phew! We told you he was busy!

EDGE: What were you doing during your sabbatical in the Southeast Asia?

Rene Pfister: Among other things, I was writing a book. It's called "Creating Musicals, Creating Community." I was living with my fiancé in the Philippines in Manila on the 41st floor in a huge condo with a pool during New England's dead of winter. In six days, my fiancé, Rowie Ortiz, will be Rowie Pfister. I'm excited. We're going to get married in an intimate, small ceremony on the beach of some island.

EDGE: Congratulations! That's great news. During last year's EDGE interview with you, we discussed you would be going to China and Japan during this sabbatical, as well. Did that pan out?

Rene Pfister: Yes, I went to China twice: I went to Shenzhen in May to do some college musical theater workshops and vocal workshops. Then I went to Japan in late June/early July to teach a number of workshops with a wide variety of ages with a group called "For Me New York" located in New York and Japan. They brought my fiancé to Japan with me, and we were able to go to Mount Fuji together. In August, I returned to China, S'ian, and got to see another production of my "Alice in Wonderland" performed in Mandarin. This was an original musical adaptation for which I wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics and the book with Jan Mankowsky.

EDGE: What is your show "What I Learned from Years of Therapy...if Anything" about, and what inspired it?

Rene Pfister: This is actually the first one-person show I created. Three things inspired me: First, teaching is more important to me than performing because of my ability to create community. Second, after watching a friend do a one-person show about her life, I realized that performing was also a way to create community. Third, I had all of these trunk songs that didn't belong to musicals, and I wanted to share them. All this came together in 2017, and I worked on this show through a series of concerts, then a full one-person show at The Players Ring Theatre in Portsmouth, NH, playing to packed houses.