ANDREA McARDLE!!!!Two of my favorite words. I was SO obsessed with her when I was a teenager. I wanted to BE her. The years have been kind to her crystal clear youthful voice. You would think hearing her sing as a kid (or any other Annie) that her voice would be gone by the end of the run (or tomorrow for that matter!) But not Andrea. Her voice sounds pretty much the SAME but has the wisdom of her show biz years. It's because she KNOWS how to sing and has known ever since she was a tyke. Like many great vocalists, her instincts were innate and because of this her voice never really changed it's quality, just got more mature and better as she got older. The excitement factor is still there. I remember on the 1981 Tony Awards, she came out all grown up to sing “Tomorrow” once again. This time though, she blew the crowd away with her now grown up voice and when she got to the big part... “lift up my chin and grin and SAY...” the crowd went crazy cheering. Major goosebump moment and on her face you can see it just light up. Wonderful. Anyone have that clip?
I saw her once in “Beauty And The Beast” on Broadway. When she first made her entrance I hooted and hollered. Nobody else seemed to know who she was. Stupid people. At one point she hit some major Andreaesque note and I let out a yelp. Everyone in the aisle with me turned and looked at me as if I was crazy. Well, HELLO... read my brochure!!!
There are not that many available clips of her online. But if you go to annieorphans.com and look in the video and audio vaults there are a ton of great recordings of her throughout her career.
Here is her wikipedia blurb:
Andrea McArdle is an Irish-American singer and actress.
As Eponine in Les MisérablesShe was born in Philadelphia on November 5, 1963. While studying dance as a child, she was spotted by a talent agent who got her work in a number of television commercials, which led to her two-and-a-half year stint on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow. She also appeared on Al Alberts' Showcase, a local televised talent show in Philadelphia.
McArdle's big break came in early 1977 when she was pulled from the chorus to replace Kristen Vigard, the original star in the Broadway musical Annie, during rehearsals. The show was a critical and commercial smash, and she became the youngest performer ever to be nominated for a Tony Award as Best Lead Actress in a Musical. She lost to co-star Dorothy Loudon--who played Miss Hannigan--but did receive the Theater World and Outer Critics' Circle Awards for her performance. In April 1978, she opened in London's West End production. She also appeared more than once on the Mike Douglas Show, singing with Kristy McNichol, Stephanie Mills, Liberace and Don Nickles.
With "Sandy" in AnnieHer first assignment after returning to the States was the plum role of Judy Garland in NBC's telepic Rainbow, but throughout her career she has concentrated primarily on performing in musical theater and cabarets. Her credits include Les Misérables (both on Broadway and in the national tour), Jerry's Girls (a revue of Jerry Herman songs co-starring Carol Channing and Leslie Uggams) Beauty and the Beast, Starlight Express, Meet Me In St. Louis, They're Playing Our Song, and another celebrated Annie in Irving Berlin's classic, Annie Get Your Gun. She briefly appeared in the 1999 Rob Marshall-directed TV version of "Annie," singing a segment of the song "N.Y.C."
McArdle has performed in the showrooms of many of the casino hotels in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, and in cabarets such as Odette's in New Hope, Pennsylvania and the King Cole Room at the St. Regis Hotel and Freddy's Supper Club in Manhattan.
Her CD, Andrea McArdle on Broadway, was arranged and produced by her husband, composer Edd Kalehoff, who also collaborated with her on an album of Christmas songs that was released in conjunction with her Family Christmas Show at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The couple has one daughter, Alexis Kalehoff, a performer who has appeared with her mother in Les Miz.
