Andrea McArdle
Encyclopedia
Andrea McArdle is an American singer and actress best known for playing Annie in the Broadway
musical Annie
, as well as for her alto
range and strong vocal belt.
. 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 break came in early 1977 when she was pulled from the chorus of orphans to replace Kristen Vigard, the original Annie 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 appeared several times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
in 1977-79, on one occasion accompanied by Liberace
. She also appeared more than once on the Mike Douglas Show, singing with Kristy McNichol
, Stephanie Mills
, Liberace
and Don Rickles
.
She also appeared on Welcome Back Kotter, playing Arnold Horshack's younger sister.
Her first assignment after returning to the States was the 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
, Wizard of Oz
, 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 the "Star To Be" 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. McArdle is once again starring in the musical Annie with the North Carolina Theatre Company
, although she ironically now portrays the role of Miss Hannigan, at odds with her former character.
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 Christmas show, "Andrea McArdle's Family Christmas" ran for three Christmas' and featured dancers, singers and acrobats from Encore Productions in South Jersey. The couple has one daughter, Alexis Kalehoff, a performer who has appeared with her mother in Les Miz.
McArdle returned to Annie at Musical Theatre West in Long Beach, California
, as Miss Hannigan from October 29 - November 14, 2010.
Andrea will take part in the New York Musical Theatre Festival's (NYMF) production of Greenwood the Musical this fall co-starring Felicia Finley.
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical Annie
Annie (musical)
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
, as well as for her alto
Alto
Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...
range and strong vocal belt.
Career
She was born in PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. 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
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...
. She also appeared on Al Alberts
Al Alberts
Al Alberts was a popular singer and composer. -Biography:Born Al Albertini in Chester, Pennsylvania, he went to South Philadelphia High School, whose alumni included many others who would become famous in show business, such as Joey Bishop, Buddy Greco, Al Martino, Mario Lanza, Chubby Checker,...
Showcase, a local televised talent show in Philadelphia.
McArdle's break came in early 1977 when she was pulled from the chorus of orphans to replace Kristen Vigard, the original Annie in the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
musical Annie
Annie (musical)
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
, during rehearsals. The show was a critical and commercial smash, and she became the youngest performer ever to be nominated for a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
as Best Lead Actress in a Musical. She lost to co-star Dorothy Loudon
Dorothy Loudon
Dorothy Loudon was an American comedy actress and singer. She won the 1977 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Miss Hannigan in Annie.-Early life and career:Loudon was born in...
--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
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production. She appeared several times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
in 1977-79, on one occasion accompanied by Liberace
Liberace
Wladziu Valentino Liberace , best known simply as Liberace, was a famous American pianist and vocalist.In a career that spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television and endorsements, Liberace became world-renowned...
. She also appeared more than once on the Mike Douglas Show, singing with Kristy McNichol
Kristy McNichol
Christina Ann "Kristy" McNichol is an American actress.McNichol is best known for her roles as Leticia “Buddy” Lawrence on the television drama series Family and as Barbara Weston on the sitcom Empty Nest. She is also the sister of former child actor Jimmy McNichol...
, Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Mills
Stephanie Dorthea Mills is an American R&B and soul singer, and a former Broadway star.-Career:Mills began her career appearing in her first play at the age of nine. Two years later, Mills won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater a record six times...
, Liberace
Liberace
Wladziu Valentino Liberace , best known simply as Liberace, was a famous American pianist and vocalist.In a career that spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television and endorsements, Liberace became world-renowned...
and Don Rickles
Don Rickles
Donald Jay "Don" Rickles is an American stand-up comedian and actor. A frequent guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Rickles has acted in comedic and dramatic roles, but is best known as an insult comic....
.
She also appeared on Welcome Back Kotter, playing Arnold Horshack's younger sister.
Her first assignment after returning to the States was the role of Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
in NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's telepic Rainbow, but throughout her career she has concentrated primarily on performing in musical theater and cabarets. Her credits include Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
(both on Broadway and in the national tour), Jerry's Girls
Jerry's Girls
Jerry's Girls is a musical revue based on the songs of composer/lyricist Jerry Herman.-Production history:Created by Herman and Larry Alford in 1981, the show originated as a modest presentation at Onstage, a nightclub located in the theatre district in midtown-Manhattan . Writing in The New York...
(a revue of Jerry Herman
Jerry Herman
Jerry Herman is an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway musical theater. He composed the scores for the hit Broadway musicals Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles. He has been nominated for the Tony Award five times, and won twice, for Hello, Dolly! and La Cage...
songs co-starring Carol Channing
Carol Channing
Carol Elaine Channing is an American singer, actress, and comedienne. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards , a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination...
and Leslie Uggams
Leslie Uggams
Leslie Uggams is an American actress and singer, perhaps best known for her work in Hallelujah, Baby! She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.-Singing:...
), Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast (musical)
Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, based on the 1991 Disney film of the same name. Seven new songs were written for the stage musical...
, Starlight Express
Starlight Express
Starlight Express is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber , Richard Stilgoe and Arlene Phillips , with later revisions by Don Black and David Yazbek . The story follows a child's dream in which his toy train set comes to life; famously the actors perform wearing roller skates...
, Meet Me In St. Louis
Meet Me in St. Louis
Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 musical film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which tells the story of an American family living in St. Louis at the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair in 1904...
, Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (adaptations)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum, which has been adapted into several different works, the most famous being the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland...
, They're Playing Our Song, and another celebrated Annie in Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
's classic, Annie Get Your Gun
Annie Get Your Gun (musical)
Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...
. She briefly appeared in the 1999 Rob Marshall
Rob Marshall
Rob Marshall is an American theater director, film director and choreographer. He is a six-time Tony Award nominee, Academy Award nominee, Golden Globe nominee and four-time Emmy winner whose most noted work is the 2002 Academy Award for Best Picture winner Chicago.-Life and career:Marshall was...
-directed TV version of Annie, singing the "Star To Be" segment of the song "N.Y.C."
McArdle has performed in the showrooms of many of the casino hotels in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
and Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
, and in cabarets such as Odette's in New Hope, Pennsylvania
New Hope, Pennsylvania
New Hope, formerly known as Coryell's Ferry, is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 2,528 at the 2010 census. The borough lies on the west bank of the Delaware River at its confluence with Aquetong Creek. A two-lane bridge carries automobile and foot traffic across the...
and the King Cole Room at the St. Regis Hotel and Freddy's Supper Club in Manhattan. McArdle is once again starring in the musical Annie with the North Carolina Theatre Company
North Carolina Theatre
North Carolina Theatre is a professional theatre located in Raleigh, North Carolina. They perform four mainstage shows each year at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. It was founded by De Ann S...
, although she ironically now portrays the role of Miss Hannigan, at odds with her former character.
Her CD, Andrea McArdle on Broadway, was arranged and produced by her husband, composer Edd Kalehoff
Edd Kalehoff
Edward Woodley "Edd" Kalehoff is a music composer who specializes in compositions for television.-Notable pieces:Composer of about 1,000 pieces, mainly for television, his credits include the majority of cues used on The Price is Right as well as the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare, a music...
, 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 Christmas show, "Andrea McArdle's Family Christmas" ran for three Christmas' and featured dancers, singers and acrobats from Encore Productions in South Jersey. The couple has one daughter, Alexis Kalehoff, a performer who has appeared with her mother in Les Miz.
McArdle returned to Annie at Musical Theatre West in Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, as Miss Hannigan from October 29 - November 14, 2010.
Andrea will take part in the New York Musical Theatre Festival's (NYMF) production of Greenwood the Musical this fall co-starring Felicia Finley.
Stage work
| Year | Musical Musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an... |
Role Role A role or a social role is a set of connected behaviours, rights and obligations as conceptualised by actors in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behaviour and may have a given individual social status or social position... |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Annie Annie (musical) Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster... |
Annie |
| 1984 | Jerry's Girls Jerry's Girls Jerry's Girls is a musical revue based on the songs of composer/lyricist Jerry Herman.-Production history:Created by Herman and Larry Alford in 1981, the show originated as a modest presentation at Onstage, a nightclub located in the theatre district in midtown-Manhattan . Writing in The New York... |
Ensemble (tour) |
| 1985 | Wizard of Oz The Wizard of Oz (adaptations) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum, which has been adapted into several different works, the most famous being the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland... |
Dorothy Gale (Melody Top Theatre in Milwaukee) |
| Unknown | The Vagina Monologues The Vagina Monologues The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the Off Broadway Westside Theatre after a limited run at AFRICA in 1996. Ensler originally starred in the production which was produced by David Stone, Nina Essman, Dan Markley, The Araca Group, Willa Shalit, Mike Skipper... |
Performer (regional) |
| 1987 | Starlight Express Starlight Express Starlight Express is a rock musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber , Richard Stilgoe and Arlene Phillips , with later revisions by Don Black and David Yazbek . The story follows a child's dream in which his toy train set comes to life; famously the actors perform wearing roller skates... |
Ashley |
| 1989 | Meet Me In St. Louis Meet Me in St. Louis Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 musical film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which tells the story of an American family living in St. Louis at the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair in 1904... |
Esther (regional) |
| 1992 | They're Playing Our Song | Sonia (tour) |
| 1993 | Les Misérables Les Misérables (musical) Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo.... |
Fantine / Eponine (tour) |
| 1995 | State Fair State Fair (musical) State Fair is a musical with a book by Tom Briggs and Louis Mattioli, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and music by Richard Rodgers.Rodgers and Hammerstein originally adapted the Phil Stong novel of the same name for a 1945 movie musical, which was remade in 1962... |
Margy Frake |
| 1996 | Oliver! Oliver! Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.... |
Nancy (regional) |
| 1996 | Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly... |
Narrator (regional) |
| 1996 | The Fantasticks The Fantasticks The Fantasticks is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones. It was produced by Lore Noto. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the play "The Romancers" by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neighboring fathers who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into... |
Luisa (regional) |
| 1997 | Evita | Eva Peron (regional) |
| 1999 | Beauty and the Beast Beauty and the Beast (musical) Beauty and the Beast is a musical with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, based on the 1991 Disney film of the same name. Seven new songs were written for the stage musical... |
Belle |
| Unknown | Grease Grease (musical) Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,... |
Sandy (regional) |
| 2001 | Cabaret Cabaret Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or... |
Sally Bowles (international tour) |
| 2006 | Annie Get Your Gun Annie Get Your Gun (musical) Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production... |
Annie Oakley (regional) |
| 2006 | Cabaret Cabaret (musical) Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions.... |
Sally Bowles (regional, Ogunquit Playhouse) |
| 2007 | Gypsy Gypsy: A Musical Fable Gypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business... |
Mama Rose (regional) |
| 2008 | Les Misérables Les Misérables (musical) Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo.... |
Fantine (regional, Ogunquit Playhouse) |
| 2010 | Annie Annie Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster... |
Miss Hannigan (North Carolina Theatre) |
| 2010 | Annie Annie Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster... |
Miss Hannigan (Musical Theatre West, Long Beach) |
| 2011 | Blood Brothers | Mrs. Johnstone (Theatre Zone Theatre Zone TheatreZone is a Professional Equity Theatre Company located in Naples, Florida. It performs in the G&L Theatre on the Campus of The Community School of Naples at 13275 Livingston Road. TheatreZone is Collier County Florida's only resident Professional Equity Regional Theatre Company... , Naples, Florida) |
| 2011 | Urinetown Urinetown Urinetown: The Musical is a satirical comedy musical, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and municipal politics... |
Penelope Pennywise (Connecticut Repertory Theatre) |
| 2011 | Greenwood the Musical | Adult Sheila (New York Musical Theatre Festival) |
Award nominations
- 1977 - Theatre World Award - winner
- 1977 - Tony Awards - Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical - nominee