Andrea McArdle

Andrea McArdle (born November 5, 1963, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American actress and singer whose Broadway career spans from 1977 to 2006. She is best known for originating the title role in the Broadway musical Annie, a production that earned her a 1977 Tony Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical and a Theatre World Award the same year.

McArdle's path to Broadway was preceded by appearances on Al Alberts Showcase, a locally televised talent show in Philadelphia. Her debut as Annie in 1977 launched an extensive career in musical theater. In April 1978, she reprised the role in the London West End production. Years later, she returned to the show in a different capacity, portraying Miss Hannigan with the North Carolina Theatre Company and again at Musical Theatre West in Long Beach, California, from October 29 to November 14, 2010. She also appeared briefly in the 1999 television film of Annie, directed by Rob Marshall, performing the "Star To Be" segment of the song "N.Y.C."

Her Broadway credits include Annie, Jerry's Girls, State Fair, Starlight Express, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Les Misérables. Jerry's Girls was a revue of Jerry Herman songs in which she co-starred with Carol Channing and Leslie Uggams. She performed Les Misérables both on Broadway and in the national tour, the latter alongside her daughter, Alexis Kalehoff. Additional stage work includes Beauty and the Beast, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Wizard of Oz, They're Playing Our Song, and Annie Get Your Gun, in which she played the role of Annie Oakley. In December 2015, she starred in the Off-Broadway production 2 Across at St. Luke's Theatre alongside Kip Gilman. In May 2016, she played Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, a production featuring Sally Struthers that opened at Gateway Playhouse in Bellport, New York, before transferring to Ogunquit Playhouse, directed by Jayme McDaniel and choreographed by Jason Wise.

Her television work during the late 1970s included multiple appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson between 1977 and 1979, on one occasion sharing the stage with Liberace. She appeared more than once on the Mike Douglas Show, performing alongside Kristy McNichol, Stephanie Mills, Liberace, and Don Rickles. She sang with Perry Como on his Christmas special and guest-starred on Welcome Back Kotter as Arnold Horshack's younger sister. In 1978, she performed "O Holy Night" in the television special Christmas at Walt Disney World. Her first acting role after returning to the United States was playing Judy Garland in the NBC television film Rainbow. She also appeared in television promotional campaigns produced by her then-husband Edd Kalehoff, including WNBC-TV's We're 4 New York in 1992 and WEWS-TV's Give Me 5 in 1995. In November 2021, McArdle was announced as Eleanor Roosevelt in NBC's Annie Live!, but withdrew due to a family emergency; the character was subsequently written out of the broadcast, though she appears on the cast recording.

McArdle's concert and cabaret work has taken her to casino showrooms in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, as well as venues including Odette's in New Hope, Pennsylvania, the King Cole Room at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan, and Freddy's Supper Club in Manhattan. She recorded the CD Andrea McArdle on Broadway, arranged and produced by Kalehoff, who also collaborated with her on a Christmas album released in connection with her Family Christmas Show at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. That show, titled Andrea McArdle's Family Christmas, ran for three consecutive Christmas seasons and featured dancers, singers, and acrobats from Encore Productions in South Jersey. In November 2012, she served as guest star in Newsical. In fall 2011, she participated in the New York Musical Theatre Festival's production of Greenwood the Musical alongside her daughter Alexis and fellow Annie alumna Alicia Morton. Beginning with a voyage aboard the Oceania Cruises ship Riviera on October 29, 2014, she was featured in the line's "Life in the Theater" series.

Among her notable live performance credits outside the theater, McArdle sang the national anthems of both the United States and Canada at the 1979 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Seattle, Washington. She sang the American national anthem at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia during the fifth and final game of the 1983 World Series, and performed "God Bless America" prior to the Eagles hosting the Dallas Cowboys in the 1980 NFC Championship Game.

McArdle was married to composer Edd Kalehoff from 1988 until their divorce in August 2011. The couple have one daughter, Alexis Kalehoff, born in 1988, who is also a performer and has appeared with her mother in Les Misérables.