Andrea McArdle as ‘Annie’:

‘They needed that Philly tough girl personality’

 Andrea McArdle, Chalfont PA

Actress/entertainer

Member (1970 to 1972) Gibbons PAL, 6900 block of Rising Sun Avenue, operated out of Trinity Church Oxford’s parish housing.

Andrea was involved in gymnastics and later in the 1970s she participated in the very popular PAL Talent Show.

Andrea’s brother, Michael McArdle was in Gibbons PAL and their dad, Paul, was coach of PAL’s soccer team for years.

Andrea remembered her gymnastics coach and said, “We had a teacher who was in the Olympics. Excellence was expected of us. You can’t buy a PAL experience.”

“One day when I was at Gibbons PAL, a local performance manager, Florence Creasy, came in looking for kids to be in commercials. My father worked for Amtrak, and we took the train to New York for free so auditioning would be easy for us. The first job I got was in the television soap opera “Search for Tomorrow.” I was 9 years old. I had that part for 2-½ years until I got a part in the new musical “Annie.” At first, I played an orphan when it was at Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut. Then director Mike Nichols got involved when they were taking the show to Broadway. He needed a stronger singer in the role of Annie. There were no microphones then and the girl selected had too quiet a voice, so Mike picked me to be Annie on Broadway. They turned the toughest orphan into Annie. They needed that Philly tough girl personality.”

Andrea has very fond memories of the PAL Talent Show. She said, “The most incredible thing about PAL was the Talent Contest. It was legendary. To this day, it is still so important me. If you won, you had street cred. I did not win for singing. All of us were great singers but my tap group, called Sin You Sinners, won. Every single kid in that contest went on to perform, become writers and directors.  It was the best run contest. It was run by the cops. It was for real – it was serious. We practiced all year. That talent show was instrumental in preparing me for real life. That sticks out in my mind so much. It was a stepping stone to get you to next level.”

Andrea would like to volunteer for PAL and bring back the Talent Show.  

June 2022