Andrea McArdle at BELOW54

Got to relive a bit of my past Monday evening July 30 by going to see Andrea McArdle's cabaret show (final night) at BELOW 54...the new cabaret space created underneath Studio 54, the famous nightclub where I once worked. I also worked at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon), two blocks south when the Broadway show ANNIE was playing there when Andrea McArdle was playing the orphan at age 12. I was selling souvenirs: Annie dolls, records, tapes and keychains & coffee mugs in the lobby. I knew everybody in the show...all the Annie stage mothers (Annie was a show full of kids so therefore, lots of kids and siblings were running all over the place). I knew Andrea, her Mom Phyllis and her Dad Paul, Shelley Bruce (the second Annie who replaced Andrea) who left suddenly because she had leukemia. She was replaced with another Annie "orphan" from the chorus...a girl named Sarah Jessica Parker. I remember being in Sarah's dressing room her last day as ANNIE, helping her Mom and siblings (and Brooke & Teri Shields) clean out her suite and load the car. I have barely seen any of these people in all the years that have passed since then. My friend Pete Mannion made all the plans and got the tickets and we had a fabulous table with our friends Rich, Nick, Gretchen, Tracey and Naomi. Andrea looks FABULOUS...trim, great figure, gorgeous hair and her voice in tip-top shape. She sang standards from the '70's including Over the Rainbow (remember when she played teenage Judy Garland in the movie RAINBOW?) and of course she finished the show with the one iconic song from the 70's....HER song...TOMORROW from Annie. Also, we were sitting by another icon from the 70's...Cybill Shepherd. After the show, we were invited backstage to Andrea's dressing room where she thanked us for the flowers we sent and kissed everybody. I got to chat with her Mom Phyllis for the first time in YEARS! All in all, a fun nostalgic night and a stroll down memory lane. ....the sun'll come out....TOMORROW!