Also this issue:

There's No Place Like Home
After two years in New Hope, a Tin Man finds the heart of the gallery scene in Philly.
-Juliet Fletcher

Ashes to Ashes
-Susan Hagen

Artsbeat
-Debra Auspitz

The Magic Fire
-Steve Cohen

The Golden Dreydl
-Mary Armstrong

Hometown Phavorites
-Deni Kasrel

Full Speed Ahead
-Toby Zinman

Good Boy Network
-David Anthony Fox

November 27-December 3, 2002

artpicks

Here's to the Ladies

by David Anthony Fox

Christine Andreas' career is proof that there is life after ingenue.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Andreas made a name for herself in Broadway revivals, playing a trio of classic young-lady roles: Eliza Doolittle (My Fair Lady), Laurey Williams (Oklahoma!), and Frankie Frayne (On Your Toes). She brought to all of these a crystalline soprano, an elegant sense of period style, and a winning personal charm.

But Broadway was changing, and the ingenue was an endangered species. Andreas was growing up, too, and now was an exceptionally beautiful woman. Television gave her some intriguing roles. In a biopic about Mia Farrow, she played Ava Gardner. In a Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, she was a bitch-on-wheels pop star. Andreas had become an actress with considerable range -- and a very sexy leading lady.

The lovely voice also matured, retaining the sparkling high notes but finding more color and body in the low register. Andreas was ready to take on a more interesting repertoire, but the Broadway of the new millennium wasn't providing it (at least not on a regular basis).

So Andreas did what other smart ingénues (e.g. Barbara Cook) did before her. She took control of her career and ventured into the world of cabaret. It's a new role and presents new challenges. As she said in a City Paper interview last May, "There's room to hide when you play a character -- you have another life layered over your own life. In a cabaret, you're alone on stage for 75 minutes. Where you are with yourself is completely obvious."

Here's to the Ladies, Andreas' new show, lets her be both herself and others. It's a tribute to the great stars of musical theater -- Barbara Cook, Julie Andrews, Ethel Merman, Mary Martin et al. -- and the songs they made famous. Andreas can warble prettily in "I Could Have Danced All Night" and move effortlessly to the sultry "Moonshine Lullaby." She can belt ("Don't Rain on My Parade") or caress ("My Ship").

Andreas hasn't forsaken the stage -- in fact, she's just finishing a run in the Prince Music Theater's Pal Joey. But cabaret offers her the best of both worlds. She can honor her traditions while extending her own talents.

Christine Andreas in Here’s to the Ladies, Nov. 29-Dec. 15, call for times, $23-$28, Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St., 215-569-9700.