In Search of . . . Andrea McArdle

Although “Annie 2” has closed early in Washington and plans for a March revival of “Annie” on Broadway have been scrapped, the moppet who originated the title role in 1977 is doing just fine, thank you. In fact, Andrea McArdle, now 26, is about to grace the April cover of Working Mother magazine with her 1 1/2-year-old toddler, Alexis Paige.

McArdle still has the big, brassy voice that helped make her Broadway’s youngest Tony nominee at 13--and “Tomorrow” a showstopper--and she’s currently picking songs for a solo album she hopes to record next year.

“The reason I got into this business to begin with was because I wanted to be a recording artist,” McArdle says. “I just fell into Broadway.”

She favors ballads and pop tunes for the LP, a joint project with her composer/record producer husband Edd Kalehoff (they married in 1987).

Of leaving the original “Annie” cast in 1978, McArdle says, “There just came a time when Daddy Warbucks would pick me up and I was worried about my dress being too short. I said, ‘It’s time to go.’ ”

She subsequently starred as Judy Garland in NBC’s “Rainbow” (1978), then appeared in such Broadway musicals as “Jerry’s Girls” (1984) with Carol Channing and Leslie Uggams and “Starlight Express” (1987). She’s also done some TV pilots, and would now like to land some serious TV/film roles.

Today, McArdle and family, including her two stepsons, split their days between a Chelsea loft/recording studio in Manhattan and a 55-foot yacht.

“I just wouldn’t be happy,” McArdle says emphatically, “if I were further along in my career but had no personal life.”