In 2002 Christine appeared as Vera Simpson in Philadelphia's Prince Music Theater production of Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey; a performance that won her a Barrymore-Award.  The Philadelphia Inquirer also chose Christine as "Best Actress in a Musical" for her performance in Pal Joey.  Visit Christine's Pal Joey web page...

Philadelphia Inquirer
November 12, 2002
Pal Joey
Prince Music Theater
By Desmond Ryan 

"'Pal Joey' presents a Vera you won't soon forget."

"The defining moment in the Prince Music Theater's production of Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey aptly places Christine Andreas before a mirror for a gorgeous treatment of "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" that's an act of revelation as well as restoration.  Instead of the bland and familiar pop standard, the song, now in its original context, is filled with the sexual candor and pained self-knowledge that perfectly reflects a woman looking at herself with an unsparing eye.  Andreas's Vera Simpson has once again fallen for a worthless conniver, and her money will keep him around for as long as she wants.  The emotional range of Andreas's reading of Hart's biting lyrics is astonishing, and her performance is the sustaining strength of the show.....At the end of Pal Joey, Andreas reprises "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" to indicate her emergence from Joey's dubious influence.  The spell she casts as Vera lingers long afterward."

 



Christine spent part of 2006 and 2007 on tour with Adam Guettel's Tony Award winning musical, The Light in the Piazza.  Her strong performance gained her a Helen Hayes Award nomination which recognizes outstanding theatre in the Washington D.C. area.
 
 
Christine played Margaret Johnson, the mother of a special child, a role that mirrored her own life.  The story follows Margaret through romantic Florence, Italy as she struggles to protect her daughter, Clara, from life and love.  Along the way, Margaret comes to grips with the lack of passion in her own life and she slowly begins to realize that she can't deny the her daughter the opportunity to love and be loved.

“Andreas keeps growing in the role of Margaret.  She’s riveting as she reveals the roots of her maternal concern, and beguilingly seductive in the “Let’s Walk” duet.  She brings the show to its evocatively  ambiguous end with a lovely light touch.  Love may not be the answer, “Light” seems to say, but it’s the best guess we’ve got.”
-The San Francisco Chronicle
 
"Christine Andreas gives a Broadway-worthy performance as a loving, self-deluding mother in “The Light in the Piazza,” a 1950s era melodrama gorgeously retooled into a show that could as easily be defined as “chamber opera” as “intimate musical.”"

"Christine Andreas is marvelous as the Southern matron. It’s a tribute to Andreas, a multiple Tony nominee, that she makes her character, if not sympathetic, fully delineated, elegant and worthy of respect."
- Cincinnati Enquirer
 
"As Margaret Johnson, star Christine Andreas is a gorgeous woman who knows that vocally, less can be much, much more. When she sings a ruminative Dividing Day, her quiet dissection of her fading marriage becomes devastating.”
- Miami Herald
 
"Andreas has the toughest shoes to fill. Victoria Clark won a Tony for her portrayal of Margaret and was the heart and soul of the New York production. But there's no sense of understudy quality in Andreas' gorgeously sung performance. There's an extraordinary sensitivity on display when it counts. In fact, the adroitly handled mother-daughter relationship springs past the special circumstances of the narrative to touch on a poignancy all of us can share."
- Los Angeles Times

Nowhere is there a more heartbreaking pair of messengers than Christine Andreas and Elena Shaddow playing a mother and daughter, each with much to learn while vacationing in 1953 Florence ." 

"Andreas handles the role of Margaret with passion and dignity. She has the kind of textured voice that is usually found in top cabaret spots and not on Broadway stages, and it's ideal."
- Los Angeles Daily News
 
"Director Bartlett Sher, who helmed the Broadway production of "Piazza", may have an even better cast here. As Margaret, Christine Andreas has some big shoes to fill - her friend Victoria Clark won Tony and Drama Desk awards for the role on Broadway. But Andreas steps deftly out from Clark 's shadow in a portrayal that's somehow even gentler yet deeply tragic. There's a shattered gentility to Andreas' Margaret, and a weariness that hides desperation. Those qualities make Margaret's ultimate decision about her daughter's fate seem sadly logical."
- The Orange County Register
 
the bottom line:  
"An exhilarating breath of Italian lyricism and music has just blown into town."

"The role of Clara's mother is a tough one, which Olivia de Havilland in the (1962)movie played with a magnificent virtuoso restraint that couldn't have worked in a megabucks Broadway musical.  So Christine Andreas, armed with a magnificent voice and a romantic streak, proceeds to give a warm, wise, witty and totally human tour de force performance of her own."
- The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles
  
"From the musical's opening sequence, Andreas draws out the vulnerability that is the flip side of Margaret's determined, nurturing personality. In "Statues and Stories," this first scene's vocal number, she sings with gentle, humorous intonations that display Margaret's compassionate relationship to Clara and the brave front this battle-scarred mother has turned to the world. But in a later song such as the devastating solo "Dividing Day" -- about the flaws in the Johnson marriage -- her voice cuts an achingly sad line against the wistful background of pizzicato strings."
 - The Washington Post
 
"The most aching theme belongs to Margaret (Christine Andreas who narrates the musical and is its moral compass. Her music is autumnal and melancholy, particularly in the fragile world-weariness of "Dividing Day.
 
Miss Andreas is a commanding Margaret, crisp and ladylike in public but falling apart in the privacy of her hotel room. It is delicious to see her bend and soften under Italy 's spell, her body language and exquisite voice becoming warmer and expansive."
- The Washington Times
 
"The real draw of "Piazza" are the performances. Andreas’ Margaret is a powerhouse”  
- The Boston Herald
 
"As Margaret, Christine Andreas gives a deeply felt performance, full of love and anguish and the determination of a lioness."
 
"In her climactic finale song, "Fable," Andreas reveals conflicting emotions that underscore the bittersweet nature of the entire show. It's a tremendously touching moment in which Andreas succeeds in baring Margaret's aching soul. Andreas' performance is slightly sharp-edged and raw and all the more penetrating for it." 
- Broadway World, Boston
 
"I’ve seen this show four times with three mostly different casts. This, overall, is the best. Andreas attacks Margaret with steely resolve in place of Victoria Clark’s wry ruefulness. That initially seems strange — until Andreas knocks you dead with a precisely structured yet heart-wrenching rendition of “Dividing Day” and only soars upwards from there”
- The Chicago Tribune