Frances Ruffelle
Frances Ruffelle (b. 29 August 1965) is an English musical theatre actress. Her mother is Dame Sylvia Young, the founder of the famous dance school at which Frances trained and where she began performing at the age of seven. She is best known for originating the role of Eponine in the English language version of Les Miserables, for which she won the Tony. She has also notably appeared in Starlight Express, Children of Eden, Sunset Boulevard, and Miss Saigon.
Musical career
Frances's first musical performance was at age 16 in Gavin the Monster. Three years later she took on the role of Dinah in Andrew Lloyd Webber's roller skating musical Starlight Express in the Original London Premiere cast. It was her work on Starlight Express where she first came into contact with renowned stage director Trevor Nunn.
A year later, she had left Starlight and joined the original London cast of Les Misérables as Eponine. Though virtually an unknown outside of the West End, she and Colm Wilkinson were invited to reprise their roles for the Broadway launch. Ruffelle was nominated for and won multiple awards (including the Tony) for her role. She returned to the role she originated in 1997 on the West End. Lea Salonga took over the role Ruffelle had created for the Tenth Anniversary concert after Frances turned down an offer to appear.
Her subsequent work on stage included the Ian Dury musical Apples in 1989 and Stephen Schwartz's Children of Eden in 1990, featuring on the cast albums of both. She has also starred as the female lead Roxie Hart in Chicago, as well as appearing in Lucky Stiff and The Prince and the Showgirl, and more recently in Schwartz Stories.
The creative team behind Les Misérables, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, also used Ruffelle's vocals as Kim while writing Miss Saigon, the role of which went to Lea Salonga. Andrew Lloyd Webber also used her while workshopping Sunset Boulevard and Whistle Down the Wind, and she took part in both at the Sydmonton Festival.
In 1994, Ruffelle was chosen to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest. She sang all 8 songs at the preselection, and British televoters chose Lonely Symphony to represent the UK, by televoting. It went on to come 10th at the contest in Dublin. When asked about her motivations for joining the competition, she jokingly replied that since none of the four constituent nations of the UK (Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland) had qualified for that year's football World Cup finals, it was her responsibility to try to restore some national pride.
"Lonely Symphony" was released as a single in the UK, as well as in other countries, and also appeared on her first solo album, Fragile. Fragile included several songs co-written by Ruffelle, but after the relatively disappointing performance of "Lonely Symphony" in the UK charts, Virgin pulled the album release. It did come out in Japan, and later gained a limited release in Germany and other areas of Europe. Nevertheless, several singles did emerge in the UK, to little success.
Ruffelle's second album was simply entitled Frances Ruffelle, and came out in 1998, on the small Dress Circle label. It was a change in direction, featuring stripped down, maudlin arrangements of mostly musical songs, as well as a couple of classics, original songs and covers. In 2004, she released Showgirl on her own label, a return to fuller arrangements, but far from a pop sound. Ruffelle also collaborated with Sam Bonner in the group, paTala, making an album called Purify, featuring "a fusion of traditional Sanskrit chants with unique arrangements of contemporary Western beats".
She has performed at Ronnie Scott's in London to promote her albums, and a new album, Live At Ronnie Scott's, has been recorded and mixed and is currently awaiting a release date.
Ruffelle was set to appear in a revival of the Sherman Brothers musical Over Here! in January 2007, alongside Donna McKechnie, Diane Langton and Richard Fleeshman, however it was postponed, and little has been heard about a potential opening date.
Other performances
Frances also appeared in the films Road to Ithaca (1999, unreleased) and Secret and Lies. Her TV appearances included Dream Team, Headless (for which she also composed music), and An Audience With Ricky Martin (singing 'A Little Fall Of Rain' from Les Miserables).
Family
Frances married Trevor Nunn's co-director, John Caird, and had two children, Eliza and Nathaniel. Caird also directed Frances in Children of Eden, before the couple divorced. It has been rumoured that their separation was very messy and it was the reason behind her decision to decline the invitation to perform in the Tenth Anniversary Concert of Les Miserables. However, in her latest New York concert, Caird was seen in the audience. She also had a third child, Felix, with former boyfriend Rob Manley.
Discography
Cast Recordings
- Starlight Express Original London Cast (1984)
- Les Misérables Original London Cast (1985)
- Les Misérables Original Broadway Cast (1987)
- Mack and Mabel In Concert (1988)
- Apples Original London Cast (1989)
- Children of Eden Original London Cast (1991)
Solo albums
- Fragile (1994)
- Frances Ruffelle (1998)
- Showgirl (2004)
- Purify as paTala with Sam Bonner (2005)
- Live at Ronnie Scott's (forthcoming)
Singles
| Year | Title | Album | Chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | LT | IL | |||
| 1985 | "On My Own" | Les Misérables OLC | |||
| 1986 | "He's My Hero" | ||||
| 1987 | "On My Own" (pop version) | ||||
| 1988 | "I Will Take You Forever" (with Christopher Cross) | Back of My Mind (Christopher Cross album) | |||
| "Save the Children"(Various Artists) | |||||
| 1990 | "Children of Eden" (with Shezwae Powell) | Children of Eden OLC | |||
| "Stranger to the Rain" | |||||
| 1994 | "Love Parade" | Fragile | |||
| "Lonely Symphony" | |||||
| "Lose Your Illusions" | |||||
| 1995 | "God Watch Over You" | ||||
| 1997 | "Blue Eyes" | ||||
| "Jennifer's Garden" | |||||
| 1998 | "If a Wish Came True" | ||||
| 2004 | "Smile" | Showgirl | |||
Albums featured on
- Back of my Mind (Christopher Cross album) (1988) - duets on "I Will (Take You Forever)"
- Michael Crawford Performs Andrew Lloyd Webber (1991) - duets on "Only You"
- Save the Children - A Christmas Spectacular of Carols and Songs (1992) - "I Watch You Sleeping", and featured on "Save the Children"
- The Definitive Christopher Cross (2001) - duets on "I Will (Take You Forever)"
Awards for performance in Les Miserables
- Tony Award
- Helen Hayes Award
- Theatreworld Award
- Outer Critics Circle Award