Frances Ruffelle

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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.

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[edit] Musical career

Frances's first musical performance was at age 16 with Gavin the Monster. Three years later she took on the second-largest female role 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 Miserables 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. Frances was nominated 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 Frances had created in the Tenth Anniversary Dream Cast.

She played Yonah in Children of Eden. This musical was initially a failure, but later picked up popularity. The Original London recording is now very hard to come by, and the 1998 Jersey Cast recording is now the prevalent recording. She also starred in Chicago, Apples, Lucky Stiff and The Prince and the Showgirl.

The creative team behind Les Miserables, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, also used Frances'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.

She represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994. Her song, "Lonely Symphony" came tenth on the night. The song was chosen for her by the British public from the eight she performed at the annual national pre-selection event for Eurovision, Song for Europe. 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' also appeared on her first solo album, Fragile. Frances became involved in the conception and writing of all her songs, and has gradually increased the calibere of the quality through each subsequent album. Frances Ruffelle featured more sad and pensive music compared to Fragile's pop, and when Showgirl was released, her vocals were once again up to par with her cast recordings. Frances also collaborated with Sam Bonner in the group, PaTala, making a chant album known as Purify.

Frances 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, is currently awaiting a release date.

Frances is set to appear in a revival of the Sherman Brothers musical Over Here! in January 2007, alongside Donna McKechnie, Diane Langton and Richard Fleeshman.

[edit] 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).

[edit] 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.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Awards for performance in Les Miserables


Preceded by
Bebe Neuwirth
for Sweet Charity		 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
1987
for Les Misérables		 Succeeded by
Judy Kaye
for The Phantom of the Opera

[edit] Further discussion

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Sonia		 UK in the Eurovision Song Contest
1994		 Succeeded by
Love City Groove
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