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Biography
Infobox person| name = Frances Ruffelle| image =| imagesize = 180px| caption =| birthname =| birth_date = bda|1965|08|29|df=yes| birth_place = London , England , United Kingdom|UK | othername = Frankie Ruff| occupation = Actress singer| yearsactive = 1975–present| spouse = John Caird (director)|John Caird (1990-1992: separated)| tonyawards = Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical|Best Featured Actress in a Musical 1987 Les Misérables (musical)|Les Misérables Frances Ruffelle (born 29 August 1965, London , England , UK ) is an English people|English musical theatre actress and recording artist. Her mother is Sylvia Young , the founder of the famous theatre school at which Frances trained, and her daughter is recording artist Eliza Doolittle (singer)|Eliza Doolittle . Her younger sister is actress Alison Ruffelle . Ruffelle originated the role of Éponine in the English language version of Les Misérables (musical)|Les Misérables for which she won a Tony Award . She has appeared in Starlight Express , Children of Eden and Chicago (musical)|Chicago .
Biography
Career
Ruffelle's first West End appearance was as Louisa in Terence Rattigan 's The Sleeping Prince (play)|The Sleeping Prince . In 1984, she took on the principal role of Dinah the Dining Car|Dinah in Andrew Lloyd Webber 's Starlight Express in the original London cast. A year later, she had left Starlight and joined the original London cast of Les Misérables as Éponine. Though virtually an unknown outside of the West End, she and Colm Wilkinson were invited to reprise their roles for the Broadway launch. citation needed|date=December 2009 Ruffelle was nominated for and won multiple awards (including the Tony) for her role. She returned to the role she originated in 1997 in the West End of London. Her subsequent work on stage included the Ian Dury musical Apples in 1989 and Stephen Schwartz (composer)|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, more recently, in Schwartz Stories . citation needed|date=December 2009 The creative team behind Les Misérables , Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil , also used Ruffelle's vocals as Kim while writing Miss Saigon . Andrew Lloyd Webber also used her while workshopping Sunset Boulevard and Whistle Down the Wind (musical)|Whistle Down the Wind , and she took part in both at the Sydmonton Festival . citation needed|date=December 2009 In 1994, Ruffelle was chosen to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest . She sang all eight (8) songs at the pre-selection, and British televoters chose " Lonely Symphony " to represent the UK, by televoting. It went on to come in 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. citation needed|date=December 2009 In 2010, she appeared in the 25th Anniversary Concert of Les Misérables at the The O2 Arena (London)|O2 Arena as part of the original London cast.
Albums
"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 . It reached number 25 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1994.cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 474
Ruffelle's second album, Frances Ruffelle , came out in 1998, on the small Dress Circle label. It was a change in direction, featuring stripped-down arrangements of mostly musical theatre 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". A new solo album, Imperfectly Me , was released in September 2010. http://francesruffelle.com/imperfectly_me/ Francesruffelle.com
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 was scheduled to open in Toronto in 2009.
Ruffelle returned to London's West End to play Roxie Hart in Chicago; she stayed in the role from 5 November to 8 December. This marks her third time in the role, having previously played it from late 2003 to June 2004 and for five weeks in Summer 2005. On 5 December the 10th anniversary celebrations for Chicago (musical)|Chicago in London and Frances were performed at the special celebratory performance. Her return to Chicago marked the first time she has performed in the show in the Cambridge Theatre, having only appeared in it when it was on at the Adelphi Theatre.
In 2006 she performed in a musical based on the works of Stephen Schwartz (composer)|Stephen Schwartz , Schwartz Stories . In March 2008 she commenced a limited five week season in the musical, Make Me A Song . She played the title role in Mathilde at the Edinburgh festival in 2008.
Other performances
Ruffelle has appeared in the films '' The Wildcats of St Trinian's (1980), Secrets & Lies (film)|Secrets & Lies (1996) and The Road to Ithaca (1999, unreleased).
Her television include ''P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang (1982), Tucker's Luck'' (1985) where she played Tucker Jenkins' cousin, Headless (for which she also composed music), and An Audience With Ricky Martin (singing 'A Little Fall Of Rain' from Les Misérables ). She has also featured in the Sky One TV series Dream Team (TV series)| Dream Team , playing Dawn Daniel-Spears.
Ruffelle will appear in the film production of Les Misérables (2012 film)|Les Misérables as the most fabulous whore (one of 4 whore). cite web|url= http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2092428/Les-Miserables-movie-Stars-original-stage-version-encore-join-film-cast.html? ito=feeds-newsxml|title=Stars of original Les Miserables get an encore as they join the cast of new big screen remake|last=Bamigboye|first=Baz|work=Daily Mail|publisher=Associated Newspapers|date=27 January 2012|accessdate=27 January 2012
Personal life
Frances married Trevor Nunn's co-director, John Caird (director)|John Caird in 1990, in City of Westminster|Westminster , London , and had two children: Eliza Doolittle (singer)|Eliza Sophie (born 1988) and Nathaniel George (born 1990, City of Westminster|Westminster ). She also has a third child, Felix Bailey (born 1995, City of Westminster|Westminster ), with former boyfriend Rob Manley. http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp Marriages and Births England and Wales 1984-2006
s-startsuccession box |before= Sonia (singer)|Sonia with " Better the Devil You Know (Sonia song)|Better the Devil You Know " | title= UK in the Eurovision Song Contest | years= 1994 | after= Love City Groove with " Love City Groove (song)|Love City Groove " |endTonyAward MusicalFeaturedActress 1976-2000
http://www.westendtheatre.com/7260/news/my-first-interview-with-frances-ruffelle Interview with Frances Ruffelle on westendtheatre.com
Persondata | NAME =Ruffelle, Frances | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =29 August 1965 | PLACE OF BIRTH = London , England , United Kingdom|UK | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Ruffelle, Frances Category:British Eurovision Song Contest entrants Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1994 Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:English musical theatre actors Category:English female singers Category:Alumni of the Sylvia Young Theatre School Category:Theatre World Award winners Category:Tony Award winners Category:1965 births Category:Living people
