Frances Ruffelle (born 29 August 1965,
London,
England,
UK) is an
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. Her younger sister is actress
Alison Ruffelle. Ruffelle originated the role of
Éponine in the English language version of
Les Misérables for which she won a
Tony Award. She has appeared in
Starlight Express,
Children of Eden and
Chicago.
Biography
Career
Ruffelle's first West End appearance was as Louisa in
Terence Rattigan's
The Sleeping Prince. In 1984, she took on the principal role of
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. 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'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.
The creative team behind
Les Misérables,......
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