Frances Ruffelle

[Phan#24601]

Did anyone see her play Eponine? I have heard her on the OLCR and OBCR and have never been particularly impressed, but she beat Judy Kuhn for the Tony for the same show. How was she?

[BroadwayStar4]

I've seen many Youtube videos of her portrayal of Eponine. At first, I found her singing laughable because she sounded like a cartoon character. But as I watched more clips and listened to her many "On My Own" performances, her voice really started to grow on me. I can understand why some people wouldn't like it though, but as of now I can say that she was really good as Eponine....better than Lea Salonga who sounded too refined and sophisticated for that role.

[best12bars]

I saw her on Broadway with the original cast. Hers was the best performance in the show by far.

Colm sang brilliantly but was stiff on stage. Terrance was really stiff (he looked like a statue of Christopher Lee in a Hammer horror film) and didn't sing all that well. Randy Graff and Judy Kuhn were good but not great.

Marius was totally forgettable. Michael Maguire was about nine feet tall and looked like a singing Christopher Reeve. Impressive, but I'm not sure why he won the Tony.

The Thenardiers looked like they dropped in from a different musical.

Frances was wonderful. Her voice was soulful (a bit like Cyndi Lauper's at the time), and I thought her acting was terrific. Her choices were always interesting, never forced, and she made me really feel for her.

[once a month]

She melted my heart, loved her.

[adamgreer]

I never saw her live, but my gosh, her voice is grating. I can't stand to listen to her whine on the cast recording.

[FANtomFollies]

'The Thenardiers looked like they dropped in from a different musical'

best12bars - what do you mean by that?

[best12bars]

They were both broad, Music Hall performances.

They looked like grotesque villains from "Oliver!"

Nobody else on stage was in this same style or tone. The energy level was different, more somber with the rest of them. So each time the Thenardiers were on stage it felt like I was watching a completely different show.

[JBradshaw]

She's amazing.

Off topic her Roxie Hart was also amazing.

[My Oh My]

Wow. It's happened. The "Lea's Eponine is too sophisticated sounding and refined" thing has made it to BWW!

And it's a bunch of baloney. Lea's Eponine is like the trillions other Eponines out there. There's nothing more refined about her take at all. She has a beautiful voice, but so does so many others. I have a feeling that it's all based on her TWO hard T's that she does in the intro and has caused all sorts of strange reactions in people, some saying she has a typical Asian accent and others saying she sounds posh. No she doesn't; she sounds like a person who pronounced a hard T twice in the intro. That's it.

Frances is so misunderstood almost as equally and many are spooked by her unconventional vocals which I've always thought are remarkable. Best2Bars has got it and so did Frank Rich when he described her as having an "unrelenting rock balladeer's voice."

You've gotta understand Les Mis early on was awesome. It was a quirky mixture of classical and rock voices playing under an orchestration that was equally as quirky. It was a risk because it could have come off fragmented as hell but it didn't and actually created a new sound. Of course, the pompousness of today has altered that sound and it has since been lost. And I envy those of you who saw the show with the original cast live. Bastids.

[LizzieCurry]

I liked this thread better when it was about Frances Ruffelle.

[My Oh My]

Erm...it is about her. One paragraph about Lea does not make it not about her.

[MikeInTheDistrict]

There's a brilliant review on Amazon of the Peter Pears/Benjamin Britten reading of Schubert's "Winterreise" that captures how I feel about Ruffelle's Eponine:

"You can well imagine why Mom and Dad are happy to find a more suitable husband for their little girl-- this guy is a geek, a weirdo, an outsider, not someone you could ever feel comfortable with. It's the quality of the voice, the strangely-flavored German, the little hitches and twitches in the rhythms, the occasional odd emphases. It's as if this protagonist is from another planet and the text and the music are being filtered through the Universal Translator. It's recognizable, yes, but everything is just that little bit "off," so that you are constantly off-balance and on edge. The expected progression away from what is comfortable and accustomed to a state of profound loneliness and alienation doesn't quite happen. When Pears sings "Fremd bin ich eingezogen, fremd zieh ich wieder aus," it seems exactly true: he was weird when he came and he is still weird when he leaves, and somehow, thanks to Britten's playing, the whole outside world reflects his weirdness. When I try to imagine this fellow, I think of Heine's "Der arme Peter"-- the people who see him say that he looks as if he has just stepped out of the grave, but he is actually on his way to the grave. And he has had a "kick-me" sign on his back since birth."

Ruffelle's Eponine has a captivating weirdness and awkwardness about both her carriage and her voice. There are many Eponines I've seen who look and sound like perfectly normal young women. There's something "off" about Ruffelle's Eponine. She had very striking facial features, a very square face with prominent cheekbones, but she conveyed a lot of fragility -- almost like she was in a state of arrested development, or about to have some sort of emotional breakdown.

As for Salonga, I've only seen her in concert version so I can't really judge. Just from what I've seen, though, she doesn't have the requisite weirdness, IMO. She doesn't come across like the product of the dysfunctional, abusive, criminal Thenardier household. Eponine needs to be slightly unhinged.

[Musicaldudepeter]

I think Maguire and Ruffelle won Tonys more for the ROLES they were playing rather than the actual performances if you get my drift. Enjolras and Eponine are Tony-worthy because of the strength of the characters.

[hermajesty]

I thought Ruffelle was fabulous and very talented

[Amalia Balash]

I saw Ruffelle's Eponine in London at the Barbican and loved her portrayal. Cosette was sweetly vacuously perfect and Eponine was gritty and impulsive and vulnerable. I could definitely see why she was brought to Broadway.

[Citygirl.grace]

I think Ruffelle doesn't have the best voice, but for some reason I feel like she does the part extremely well. You can tell she has a lot of passion in her voice and really gets into the role. To me she kid of "IS" Eponine if that makes sense.

[best12bars]

"I think Maguire and Ruffelle won Tonys more for the ROLES they were playing rather than the actual performances if you get my drift."

Absolutely NOT the case with Ruffelle, at least for me. She brought something to that role that no other singing actress has ever brought. And I've seen many Eponines over the years.

Ruffelle's has never been matched, at least so far.

EDIT: I will add that this is not the case for other roles in the show. I've seen a better Jean Valjean than Colm Wilkinson and definitely better Javerts than Terrance Mann. But Ruffelle set the bar for Eponine, and I have not seen anyone come even close.

[wonderfulwizard11]

^Adding to that, would anyone really describe Enjolras as that sort of role? It's a good part, but it's rather small in the grand scheme of things.

[Phantom4ever]

Listening to the original cast recording now, Ruffelle's voice does have an 80's sound to it.

But she has always been my favorite Eponine. I've only seen Salonga perform the role on video, and I felt her voice didn't have pain that sensed coming from Ruffelle's Eponine.

I saw Diana Kaarina play the role more than any other actress (New York, circa 2001-2003 era) and I was always disappointed that she didn't holding out the "pretending" note like Ruffelle does no the recording. Instead, Kaarina went up and down each time she sang that word, which made it easier, but not as emotional.
Also, the way Ruffelle sings "and I'm talking to myself and not to him" it makes you feel so sorry for her (especially the way she hits the word "myself") You just want to stop her and hug her.

[ajh]

My Oh My has completely hit the nail on the head: I saw Les Mis at the Barbican in London originally, and many times since, and I think it is a shame how bland, watered-down and homogenised the vocal styles and characterisations have become over the years. Frances Ruffelle was sensational in the first cast: raw, quirky, earthy and heartbreaking. The only Eponine out of the many that I've seen since that has matched her was Laura Hamilton, an Aussie who was the second takeover in London (yep, am a bit of a geek). Funnily enough, when Ruffelle returned to the role in the West End for a limited season about a decade into the run she was quite different: the vocal was much smoother and less individual, she had matured physically into a more traditionally beautiful woman and had lost a certain amount of the "edge" that had made her original performance so special.

[ThankstoPhantom]

I'm just saying that I won't be satisfied until an Eponine...

...has bruises, mousy chafed hair, missing teeth, bad breath, and has at least one crazed moment in On My Own. That song is so often presented as if it is the theme song to a Lifetime movie rather than the desperate siren of a forlorn street urchin.

Instead I think she's presented with general choices and low stakes. I didn't see Frances Ruffelle, but many accounts seem to point toward her not being pretty special. Too bad I missed her.

PS: I am sure there have been many wonderful Eponines... it's just clear that it's preferred to be directed the way I perceive it has been

[My Oh My]

So you're saying Eponine is typically portrayed as a gorgeous, clean, sexy chick?

I have seen the show enough times to know that she is typically visually portrayed as a dirt-smeared, rag-wearing street urchin. It's true she isn't typically presented as having rotting teeth or bad breath but this is theatre and you are free to use your imagination in that regard. XD

I think what you're trying to say is that she is often portrayed by the actress playing her as a bubbly, girl-next-door type and not the roughed up street waif that she is supposed to be. I'd be more inclined to agree with you there, but still, it's not a HUGE problem. Meaning I've been satisfied by the portrayal of the character on stage at all but one live performance I've been to. Either I'm incredibly lucky or it isn't as bad as y'all are suggesting. =)

[Phan#24601]

Maybe you really just had to see her perform the role live...that's what it sounds like. I just despise the way she sang the part; however I try to keep in mind that she must have really been acting (and especially singing) as the Thenardiers' daughter.

[ThankstoPhantom]

My Oh My, I am one to believe that the farther and deeper you go in a direction, the better; however, that is not everyone's cup of tea. I like work that is specific and technically sound that appears raw (whether that be tragic or light). With that in mind, I tend to thin she looks too clean too often, and is portrayed as bubbly. I'd rather see the pain of unrequited love go farther because I am always left cold... I see no build or true desperation for his attention. But I get that others are moved, it's my personal preference coming to light here, not what is right or wrong. I suppose that will have to wait for another director, or my own vision if I'm ever fortunate enough to be trusted with a show.

Your prompt helped me to see a bit a more of the value in what is presented for those who are drawn to it. They deserve to see what they like. Humbling, thank you.