Interview: Frances Ruffelle of FRANKIE & BEAUSY at 54 Below November 10 & 11

Frances Ruffelle is a wild woman.  One of the most fascinating singing actresses and artistic storytellers in the business of show, the Tony Award winner for the original Les Miserables has spent her life captivating audiences.  On the stage, off the stage, in the clubs, on the internet, Frances Ruffelle is a true blue original.  Her pre-pandemic cabaret play Frances Ruffelle LIVEs IN NEW YORK enjoyed a months-long residency at The Green Room 42, consistently selling out every performance, and when it came to an end, so did the world, at which point Frances spent her quarantine inspiring people to live their lives, even in lockdown, and do some yoga, via her social media accounts.   Frances did something else of importance during the quarantine: she reconnected with an old friend, only on a deeper level, and from that connection a love affair was born.  

Fans of Frances can, now, get a look at that magical union when she and her beau, Norman Bowman, present their new musical cabaret FRANKIE & BEAUSY on November 10th and 11th at Broadway’s Living Room, 54 Below.  The two singing actors have created a duo show that is being described thus:  From the Highlands to Hollywood, Brigadoon to Broadway, Scotland to Sondheim, they humorously celebrate the ups and downs of imperfect relationships.  And if that isn’t enough to get bumms in seats, luv, maybe this will:  Frances Ruffelle LIVEs IN NEW YORK remains, for this writer, the benchmark for what the art form of cabaret can be.  Don’t miss seeing Frankie on stage - she never disappoints.

As Frances prepares for FRANKIE & BEAUSY in the UK (where Norman is starring on the West End), she took some time out to do an email exchange with Broadway World Cabaret in which she discusses her artistic process, her new-found love, and her fashion muse.

This interview was conducted digitally and is reproduced without edits.

Frances Ruffelle, welcome to Broadway World!

Thank you for having me.

When the world went into quarantine you were riding high off of a long residency at The Green Room 42 with your hit show Frances Ruffelle LIVEs IN NEW YORK.  Have you done a lot of club residencies during your nightclub tenure?

Not a lot of actual residencies, but I’ve felt very much at home in the Crazy Coqs cabaret room in London. I can’t even count the number of shows I have performed there since the venue opened in 2013. So many. It really is a beautiful room; I highly recommend it for anyone traveling to London. 

That particular show was undeniably special.  Are all Frances Ruffelle club acts such a thorough deep dive into storytelling?

Oh yes, I love storytelling. All my cabarets are written as if they were a theatre piece. The word ‘cabaret’ means small room. I perform intimate theatre shows in a ‘cabaret’ room.

What is the process that you go through, as a writer, to create a show like Frances Ruffelle LIVEs IN NEW YORK?

I usually find the songs I like first then weave a story around them. It sounds simple, but I take months writing the vignettes in between the songs.

Now, we haven’t been blessed with a new Frances Ruffelle show since the lockdown.  Until now.  You will be playing 54 Below on November 10th and 11th with FRANKIE & BEAUSY.  For this one, you are joined by Norman Bowman, an actor with whom you have a passing association.  Put me in the picture of this latest venture.

Frankie & Beausy is a show about a musical theatre lover from Scotland, (him) and a Broadway star and Edinburgh Festival survivor (her) and the ups and downs of their perfectly imperfect relationship. Beausy (Norman Bowman) and I created this piece together. We are a real-life couple and we used some of our own experiences, and some made up, to create the story. From Scotland to Sondheim, we had so much fun writing the vignettes together and we hope that comes across. It’s not too serious, very tongue in cheek and super entertaining.

You and Norman are both big stars of Britain’s West End. Have you acted together over the past or merely passed one another at parties and premieres? 

We worked together in the mid-nineties. I went back into Les Miserables for a few months ten years after it had opened. Beausy was in the company, it was his first theatre job after drama school. He was the cutest. We became friends immediately and were always in touch, as friends over the years, we only just got together as lovers during the covid/lockdown period. Sometimes good things come from bad.

During the creation of FRANKIE & BEAUSY, did you fine folks have staff meetings during which you wrote the musical play, or did you write separately and meld each other’s ideas later?

We created it together, though we’d often come up with ideas to run by each other, but it was quite easy for us, we were on the same page really early in the creation.

The artwork for the show looks playful, and you are a pretty adventurous woman and actress.  Are audiences in for something off the beaten path with this show?

Of course! I love to surprise.

You are one of the industry’s most individually stylistic women.  How did you develop the Frances Ruffelle sense of fashion?

(I’m laughing) Blame my love of Vivienne Westwood, since I was 15, I loved her original punk style. I used to go to school near the King’s Road near her original store, and where all the early punks would hang out.  I’ve been influenced by that ever since.

You and Norman are both regularly jobbing actors - actors always have to focus on finding the next gig but having a show of one’s own is always a boon to a performer.  Is Frankie & Beausy something that you might make a regular thing, or take out on the road in between gigs?

Yes, we’d love to take Frankie & Beausy all over the world and we are open to cruises too. It’s also a way of working together, as a couple.

Just above, you used a phrase that is also in the advertising for Frankie & Beausy: “imperfect relationship” - but what would you say are the perfect parts of this particular relationship?  

Beausy is an angel, he is perfect, I can’t speak for him the other way around, but I do know that we have each other’s backs. We laugh and love. What more does one need? 

Frankie, thank you for chatting with me today.  I can’t wait to be in the audience at Frankie & Beausy - I was greedy and chose your show for myself.   So, I’ll see you then! 

Ooh I’m thrilled that you are coming and thank you so much for giving your time to us.

Frankie & Beausy will play 54 Below on November 10th and 11th at 7 pm.   Make a reservation on the 54 Below website HERE.

Frankie & Beausy (for those living or visiting the UK) will play Crazy Cogs on November 20th at 7 pm.  Visit the Crazy Coqs website HERE.

Frances Ruffelle has a website HERE.

Norman Bowman's website is HERE.

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