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Video: Frances Ruffelle & Norman Beauman Are Getting Ready for 54 Below
May 16, 2024
Frankie andamp; Beausy met at a train station in Scotland 26 years ago on Valentine's Day. Frankie a Broadway performer & Edinburgh Festival survivor. Beausy, a shy musical theatre lover from Scotland. On November 10-11, that long loving friendship will be celebrated in songs from 'Brigadoon' to Broadway and from the Highlands to Hollywood. In this video, watch as Frances Ruffelle and Norman Bowman chats about the new show!
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Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge. Tony Award winner Frances Raffel is returning to 54 Below
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along with West End star Norman Bowman with their brand-new cabaret called Frankie & Bozie
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on November 10th and 11th at 7 p.m. They will take us from the Highlands to Hollywood
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Brigadoon to Broadway, Scotland to Sondheim as they humorously celebrate the ups and downs
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of imperfect relationships. Please welcome my guests, Frances Raffel and Norman Bowman
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Hello. Hey. It's like this is your life passing by, right, when you listen to all this stuff
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First of all, how are you two and where are you? Well, we are collectively great
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I've just finished my contract at Mamma Mia, so I'm feeling lots of different emotions
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Frankie's just back from a week and a half in Malta, so we're kind of reconnecting
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because it's been a little while apart. We're getting to know each other again
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Yeah, all over again. Yeah, I love it. So you just closed as Sam in Mamma Mia
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How exciting was that for you, Norman? Sometimes I don't have the words, in all honesty
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It has to be more like what you see in my face or how I feel, but it's been an extraordinary year
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I didn't think I would get as much as I have out of it
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as an actor and as a human being, but I did do it 12 years ago
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and it's a very different thing now with social media and all that that brings as an extra-dimensional experience
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to being in the West End. So I feel very full. I feel very tired and very excited about what's to come
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Oh, totally. And Frankie, you were just in Malta? Yeah, I was just having a little break, actually
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I didn't do anything. I didn't do any writing. I did nothing. It was great, just having a break
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because I've been writing a lot, and I've got a play called I Can Die Too
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that I wrote with Alan Cumming, and that's going into workshop. So apart from that
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I've been writing lots of other things as well. So I just needed to sort of clear my brain
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and get ready for our shows, because we've got them in New York, and then we come back to London
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and we do them at the Crazy Cox as well. So you haven't done it yet in London, have you
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We have, yeah. We've done a couple, four times, have we? This will be our third date
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We've done four shows, two per night. This will be our third date in London. Yeah
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Yeah, we always seem to sell out, which is really lovely. So far
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Yeah, so far. Yeah. And it feels great to be invited back
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time and again by Crazy Cox. They seem to want us to be a regular feature
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which is great. Yeah, it's lovely there. It's fantastic. As is 54 Below. So our two favorite cafe venues
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So we're spoiled, aren't we? Oh, no, I love this. So did you do this new show in London already
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Did you break it in? Yeah, we had a little rehearsal before we came to New York. Yeah
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So let's talk about the new show. I mean, I'm so excited. The fans here in New York are so excited
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I mean, what can you tell us? What can fans expect from the new show
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They can expect lots of fun, lots of comedy, lots of great songs and an actual journey
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a journey about two people that meet at a train station in Edinburgh
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And Bozie wears a kilt, by the way. I'm not telling you what's underneath the kilt
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You have to come and see this show. You have to get front row tickets for that
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Well, yeah, to maybe stand a chance of seeing maybe what's under the kilt, but not necessarily guaranteed
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Yeah, where's your kilt today? So, and it's, you know, because Bozie is Scottish
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Norman is Scottish, we've got a sort of Scottish theme going through it
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But, you know, so we've used Brigadoon, which is actually a made up town
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And we've got lots of songs from Scotland, but also, you know, going to Broadway, Sondheim
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some of the hardest Sondheim songs that we're still learning the words for
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No, we are, we're trying to conquer the words of, because we know them
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but performing them is something else. Yeah, I mean, it's wonderful though, isn't it
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It is. It's good to have a challenge. Yeah, and we started off with just a little checklist
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of songs that we love, and then we started to try and fashion them into a story
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And the story then, actually the story is not very loosely based on our story
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in terms of, you know, the long arc that we've enjoyed as friends and now as a couple
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Are we allowed to say that we're a couple on here? Yeah, of course. Yeah, you never know. That might chase some people away, I don't know
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The men who want to come and see you because they think you're still single. They're all gay
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Totally. I think it's really great. Take me back to where you met
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Was it how many years ago? We actually met doing Les Mis
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So it was the second time I went in. I did a short stint as, can't say the word after all these years
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I did Eponine after 10 years. I went back just to do a few months
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And Bozie was in the cast then. So we became friends then. Not lovers, but just friends
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I was engaged to be married. Just having had her third child. Yeah
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So we were not, you know, it wasn't even in our heads. But the friendship continued over the years
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and suddenly lockdown happens and we went for some walks. And before you know it, we're living in the country together
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As if by luck. See, I love that. You know, people have to look at the positive end
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of the pandemic also. I mean, I think it's so wonderful that, you know
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I loved being here with my husband, Preston. I mean, I would do Zooms or StreamYards during the day
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We'd break the studio down, make dinner and then watch a movie and then start all over again the next day
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But you two sort of put yourselves together, right? As a couple during the pandemic
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No, we didn't actually get completely together, but we had the walks
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Yeah, we reconnected and just started a little flame going. Well, it turned out that Frankie's sister
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lived in a neighbouring village. Well, she wasn't Periswood, wasn't she, initially
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Oh yeah, yeah. And when she was coming up and posting pictures of my kind of neighbourhood, I'm like
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hey, I'm out here, come say hi. And she still came out and kept forgetting
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And eventually we managed to get a walk together. And actually that walk was the longest we'd ever spent together
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Alone in our house. Because we usually see each other for five, ten minutes in a club or a gig
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Or after a show. Or after a show. Yeah. And yeah, we were still nothing at that point
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You were seeing somebody. I think I might have been, but anyway
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it was the closing of a big, long kind of friendship loop
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that then led to, you know. Eventually we were both single. Frankie and Bourgeois
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This is good. No, but I love, you know, you two do clubs
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I think you're, I call nightclub acts cabarets. I mean, I've seen Frankie a lot
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Norman, I've watched you on YouTube and everything else. I mean, the two of you, tell me what you love the most
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about doing the cabaret genre. Because a lot of people don't know really how to do it
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You two just make it seem like you're performing in your living room. You know, it's you and the audience
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Tell me what you love the most about doing cabaret. You just said it
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Because cabaret, a lot of people don't realise. But cabaret, actually the word comes from small room
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And so cabaret is performing in a small room. It's not necessarily what we think of cabaret
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the genre, where you talk about yourself and what you've been in and all that
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I mean, that is part of cabaret as we know it. But cabaret really is about an intimate room
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And we are telling a story in an intimate room and it's fun
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And we kind of break down the third wall, don't we? Is it the post-war or the third wall
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I always get words made of that. It's amazing that I'm a writer
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You haven't been on stage in a while. No, we do invite the audience to be part of the evening
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Not necessarily singing along participation wise, but we don't exclude them. And yes, our show isn't just a song
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bit of story, talk, blah, blah, blah. It's all one huge arc
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And vignettes. Vignettes. In between the songs that are sort of loosely based on
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I don't know if anyone knows the late Brit Ian Durie, but it's loosely based on his kind of work
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So we're inviting the audience to be, you know, not just voyeurs in a sense
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but to be in the situation and in scenarios with us, so to speak
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Because every time I've seen Frankie in New York, all of her shows are so different and they're all so perfect
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So it's like, how long have you been writing the new one
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Let's talk about the brand new one, Frankie and Bozi. Like when did you start writing it
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It took six months to write it before our first show, whenever that was. But it wasn't that long after getting together either. No
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We just, yeah, we went for it. In truth, I considered it just the ultimate kind of compliment
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that the Francis Ruffell, whose shows are, you know, wonderfully received and wonderfully adored
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and wanted to do something with me. So I'm... Excuse me, he is amazing
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So of course I wanted to do something with you. I am not a cabaret performer per se
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I do gigs and I love doing them. To get down to that kind of particularly well finessed performance
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I don't do, I maybe do guest stars. I come on and I do one
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I'm much more accustomed to eight shows a week, 40 year in a show with a character
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But now you are accustomed to it because it's a new thing. Yeah
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But it's exciting. And I love it. Oh my God, I love it. I've done my own concerts back home
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and I got a real taste for it back then because strangely enough
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I'm very comfortable with talking to an audience. Yeah, more than me. Yeah
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What do you love the most about performing together? The best part for me is when I'm not on stage
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and he's taking the stage on his own and I can actually just watch him. That's what I love
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But we've had a laugh, haven't we? Just getting it together and... I'm not struggling to think of something
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I'm struggling to articulate it. And it's absolutely for me is, you know
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I still, she may be my partner in crime, but she is still Frances Ruffell
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And Frances Ruffell... And he is still Norman Bowman. Which is not the same
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But to be sharing a stage and to be performing with and up close to Frances Ruffell
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and, you know, I've had friends come to see her and they get bewitched to, you know, by that style
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by that very inimitable voice. And all those, well, I can say all those years
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of being just one of the most unique voices in musical theatre ever
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Like, you know, so that's the third line. I don't know what to say
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He never taught me this. Don't say nothing. Don't speak. Don't speak
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You can't speak. You have to sit there and take it all in. Let's talk about some of the numbers
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I love Brigadoon. And when I saw this, I mean, I know your background, Norman
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So I mean, can you give us a little like, like, what are you doing for Brigadoon? Is there a number you're doing
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It's just one number. And look, we don't want to tempt too many people
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into the belief that we're doing complete. And we do about 18 songs
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and some of them are literally like half a minute. Some of them are like full blown
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Some of them blend into each other, don't they? Yeah, they segue
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Yeah, because they tell a story. We've made them tell the story. Yeah, almost like being in love makes it in
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But it is still kind of somewhat fleeting. It's barely a minute long
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But it's the magic of, I think, the folkiness of Scotland combined with the musicality of musical theatre
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You know, combining those two worlds is actually quite easy because I think the tunes are just, they're all, they're all
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they lull you, you know, there's a bit of Palo Nettini. Yeah, but also, so we do chop and change quite a lot
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you know, which is usual for my shows, you know, my shows. But when you get to a full song, it's just like, oh, yeah
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and we do, we do, I mean, we don't want to tell you all the songs because it will spoil it
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But then we do do Country House, which I don't know if you know the Sondheim
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I mean, it's literally one of the hardest songs in the world, in the world. But that's, it's such good fun
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So, you know, that's the sort of, it goes from something like, we've even got Dusty Springfield and then you've got Sondheim
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You know, it really changes genre all the time. See, I love that
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Like I said, I've fallen in love with your concept of your shows a long time ago
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And when you just mentioned Country House, I got goosebumps from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head
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because it tells part of your story together, which I think is so good
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About how you both live in the music and you, was it, was it easy to choose songs
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Was it hard? Did the songs come first for this concert? Yeah, very much so, very much so
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And, but it's, it's wonderful how easy the rest seem to come to us
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And that's when you know that you're onto something good because it's, it's, it's almost feels effortless
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and putting it together on a, on a drawing board. Of course, the execution is something else
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But to kind of have, you know, there's, there's an, there's an argument in, in the middle
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Don't give it away. No, I think it's worth saying that we sat there all night
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and we thought we need something here. And very simply, we Googled argument song
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and found this wonderful old-fashioned quaint thing that inspired a chunk in the middle. Yeah
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We're already talking about imperfect relationships. So, yeah, yeah. There's going to be arguments, but
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We never have them though, do we, babe? No, no. But here's the other thing
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This isn't just, this isn't really just our, in fact, it's not our relationship
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because we've been together a year and a half. We kind of play characters in, in the, in the piece as well
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We've both, we've both had enough relationships. Exactly. To kind of be able to form what we, we see as a
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a slight commonality, but that's lifted with the amazing songs. Well, I want to talk about iconic roles
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that you both played so many iconic roles on stage. But I want to start with Frankie
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I mean, Les Miserables, Eponine, On My Own. I want to ask you, what did that role
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and that show mean to you then? And what does it mean to you now? Well, then when I got offered it, I didn't really know
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I just, honestly, I, I heard it was called Les Miserables and I thought, oh, that's a terrible name
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It will never hit. And then in rehearsals, that was when I realized
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I was in something very special, really special. Of course, I didn't know how special and how to
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the fact that today it's one of the most favorite shows of the world still
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I think, I mean, I was always grateful and I absolutely loved doing it. But I think now at this age, I'm so grateful
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that that has given me so many opportunities in my life. And my gosh, you know, to be, to originate a role like that
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It's very rare to have something like that ever in your life in musical theater
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So I'm truly grateful to that. I mean, you won every conceivable award
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including the Tony award. And I mean, just, I'm sure the fans ask you all the time
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will you sing on my own? And, you know, I don't know what your answer is, but I mean, I know it's not always a
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I can tell you that one, of course I'll sing it. Yeah, yeah
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Well, in New York, we haven't sung it in London though. I'm not sure about London. It's funny when you do it at home, sorry, London
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But definitely in New York, yeah. No, because there are so many people who, you know
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I was fortunate enough to see you on Broadway create that. And there are so many people who live vicariously
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through, you know, clips or have listened to the CD. And I mean, then they get to see you in concert
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I'm like, oh my God, there's the original. There's Frances Ruffell in person in a cabaret
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that holds 120 people. And they're watching you make magic. I think it's gotta be so special
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I hope so. I mean, yes, it will be special. Yes, it will be. Yeah
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And then Norman, I love your career because you move effortlessly between musical theater and Shakespeare
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Yeah, I guess that is quite effortless. But there is, I'm gonna say that I owe almost
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all of even the Shakespeare element to Rob Ashford. Yeah. Because the connection, the connect
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I did have one previous connection with Shakespeare prior to doing Guys and Dolls
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where Rob was the choreographer. But his partnership from then on with the likes of Michael Grandage and Kenneth Branagh
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then gave me some of my most amazing experiences with Shakespeare. Because they've just collaborated so often
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And Rob was invited to be co-director on Macbeth with Branagh. And he was bringing in musical theater people
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He recognized that our limitations over here are not the same, are viewed the same in America
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We don't have limitations, let's be honest. In America, they seem to celebrate
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you are a performer, you have a goal at anything, any media
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But here, unfortunately, it's a little bit more difficult. So to be invited to audition for something like Macbeth
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and for Kenneth Branagh and for Rob, Rob's been my most prolific employer
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He's incredible. And yeah, because of that, I ended up getting other Shakespeare jobs
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And it's given me the confidence to also walk into others. But I've always loved Shakespeare since I went to college
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And I'm feeling ready for it again, by the way, after a year of ABBA
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Yeah, but it was great because you did the whole New York thing, didn't you
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Yeah, yeah. So he did that piece in New York. Came over in 2014. Yeah
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I've always said to students, if my career had stopped after that production
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in New York with Branagh at the Armory, I would have been happy with everything
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that had led up to that point. Thankfully, it's kept going, but it's still a pinnacle, a true, true pinnacle
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Because that's one of your favourite roles, Ross in Macbeth, right? Well, yeah
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I mean, God, I would love to have a go at some of the other bigger roles, but I'll happily step aside and take a smaller role
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when you've got Branagh in Macbeth or you've got Jude Law in Henry V
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or Don Warrington in King Lear or Derek Jacoby in Malvolio. I mean, I had an amazing tutor at college
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and unfortunately, he died in 2008. So he never got to see me do any of the stuff that I've done
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But any pride that comes from doing it is because if he's out there in the ether
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I know that he would be sharing in those kind of successes
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Yeah. You're going to grow into all those other roles. I've spoken to all these great actors who said
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you know, the nice thing about Shakespeare is you can always grow into these dynamite roles
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Absolutely. And I know that actors develop at different speeds and at different ages
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but I certainly feel like I'm coming into an era for myself
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whereby I feel much more confident. And I'm going to say Mamma Mia, strangely enough
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has given me even more confidence because the way I sat in that portrayal of Sam this year
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is very different from when I did it 12 years ago. And I want to remember, I want to take it forward
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and I want to throw all kind of inhibitions aside and just go for whatever I can
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I love Shakespeare. It's enriching. It's just magic for me. Actually one song, I'm not going to tell you what it is
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but it does come from a Shakespeare musical. Yeah. Yeah. We found that in one of our
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Yeah, it's a very rare one. American Shakespeare based musical. That's all I'll give
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Okay. I'm not going to give it away, but I guarantee you, I think I can guess what the show is
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but I'm going to wait for either November 10th or 11th. You can just message us after
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And I'm going to be like, oh, I bet you it's from that show. But that had a really great score
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It's from a musical, right? It is. You're not thinking the obvious one, Kiss Me Kate, right
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No, no, no, no, no. I think after we get off- No, no, no, no, no
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I knew your knowledge would be far deeper than just- But it's so funny that Rob Ashford turned you on to Shakespeare
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because, you know, Shakespeare is so musical to begin with. And I've talked to many directors who said
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Shakespeare is one of the most musical things to do. So it just makes total sense between Rob Ashford
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and Michael Grandage and, you know, Kenneth Brown. They took musical theatre people to carry on in these incredible roles
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But like I said, I bet many friends see you in a lot of stuff and they just have fallen in love with you in Shakespeare
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And they saw you as Sam in Mamma Mia. Well, I love that they can exist side by side
23:07
So I want to ask you about playing 54 Below. Francis, you played there numerous times
23:12
Norman, have you been on that stage yet? This is a stuff of folklore for me
23:17
First, let's talk to Francis. How exciting, what makes it so magical playing at 54 Below
23:24
Well, 54 Below, first of all, it's below Studio 54, which is so cool
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But also, I just love the space. The way it's laid out, you can see everybody in the room
23:37
Everybody gets to see you. You don't feel like you're having to sort of crane your neck
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or constantly be, you know, some rooms, you constantly have to sort of be like that
23:45
This is like really the perfect stage. And you're up high as well
23:51
But also what I love is the American audiences. They clap at everything
23:57
The Brits are quite quiet. I love performing in New York. I really do
24:03
And everyone so much, there's more enthusiasm in the audience. And that's what I love
24:11
Yeah. Norman, what did she tell you? Like, we're going to New York, we're playing 54 Below
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What did she told you about what the experience is going to be like? But what are your expectations
24:21
Um, I mean, it's not that you haven't, you won't have said very much
24:27
but the excitement with which you broached the subject. And of course, I was immediately excited about that
24:34
because I've never performed there other than with MACKers. So to kind of make it just, you know, to be there and singing
24:44
at this one, at the legendary venue. Well, that's enough for me anyway
24:50
My expectations, I never have expectations. I only have open-mindedness and a sense of, let's see what happens
24:59
Because I've certainly learned, you know, if you define those expectations, you might be disappointed
25:07
or you might be absolutely kind of satisfied with that. But I'm just stoked
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I'm just utterly stoked to be able to sing in that place with this woman
25:19
People in the UK, you know, people that are interested in theatre
25:25
they know 54 Below. It's very famous. So it's, you know, very iconic place to be doing cabaret
25:31
It is indeed. I mean, we've, maybe equivalent Ronnie Scott's. Yeah, Ronnie Scott's everybody knows
25:38
Yeah, we, yeah. But Crazy Cocks is still relatively new. So we don't have a direct comparison. Yeah
25:45
Well, you two are going to have the time of your life. Well, once again, Frances Raffael and Norman Bowman
25:51
are bringing their brand new show, Frankie and Bozie, to 54 Below on November 10th and 11th at 7pm
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It is not to be missed. For tickets, please visit 54below.org. I've had the time of my life sitting with the two of you here at Broadway World
26:09
Us too. Time of my life. I will see you on one of those nights
26:14
Everybody get your ticket to see them at 54 Below. I love you
26:18
Thank you so much. Love you too
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