As one of the title characters in Paper Mill Playhouse’s mounting of the Tony Award-winning comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Philippe Bowgen puts to good use his classical training and the hours spent at the gym. Bowgen slays audiences as Spike, the dim-witted, rarely-clothed boytoy whose arrival shakes up the lives of two suburban siblings. Below, BroadwayBox gets to know Bowgen with 10 random questions ranging from Chekhov to greasy pizza.
1. My best Halloween costume ever:
I was a garbage bag in third grade. The story goes: I forgot to bring my Spider-Man costume; so when I arrived at school, discovered my dilemma—I cried uncontrollably and then my mom, in a heroic effort, opened the trunk, cut holes in a trash bag for my arms and legs, stuffed the bag with newspapers, had me step in, tied it around the neck, and we rubbed some tire grease on my cheeks. I was the trash.
2. If I could give Spike one piece of advice:
Listen to your elders, bro.
3. My movie-star crush when I was Spike’s age was:
Well, Spike and I are the same age—29. So who....it's a crush between Charlize Theron and Benedict Cumberbatch.
4. Chekhov character I relate to the most:
Truly, I often feel awkward in social scenarios and it takes me a bit of time to warm up and talk to people—Solyony in Three Sisters is like that.
5. My hidden talent is:
Buy me a drink, first.
6. Cast recording I’ve worn out from so many listens:
I'm not a huge musical theatre guy, so this is hard for me—but I love John and Jen because I was asked to sing a song from it in grad school and fell in love with the story. I guess it's a more obscure one...but I'm totally going to see the new production starring Kate Baldwin at Keen Company.
7. Shakespearean role I’m dying to play:
Caliban [The Tempest], hands down. He's amazing and damaged and smart and rough. And fun!
8. My happy place is:
My apartment in Morningside. Family and the couch. Couldn't be better.
9. My favorite ball-out, cheat-day meal is:
Pizza. Koronet Pizza on Broadway between 110 and 111 has gigantic slices of greasy delicious pizza. One slice is a meal itself, but two is my guilty pleasure and will send me into a food coma.
10. Movie that can always make me laugh and movie that can always make me cry:
I'll always laugh to the movie Nacho Libre. Do you know the movie Bright Star about the poet John Keats? Sobbing. Uncontrollably.
See Philippe Bowgen as Spike in ‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’ at the Paper Mill Playhouse through February 15.
