When Patrick Page first met his wife, Paige Davis, he was starring as Lumiere in the first national tour of Beauty and the Beast and she was playing the flirty feather duster, Babette. Since then, Page鈥檚 life has taken a dark turn. Instead of bubbly characters like the vivacious candelabra, Page has become the theatre鈥檚 go-to villain. Armed with his booming bass-baritone Page has played the title role in Dr. Seuss鈥� How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark鈥檚 Green Goblin, The Lion King鈥檚 Scar, The Hunchback of Notre Dame鈥檚 Frollo, Caesar鈥檚 Cassius, Othello鈥檚 Iago and, most recently, Hades, a version of the god of the underworld in the New York Theatre Workshop production of Ana茂s Mitchell鈥檚 new musical Hadestown.
This month, Page will take an intermission from evil-doing to star as Prospero in the Shakespeare Theatre Company鈥檚 production of The Tempest in Washington, D.C. Davis, who reprised her role as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway this past spring, dedicates her summer to Operation Backback, a school supply drive. Page explains that there鈥檚 more beneath the former Trading Spaces鈥� host鈥檚 perky exterior, and Davis says the charm that first attracted her to her husband 21 years ago is also what makes him one of the best bad guys in the business.
Paige, do you ever think about when you met in Beauty and the Beast and find it odd that you fell in love with a candle?
Paige Davis: I definitely looked sexier as a feather duster than he did as a candelabra, but he was very charming. What is most funny about it to me is that Patrick has quite the reputation for being the go-to villain in New York City, but when I met him he was playing Lumiere, who is the figurative and literal light of the play. I always wonder why after he met me all his roles became villains鈥�
It鈥檚 true! What is it about Patrick that makes him such a great villain?
PD: I think something that bad guys have is an incredibly alluring charm. Some of the most notorious villains in history have been incredibly charming. Patrick is extremely charming, and I certainly fell for that aspect of him.
What roles have you seen each other play that embody who the person actually is?
Patrick Page: To me [the role] that is most her and also, for me, her best work was in Sweet Charity. She played the title role in the national tour of the revival and it was just so full. I saw it many, many times and it grew tremendously every time I saw it.
PD: After he gave me notes.
PP: [laughs]. It really seemed like a major classical role when she was doing it. [Charity] was a fully three-dimensional human being, and she connected [the role] to a lot of stuff in her own life. I鈥檝e seen her play Roxie in Chicago a lot too, which I also think is very special. I鈥檝e had the chance to watch her in that role over a period of about 15 years, so that鈥檚 [been] an amazing process. Every time she does it鈥攎ost recently was a few months ago鈥攕he makes more progress and deepens it even more. I think both of those women have a lot of her in them. She also did a play called Dancing Lessons by Mark St. Germain that I really loved. That also had a lot of her in it. It had parts of her that I get to see, but most people don鈥檛 get to see very much. When everybody sees somebody as positive and鈥�
PD: Don鈥檛 say perky.
PP: Well, I mean as you are perceived to be. [They don鈥檛 know that type of person] can also really get down on themselves and get really sad and bitter and angry. Those were all things that came out in Dancing Lessons, so I really loved that show.
PD: My favorite role of his will always be Lumiere鈥� and not just because it鈥檚 when we met, although I think that鈥檚 part of it, but because Patrick has gotten this reputation of being such a great bad guy, but I鈥檓 not sure that he pops into people鈥檚 minds when it comes to playing these fun, full of life and light characters. He was sublime as Lumiere. No one has ever played it better, in my opinion. Also, one of his greatest performances I鈥檝e ever seen was when he played Cyrano at the Old Globe Theatre [in San Diego]. When that was over I said to him, 鈥淵ou should just quit now because you will never ever, ever top that performance.鈥� He was like, 鈥淭hanks for that hon.鈥�
What I love about Patrick鈥檚 work is that he never settles for less. Whether he鈥檚 playing Cyrano or Iago, or the Grinch, or Scar or Lumiere he treats all the material the same. When he played Norman Osborne and the Green Goblin in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, he had journal after journal about Norman Osborne. He developed this totally layered, whole human being as he would with any character that he was going to play. He never judges the work. He just judges his work.
Was Spider-Man a challenging time in your marriage?
PP: It was actually a really wonderful time in our marriage. Paige very frequently becomes the 鈥渕ama鈥� of the company that I鈥檓 in. They used to call her Mrs. Grinch at the Grinch. She just has a lot of love to give, so if she is in town and available she鈥檒l throw herself into the ensemble of whatever show I鈥檓 in, and I think the [Spider-Man] cast鈥攅specially the younger performers in the show鈥攔eally needed a lot of support. I had some context for what was going on around us. I had worked on new musicals and plays before, and I knew the process. The process of Spider-Man was unique. I鈥檓 not trying to downplay the fact that it was a challenging process, but I wasn鈥檛 thrown every time something changed, so I think Paige and I were able to lend an equilibrium and perspective inside the building, and it feels good to feel like you鈥檙e making a positive contribution to something.
PD: The time when his job affected me the most was when he was preparing to play Iago in Othello at the Shakespeare Theatre in D.C. He had quite rightly assessed that Iago was a psychopath, so he鈥檇 been doing massive amounts of research on individual psychopaths, and I remember that it happened to be around the time when the killer, BTK, had been discovered. Everything on TV was about psychopaths. There were books piled high in our apartment, and all he was talking about was psychopaths. I started to get afraid to leave the apartment!
SEE PHOTOS FROM PATRICK鈥楽 BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION DURING SPIDER-MAN:
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That would freak me out too! What is one role you鈥檇 love to see each other play?
PD: He wants to play Sweeney so bad.
That鈥檚 a great idea! Patrick, you鈥檇 be so good at that!
PP: Thank you. I have a few for her. They all have to do with me wanting to play opposite her. I want [us] to do Much Ado About Nothing. She鈥檚 not really comfortable with her Shakespeare skills yet, but she鈥檚 growing tremendously in that direction. The other one is Who鈥檚 Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Nobody would think of her for that, but there鈥檚 this side of her that very few people know, which is sarcastic and can be bitter. I think it could be really fun. The other one is the play Shadowlands. It was not well-reviewed when it was on Broadway, but it鈥檚 a beautiful play about C.S. Lewis and his wife, and I鈥檇 like very much to do that.
PD: I really want to do Chicago with him.
PP: Oh yeah we鈥檝e been talking about doing that for a long time, but the dates haven鈥檛 worked out.
He鈥檇 be the Billy Flynn to your Roxie?
PD: Yeah! And I鈥檇 really love to do Victor/Victoria as well. That would be a great one for us to do together. I would really love for people to be able to see Patrick show off his comedic skills. I think about a play like Twelfth Night, where everyone automatically thinks of him as Malvolio. He is a brilliant Malvolio, but I鈥檇 love to see him be [Sir Andrew] Aquecheek.
More of a clownish character?
PD: Yes. He would bring just as much depth and reality to that as anything else he would play. I think he could be a truly heartbreaking clown in the most wonderful way. I鈥檇 love for people to see his light again.
Do you have any tips or advice for having a long lasting relationship in the entertainment business?
PP: You have to work on it. If you think you鈥檙e just going to fall in love and stay in love and that it鈥檚 going to be easy or fun鈥攊f you think that鈥檚 the whole ball game鈥攜ou鈥檙e not going to make it.
PD: I would say the number one tip we have鈥攚hether you鈥檙e in the entertainment industry or not鈥攊s just to not give up. Don鈥檛 give up. Don鈥檛 leave.
PP: Unless you didn鈥檛 ever really want to be there in the first place. If you really made a commitment, then you can find your way back through a hard time.
What鈥檚 something that you do when you鈥檙e not quite on the same page?
PD: We eventually have to talk it through, and we go to a marriage therapist. That鈥檚 very helpful. But if we can鈥檛 talk for some reason, we can reach over in bed and touch each other鈥檚 feet. If we go foot to foot then that means everything is okay. Maybe it鈥檚 not okay right then, but it means that it will be okay.
