Gavin Creel (1976-2024)
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Broadway musical star, Tony award-winner, sunny tenor and activist Gavin Creel – known for his work at the Goodman Theatre, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Broadway’s "Thoroughly Modern Millie," "The Book of Mormon," "Hair," "Hello, Dolly!" and “Into The Woods” – has passed away from a rare form of spinal cancer at the age of 48. Gavin performed in starring roles on Broadway for two decades, and was known for both his physical and vocal agility, charisma and curiosity as well as his advocacy on behalf of marriage equality.
Gavin started working professionally almost immediately after graduating from college, playing an acting student named Nick Piazza in a touring production of “Fame.” He then made his Broadway debut and received his first Tony nomination in 2002 as the suave salesman Jimmy Smith in the original production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” starring opposite Sutton Foster. He went on to find success in a string of Broadway revivals, playing the straight son of a gay couple in the 2004 “La Cage aux Folles.” Gavin starred in West End productions of “Mary Poppins” (2006) and “Waitress” (2020), and was close friends with the singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, who wrote the songs for “Waitress,” and the two briefly performed together in the show on Broadway in 2019 and again in the West End; they also later appeared together in “Into the Woods.” He went on to play the leader of a tribe of hippies in “Hair” (2009); a womanizing clerk in “She Loves Me” (2016); a callow clerk in “Hello, Dolly!” (2017); and both a prince and a wolf in “Into the Woods” (2022). Gavin was nominated for a second Tony as Claude in “Hair” (a role he reprised in London in 2010). Starting in 2012, he spent several years in “The Book of Mormon,” playing Elder Price, the perfectionist missionary, in that show’s first national tour. He then played the role in the West End production, winning the Olivier in 2014, and again as a replacement performer on Broadway, beginning in 2015. In 2017, he won the Tony for best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical by playing Cornelius Hackl in a popular “Hello, Dolly!” revival that starred Bette Midler. He also starred in Disney’s Mary Poppins, the world premieres of “Prometheus Bound” (A.R.T.), Stephen Sondheim’s “Bounce” (Goodman Theatre & Kennedy Center), and “The New Classics: Songs from the New Golden Age of Musical Theater” (Lyric Opera of Chicago). On TV, Gavin co-starred alongside Julie Andrews in ABC’s “Eloise at the Plaza” and “Eloise at Christmastime.” He released three original albums: “GoodTimeNation,” “Quiet” (which landed on “Billboard’s Top Heat Seekers”) and “Get Out.” He wrote and performed a memoiristic show Off Broadway called “Walk on Through: Confessions of a Museum Novice,” about learning to love the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His single, “Noise,” raised money and awareness for marriage equality. Gavin was a co-founder of Broadway Impact, the first and only grassroots organization to mobilize the nationwide theater community in support of marriage equality. In 2009, he persuaded the producers of “Hair” to cancel a performance so that the show’s cast and crew could participate in a gay rights march in Washington. Gavin James Creel grew up in Findlay OH. His grandmother was a music teacher, and from an early age Gavin would perform shows in the family living room with his two older sisters. He was a high school swimmer, but found greater meaning as a performer, singing in show choir and acting in musicals — and went on to become a proud graduate of University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance. He credited the school with helping him find his way. “My education there as a young person changed my life forever,” he said while accepting his Tony Award. He also credited his success with growing up in the Midwest: “I think that the main reason I’m successful is because I’m kind, I’m easy to work with and I’m a team player,” he told The Blade of Toledo, Ohio. “And that’s not ’cause I’m a great person, it’s because of the values I learned being from Ohio and having good parents who instilled in me that ‘you’re a part of something, you’re not the something.’” Gavin is survived by his longtime partner, Alex Temple Ward; his parents, Nancy Clemens Creel and James William Creel; and his sisters, Heather Elise Creel and Allyson Jo Creel. |