Gavin Creel, a Broadway musical theater veteran who gained a Tony award for Hey, Dolly! reverse Bette Midler and earned nominations for Hair and Totally Trendy Millie, died Monday of a uncommon and aggressive type of most cancers. He was 48.
Publicist Matt Polk stated Creel died at his residence in Manhattan of metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma. He was identified in July of this 12 months.
“I appeared ahead to working with him each single evening. He was implausible. I can’t consider he’s gone. What a loss,” Midler wrote on X. Idina Menzel shared a photograph of Creelm on Instagram, writing, “Candy candy Gavin Creel. An angel among the many angels.”
Creel had a knack for Golden Age Broadway revivals, however he additionally carried out in trendy fare, like within the position of Dr Pomatter in Sara Bareilles’ musical Waitress on Broadway in 2019 and on the West Finish in 2020. He gained an Olivier award for The E-book of Mormon.
Composer and playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda recalled on social media that Creel was his first King George III when the soon-to-be-smash Hamilton was being workshopped: “He wrapped the viewers round his finger with nothing however a Burger King crown and his mind-blowing charisma and expertise. He’s so liked and it’s unimaginable that he’s now not with us.”
Creel was raised in Findlay, Ohio, and graduated in 1998 from the College of Michigan’s Faculty of Music, Theatre & Dance. He toured and did regional work earlier than touchdown the breakout position of Jimmy Smith, reverse then-fellow newcomer Sutton Foster, within the Broadway manufacturing of Totally Trendy Millie. He additionally labored on Stephen Sondheim’s penultimate musical, Bounce, directed by Hal Prince.
A key position was because the fastidious missionary Elder Worth in The E-book of Mormon. He starred within the present’s first nationwide tour in 2012 and took the position to London’s West Finish, the place he gained a Olivier award in 2014.
He performed Jean-Michel within the revival of La Cage Aux Folles in 2004 and returned to Broadway in 2009 as Claude Hooper Bukowski within the Public Theater’s revival of Hair.
Creel performed Steven Kodaly within the 2016 manufacturing of She Loves Me at Studio 54. The next season, Creel was tapped for the position of Cornelius Hackl, reverse legends Midler and David Hyde Pierce, within the smash 2017 revival of Hey, Dolly! directed by Jerry Zaks, successful the Tony for finest featured actor in a musical.
On the podium to simply accept his trophy, Creel thanked his school and added: “Should you’re on the market and you’ve got cash – and I do know some folks on this room have numerous it – begin a scholarship fund. Change somebody’s life.”
Creel turned a major voice throughout the theater trade by working to move the federal Marriage Equality Act. He teamed up with buddies Rory O’Malley and Jenny Kanelos to co-found the nonprofit group Broadway Affect.
Offstage, he performed the singing waiter Invoice within the movies Eloise on the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime alongside Julie Andrews. In 2021, he was forged in Ryan Murphy’s miniseries American Horror Tales reverse Matt Bomer. His 2022 solo live performance was filmed for the premiere episode of PBS’s Stars Onstage at Westport Nation Playhouse.
In 2022, Creel was forged in an off-Broadway live performance manufacturing of Sondheim and James Lapine’s fractured fairy story musical Into the Woods – Creel performed the roles of Cinderella’s Prince in addition to the Wolf. The present later transferred to Broadway and was prolonged a number of instances, incomes a Tony nomination for finest revival of a musical.
He’s survived by his mom, Nancy Clemens Creel, and father, James William Creel; his sisters, Heather Elise Creel and Allyson Jo Creel; and his accomplice, Alex Temple Ward.
