New York – Gavin Creel, a Broadway musical theater veteran who wrote “Hello, Dolly!” Won a Tony Award for. and nominations for “Hair” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” died Monday of a rare and aggressive form of cancer. He was 48 years old.
Publicist Matt Polk said Creel died of metabolic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma at his home in Manhattan. He was diagnosed in July 2024.
Creel was a fixture in Golden Age Broadway revivals, but also performed in modern roles such as the role of Dr. Pomatter in Sara Bareilles’ musical “Waitress” on Broadway in 2019 and on the West End in 2020. He won an Olivier Award for it. “The Book of Mormon.”
Composer and playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda recalled that Creel was his first King George III, when the production of the soon-to-be-fancied “Hamilton” was underway: “He gave the audience nothing but a Burger King crown and his brain.” He was very much loved with amazing charisma and talent and it is unimaginable that he is no longer with us.
Creel was raised in Findlay, Ohio, and graduated from the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theater and Dance. He toured and did regional work before landing the breakout role of Jimmy Smith opposite then-fellow newcomer Sutton Foster in the Broadway production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” He also worked on “Bounce”, the final song from Stephen Sondheim’s musical directed by Hal Prince.
He played Jean-Michel in the 2004 revival of “La Cage aux Folles” and returned to Broadway as Claude Hooper Bukowski in the Public Theater’s revival of Hair in 2009.
Associated Press critic Michael Kuchvara praised: “Gavin Creel, in addition to a powerful voice, brings a sweet-natured poignancy to Claude, the tribe’s saddest member. It’s Claude who has the most backstory in the show: a traditional, middle-class upbringing in Queens; An absolute fascination with all things British, expressed in the song “Manchester, England”; and an uneasy sense of duty that ultimately draws him into the Vietnam War. Krel handles it all with assurance.
He played the role of Steven Kodaly in the 2016 production of “She Loves Me” at Studio 54. The following season, Creel was cast in the role of Cornelius Hackle in the 2017 revival of “Hello” alongside veterans Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce. Dolly!” Directed by Jerry Jacques.
Creel became a primary voice within the theater industry by working to pass the federal Marriage Equality Act. She co-founded the non-profit organization Broadway Impact with friends Rory O’Malley and Jenny Kanellos.
Off the stage, he played singing waiter Bill in the films “Eloise at the Plaza” and “Eloise at Christmastime” with Julie Andrews. In 2021, she was cast in Ryan Murphy’s miniseries “American Horror Stories” alongside Matt Bomer. His 2022 solo concert was filmed for the premiere episode of PBS’s “Stars Onstage at Westport Country Playhouse”.
In 2022, Creel was cast in an off-Broadway concert production of Sondheim and James Lapine’s fragmented fairy tale musical “Into the Woods”, with Creel playing Cinderella’s Prince as well as the Wolf. The show later transferred to Broadway and was extended several times, earning a Tony nomination for Best Revival of a Musical.
He is survived by his mother, Nancy Clemens Creel, and father, James William Creel; his sisters, Heather Alice Creel and Alison Jo Creel; and her partner, Alex Temple Ward.
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