Gavin Creel Dies: Broadway Star Of ‘Hello, Dolly!’, ‘Waitress’, ‘Into The Woods’ Was 48
In stunning and sad news, Gavin Creel, one of Broadway’s most popular and acclaimed leading men, died in Manhattan today just two months after being diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of sarcoma. He was 48.
His death was confirmed by his partner Alex Temple Ward. Creel had undergone treatment at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering for metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma after being diagnosed in July. After his treatment at the hospital, he transitioned to hospice care at his home.
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One of Broadway’s top musical theater artists, Creel made his Broadway debut in 2002 in a lead role of Thoroughly Modern Millie, earning a Tony Award nomination, a feat he’d repeat seven years later in what would become a signature performance as Claude in the 2009 Broadway revival of Hair.
From 2012 to 2015, he starred as Elder Price in The Book of Mormon, a role he’d reprise in an Olivier-winning performance for the musical’s West End production.
In 2017, he received a Tony Award for his performance as Cornelius in Broadway’s Hello, Dolly! opposite Bette Midler.
Other stage credits of his include La Cage aux Folles (2004), She Loves Me (2016), Waitress (2019), and Into the Woods (2022), among many others. TV credits include American Horror Story and Central Park, both in 2021.
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Born Gavin James Creel on April 18, 1976, in Findlay, Ohio, Creel displayed musical talent from a young age, often singing along as his grandmother, a music teacher, played the piano. He sang his first solo – “Gary, Indiana” from The Music Man – in an elementary school production.
After high school graduation, Creel attended the Department of Musical Theater at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance, where he ultimately received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1998. There, he met his voice teacher and lifelong friend, Melody Racine, with whom he studied during his education and long after.
In 2002, after performing regionally and touring the nation, Creel landed the breakout role of Jimmy Smith, opposite fellow newcomer Sutton Foster, in the Broadway production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. His performance earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role in a Musical.
After Millie, Creel originated the role of Hollis Bessemer out-of-town in Stephen Sondheim’s penultimate musical Bounce, directed by Hal Prince. From there, Creel continued his Broadway career playing Jean-Michel in the revival of La Cage Aux Folles.
Creel returned to Broadway in 2009 as Claude Hooper Bukowski in the Public Theater’s revival of Hair, earning a second Tony nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.
Around this time, Creel became a leading activist and organizer in the Broadway community, lobbying for the federal Marriage Equality Act, co-founding the non-profit organization Broadway Impact and, with cast mates in Hair, raising money and awareness for LGBTQ+ issues. He convinced the revival’s producers to cancel a performance so the company could participate in the historic Equality March on Washington DC in 2009.
Creel made his West End debut in 2006 as Bert in Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins and reprised his Hair role in the West End transfer in 2010. Creel then went on to win the 2014 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical for playing Elder Price the The Book of Mormon, a role he had already toured around the United States and would then play on Broadway.
In 2016, Creel played Steven Kodaly in the 2016 production of She Loves Me at Studio 54, and the following season played the role of Cornelius Hackl, opposite Midler and David Hyde Pierce, in the hit 2017 revival of Hello, Dolly!, directed by Jerry Zaks. That year, he swept the awards circuit, winning the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Tony Awards for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
Creel appeared opposite his friend Sara Bareilles in two productions: He performed the role of Dr. Pomatter in Bareilles’ musical Waitress on Broadway in 2019 and on the West End in 2020, and then in 2022 he and Bareilles were cast in the hugely popular Encores! production of Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods. The sold-out run soon transferred to a limited Broadway engagement and was extended multiple times by popular demand before heading out on a national tour in 2023.
Though primarily a stage star, Creel also ventured into television and film, playing the singing waiter Bill in the films Eloise at the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime alongside Dame Julie Andrews. In 2021, he was cast in Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Stories opposite Matt Bomer, and in 2022, his solo concert was filmed for the premiere episode of PBS’ Stars Onstage at Westport Country Playhouse.
Creel also wrote music and began producing albums with his friend and collaborator Robbie Roth, the first of which was entitled Goodtimenation (2006). Creel’s other musical releases include Quiet (2010), Get Out (2012), and his single Noise (2011), which raised funds and awareness for marriage equality.
In 2019, Creel received a commission from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s MetLiveArts Department and began work on what would become an ambitious song cycle based on pieces in the Met’s collections and the impressions they left upon him. After debuting at the Met in 2021, he received a residency and developmental workshop at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in 2022 and an industry presentation at the Signature Center Theater in New York City later that year. In November 2023, Creel’s debut musical, Walk on Through: Confessions of a Museum Novice, premiered Off Broadway at the MCC Theater, featuring 17 original songs written, played, and performed by Creel, with direction by Linda Goodrich and musical collaboration with dear friends Madeline Benson and Chris Peters.
Creel is preceded in death by his maternal grandparents Homer and Mildred Clemens, by his paternal grandparents James and Elizabeth Creel; and by his cousin Amy P. Walker.
In addition to his partner Alex Temple Ward, he is survived by his mother Nancy Clemens Creel and father James Wiliiam Creel, and sisters Heather Elise Creel and Allyson Jo Creel and her wife Jen Kolb.
A funeral service will be private, but a memorial will be planned at a future date. The family requests that gifts in Creel’s memory be made to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids.
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