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NEW YORK — Gavin Creel, a Broadway musical thater veteran who received a Tony Award for “Hiya, Dolly!” and nominations for “Hair” and “Totally Trendy Millie,” died Monday of a uncommon and aggressive type of most cancers. He was 48.
Publicist Matt Polk mentioned Creel died at his house in Manhattan of metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma. He was identified in July 2024.
Creel had a knack for Golden Age Broadway revivals, however he additionally carried out in fashionable fare just like the position of Dr. Pomatter in Sara Bareilles’ musical “Waitress” on Broadway in 2019 and on the West Finish in 2020. He received an Olivier Award for “The Ebook of Mormon.”
Composer and playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda recalled 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 cherished and it’s unimaginable that he’s now not with us.”
Creel was raised in Findlay, Ohio, and graduated from the College of Michigan 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.
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.
The Related Press’ critic Michael Kuchwara was stuffed with reward: “Gavin Creel, moreover possessing a powerhouse voice, brings a sweet-tempered poignancy to Claude, essentially the most anguished member of the tribe. It’s Claude who has essentially the most again story within the present: a standard, middle-class upbringing in Queens; a complete fascination with all issues British, expressed within the music “Manchester, England”; and an uneasy sense of responsibility that finally will get him drafted and into the Vietnam Battle. Creel handles all of it with assurance.”
He 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 Bette Midler and David Hyde Pierce, within the smash 2017 revival of “Hiya, Dolly!” directed by Jerry Zaks.
Creel grew to become a major voice inside the theater trade by working to go the federal Marriage Equality Act. He teamed up with associates Rory O’Malley and Jenny Kanelos to co-found the nonprofit group Broadway Impression.
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 solid 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 solid 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 occasions, 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 companion, Alex Temple Ward.
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