Gavin Creel was always so alive on stage that it’s hard to accept the news of his tragic death at age 48. Every time I saw him, I took notice of his blazing talent.
He had a way of blending innocence with irony that made him the most sincere, dashing and lovable Broadway ham of his era. And by “ham,” I mean of course musical comedy virtuoso.
His peers, who are grieving his loss, were singling him out for praise when he was sharing the spotlight with them. In an interview I did with Ben Platt, when he was starring in the 2023 Broadway revival of “Parade,” he held Creel up as the “coolest” example of what he aspired to do as a musical theater performer and contemporary recording artist.
It wasn’t just Creel’s handsome looks or majestic singing that stopped you in your tracks. These qualities certainly were on display in his Tony-winning performance in the 2017 revival of “Hello, Dolly!”, starring Bette Midler. The actor, an Ohio native who died of cancer, also received Tony nominations for his lead performances in “Hair” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” If you want a taste of his magic, here he is opposite Jane Krakowski in the 2016 Broadway revival of “She Loves Me,” making the love-drunk number “Ilona” live again in all its daffy, bawdy, crooning euphoria.
What made Creel’s performances stand out was his ability to be simultaneously the butt of a joke and in on the joke, a balancing act he pulled off again to perfection in the 2022 Broadway revival of “Into the Woods” playing both the Wolf and Cinderella’s Prince. When the production came to the Ahmanson last summer, I noted that Creel, “infusing every line reading with delectable originality,” had only gotten better.
When as the Wolf he confronted Little Red Riding Hood in the woods, he sidled up to her as though “she were a rotisserie chicken he’d like to bed.” And in the role of Cinderella’s Prince, he turned himself into “a preening fop” who understands full well that he’s meant to be charming, not sincere, as the character himself explains late in the musical.
Creel, of course, managed to be both. The applause Jason Forbach and he received after finishing their gorgeous, hilarious duet of “Agony,” one of the high points of “Into the Woods,” was some of the loudest I’ve heard in my decades of theatergoing. The anthem, sung by two entitled royal princes who see no reason to ever grow up, is so good it’s reprised for another round of ecstasy.
I have to believe that those thunderous ovations are still echoing in some corner of the Ahmanson.
