Broadway actor Gavin Creel, who won a Tony Award for his performance in the Bette Midler revival of “Hello, Dolly!,” has died at the age of 48 in his home in Manhattan.
The lights on Broadway will shine a little less. With a heavy heart, we mourn the loss of talented actor and devoted activist, Gavin Creel. pic.twitter.com/CBaIy2PMO3
— Shubert Organization (@ShubertOrg) September 30, 2024
From the New York Times:
His death was confirmed by his partner, Alex Temple Ward, via a publicist, Matt Polk. The cause was metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma, which Mr. Creel learned he had in July.
Mr. Creel made his Broadway debut and received his first Tony nomination in 2002 as the suave salesman Jimmy Smith in the original production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” starring opposite Sutton Foster, who played the title character, a spunky social climber named Millie Dillmount.
He went on to find success in a string of Broadway revivals, playing the straight son of a gay couple in “La Cage aux Folles” (which opened in 2004); the leader of a tribe of hippies in “Hair” (2009); a womanizing clerk in “She Loves Me” (2016); a callow clerk in “Hello, Dolly!” (2017); and both a prince and a wolf in “Into the Woods” (2022).
Upon winning the Tony Award in 2017, he told the San Francisco Chronicle: “The Tony really felt like a hug from the community I’ve been in for 20 years,. That feels good. I can literally do nothing else in my life and I’m still a Tony winner. I will never not have done that.”
RIP Broadway star Gavin Creel who has died aged 48 — just two months after being diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of sarcoma. So very sad. pic.twitter.com/aC81KJlyrV
— Carl Woodward (@mrcarl_woodward) September 30, 2024
Last year he became a Grammy Award winner as well as part of the revival cast recording of Into The Woods. A champion of gay rights, he was a co-founder of Broadway Impact, an advocacy group that mobilized the New York theatre community in the pursuit of marriage equality.
Gavin Creel had such incredible presence and charisma. From “She Loves Me” to “Thoroughly Modern Millie” to “Hello, Dolly” to that performance of “Take Me or Leave Me” with Aaron Tveit that I have seen (redacted) times. The world lost an irreplaceable talent today. pic.twitter.com/TK5iyRK3PU
— Rohita Kadambi (@RohitaKadambi) September 30, 2024
Our hearts are broken beyond description to learn about the passing of Gavin Creel, an unparalleled artist, activist, and songwriter with one of the biggest hearts on Broadway.
Our thoughts are with his loved ones and the entire Broadway community. What a devastating loss. pic.twitter.com/dSzuvqqOZt — BroadwayHD (@BroadwayHD) September 30, 2024
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