Dimming the Lights for Ohio-Born Broadway Star Gavin Creel (1976-2024)

Gavin Creel was born and raised in Findlay, Ohio. He graduated from Findlay High School and, after that, the University of Michigan. Not everyone with such a thoroughly midwestern pedigree could survive amidst the bright lights of Broadway in New York City. I mean, can a person even get deep-fried ravioli there?

But Creel not only survived – as the old song goes, he rose to the top of the heap. Gifted with an arresting tenor, dazzling charisma, and square-jawed good looks that lent themselves to playing either a romantic lead or a caddish rascal, Creel started working in musical theatre as soon as he graduated from college and he never stopped – She Loves Me, Hello Dolly!, Into the Woods, The Book of Mormon, Waitress, Hair, Mary Poppins, Thoroughly Modern Millie, I mean c’mon guy, leave some roles for the other fellas.

With that work ethic and his virtuosic chops, it’s not surprising that Creel was celebrated by audiences. What’s striking, though, is how beloved he was by his theatrical collaborators. Creative geniuses don’t have to be jerks, though so many of them are that you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a prerequisite. But Creel’s tragically early death has been followed by a torrential outpouring of testimonials from dozens of co-stars and fellow artists like Sutton Foster about his kindness, his generosity, his humility, his sincerity, his good humor, his overall mensch-itude. Maybe it was that fundamental midwesternness of his holding fast.

It’s a genuinely grievous loss that we’re robbed of all the work the talented Creel would have created if granted more time. But it’s a gift to us that he got to do all he did.