Tony winner Gavin Creel wowed in “Hello, Dolly!” and “Into the Woods”

Gavin Creel was always so vibrant on stage that it's hard to accept the news of his tragic death at the age of 48. Every time I saw him, I was struck by his outstanding talent.

He had a way of combining innocence with irony that made him the most sincere, dashing, and endearing Broadway ham of his time. And by “ham” I mean, of course, a musical comedy virtuoso.

His colleagues, mourning his loss, praised him as he shared the spotlight with them. In an interview I conducted with Ben Platt while he was starring in the 2023 Broadway revival of Parade, he called Creel the “coolest” example of what he aspired to be as a musical theater artist and contemporary recording artist.

It wasn't just Creel's handsome looks or his majestic singing that unnerved you. These qualities were undoubtedly evident in his Tony Award-winning performance in the 2017 revival of Hello, Dolly! with Bette Midler. The Ohio native, who died of cancer, also received Tony nominations for his starring roles in “Hair” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” If you want a taste of his magic, he's here opposite Jane Krakowski in the 2016 Broadway revival of “She Loves Me,” delivering the lovestruck number “Ilona” in all her goofy, bawdy, crooning ways Rekindle euphoria.

What set Creel's performances apart was his ability to simultaneously be the butt of a joke and simultaneously in on the joke, a balancing act he managed perfectly again in the 2022 Broadway revival of “Into the Woods,” doing both played both the wolf and the prince of Cinderella. When the production arrived at the Ahmanson last summer, I noticed that Creel “infused every line he delivered with delicious originality” had only gotten better.

When he, as a wolf, confronted Little Red Riding Hood in the forest, he sneaked up on her as if she were “a fried chicken he would like to go to bed with.” And in the role of the Prince of Cinderella, he turned into a “preening guy” who fully understands that he should be charming and not sincere, as the character himself explains at the end of the musical.

Creel, of course, managed to be both. The applause he and Jason Forbach received after they finished their beautiful, hilarious duet of “Agony,” one of the highlights of “Into the Woods,” was some of the loudest I've heard in my decades of theater-going. The anthem, sung by two entitled royal princes who see no reason to ever grow up, is so good that it's repeated for another round of ecstasy.

I have to believe that thunderous ovation still echoes in some corner of the Ahmanson.