Article published June 02, 2002
Findlay man could win one of Broadway's top awards tonight
Gavin Creel is nominated for a Tony award as best actor in a musical
By TAHREE LANE
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Gavin Creel, left, and Sutton Foster, the lead actor and actress in the Broadway musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie, hold their Tony award nominations. The two were nominated for best performance by a leading actor and actress in a musical
(
AP
)
|
Ten years ago, Gavin Creel was elated to have landed a part in Findlay High School's spring musical, Camelot.
Then, the sophomore read through the script and discovered his character had but two mono-syllabic words: "and mine."
"It was so embarrassing," said Creel, 26.
But that's ancient history (and besides, he added additional words, according to his mother). Singing and dancing in a new Broadway show, he's nominated for a Tony award for best leading actor in a musical.
Creel doesn't expect to win the Tony tonight, but is looking forward to performing a song and dance number with the cast of Thoroughly Modern Millie. Moments later, while he catches his breath backstage, he'll be introduced to America via television as one of the five nominees.
"I kind of won already. Just being singled out and being noticed by the community, especially when it's my first show," he said.
His competition is weighty: John Lithgow (Sweet Smell of Success), John Collum (Urinetown The Musical), John McMartin (Into the Woods), and Patrick Wilson (Oklahoma!). "I'm blessed to be in this company. I hope I have a career like they do," he said.
A 1998 graduate of the musical theater program at the University of Michigan, Gavin Creel plays the role of Jimmy Smith, a young bon vivant who dates a different girl every night and eventually falls in love with Millie, who doesn't want him. Millie has fled Kansas for the bright lights and exciting men of the Big Apple.
Set in 1922 when jazz was king and a white slavery ring just might be operating out of a women's rooming house, the show is a rewrite of the 1967 movie starring Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore, and Carol Channing.
"It's probably one of the simplest stories on the planet with a couple of weird twists," he said.
Six nights a week, Creel arrives at the theater at 6:30 p.m. and heads for his private dressing room. He does physical and vocal warmups and takes a hot shower which is especially helpful when he's suffering from bronchitis, as he was a few weeks ago.
Shortly after the curtain rises, he has one quick scene, and then is offstage for 45 minutes. Returning, he stays on stage for most of the remainder of the show.
The screenplay was rewritten and refreshed with 11 new songs. It opened in April at the Marquis Theatre at Broadway and 46th Street
A USA Today writer said it was "as welcome as a gooey ice cream sundae after a week-long fast," and called Creel "a potent singer and appealing actor." A reviewer at the New Jersey Star-Ledger said it was "bright, light, and splashy...a great big ball of fluff."
Nancy and Jim Creel, Gavin's parents, will be glued to their television tonight.
"It's just mind-boggling. I don't think it has really registered with us yet," said Ms. Creel, who has a wallpapering business in Findlay. Mr. Creel is a manager at Marathon Ashland Petroleum.
The youngest of their three children, Gavin was an inquisitive kid, bursting with energy. "He's always wanted to try everything. We had to rein him in somewhat," she said. "He's thanked me for not being a stage mom."
He swam, played piano, hung with an inseparable group of friends, and sang in church and school choirs. Ms. Creel plays piano and other instruments and Gavin's grandmother played piano duets with him when he was a child. They weren't convinced he could make a living as an actor. "We kept trying to point out the negatives but he said, `I don't care,'" she said.
They were concerned about him moving to New York City. "I knew what he was getting in to," she said. "But there's a very good support system from UM in New York City, and I knew he was going to stay with some of them."
Creel earned his Actor's Equity card the first of two summers he spent working at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera following his junior and senior years in college. From Pittsburgh, he arrived in New York City with two suitcases and $3,000.
Unable to find an acting job and seeing his cash dwindle, he applied to work in a restaurant. The day before he was to start, he received the call he was waiting for: He had landed a leading role in a national tour of Fame.
He toured with Fame for a year, traveling as far as Hawaii and Alaska. Back in New York, he alternated between unemployment and short stints in shows such as Honk and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
He went to dozens of auditions and got mini-jobs reading scripts being considered for production. "I was able to sustain myself and get known," he said. And he met theater people.
When he did a reading of a rock musical, he met Michael Mayer, who was scheduled to direct the upcoming Thoroughly Modern Millie. Mayer suggested Creel audition for the new show.
He tried out in February, 2001, was called back for a dance tryout in March, and for the last time in April to sing and read with Sutton Foster, the actress portraying Millie. The next day, he got the part.
"I got on my knees and prayed. And then I called my mom," he said.
But he wasn't out of the woods. It was a lean eight-month stretch before rehearsals began, and he was without work in one of the world's most expensive cities. He ate rice and beans, sang in the Broadway Inspirational Voices gospel choir, worked out, and exercised his voice.
He refused to get a "struggling actor" job waiting tables or opening doors at cushy apartments.
"I could have let money rule my life and get a job. But I decided as long as I didn't work, I could do creative things," he said. "I'm not going to win the Tony, but if by some stroke of luck I do, I'd tell people how broke I was but how unbelievably rich I was."
Someday, he says, he'll have a nice home and car, but now it's time to pay off debts and lay the groundwork for an acting career.
"I'm looking forward to June 3 when this wonderful Tony mess is over. People [in the cast] are just pooped," he said. In addition to performing Millie eight times a week, he has participated in several pre-Tony publicity promotions, banquets, and rehearsals leading up to tonight's awards show.
How will the Tony nomination change his career?
"It will up my price a little bit," he said. "I'm just hoping it will open some doors."
Permanent Link
|
|
 |
|
Search
advertisement
