Audra McDonald donates her late friend Gavin Creel. for the inspiration for her latest Broadway role.
During the interview for Broadway show with Tamsen FadalThe six-time Tony winner, 54, revealed that Creel once told her she had to play Mama Rose in Gypsy.
The actress is now set to play the bossy acting mother in the upcoming Broadway revival, which begins previews on Thursday, November 21st at the Majestic Theater in New York before the official opening on Thursday, December 19th.
In a preview of her conversation with correspondent Paul Wontorek posted to Instagram on Monday, Oct. 28, McDonald revealed that she and husband Will Swenson — who starred with Creel in the 2009 Broadway revival. Hair — “had Thanksgiving dinner about eight years ago.” And one of the guests was Creel.
“We spent a lot of Thanksgivings together,” she recalled. – He is a very close member of our family.
From left: Audra McDonald and Gavin Creel on May 15, 2011.
Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic
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McDonald went on to say that “[Creel] he drags me into the garage after we eat and he says, ‘Hey, I want to talk to you about something. You must play Rose Gypsy. You have to do it. You have to do it. It’s just right. You should be black and baby you gotta do it.’ ”
She said Creel insisted she take on the famous role previously played by theater icons such as Patti LuPone, Ethel Merman, Tyne Daly and Angela Lansbury. “You have to figure out how you’re going to do it. You absolutely have to do this,” she recalled him saying.
The watch veteran said Creel even contacted the show’s current director, George C. Wolfe, about the idea of a revival starring McDonald. “A few years ago, Gavin cornered George and said, ‘Are you going to direct Audra in this? Because you have to,'” she recounted. “So he kind of put it in my head.”
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Audra McDonald (center) and the cast of ‘Gypsy’.
Marc J. Franklin
George Clooney, Denzel Washington, Robert Downey Jr. and all the stars go to Broadway
Creel — best known for his work on Broadway in the A thoroughly modern Millie, Hair, She loves me and Hello Dolly! — died on September 30 at the age of 48 amid treatment for a rare and aggressive form of cancer called sarcoma. His death was confirmed by his partner, actor Alex Temple Ward.
After the loss, McDonald posted a tribute to the actor on Instagram. She shared a picture of the late actor’s head smiling while wearing a gray turtleneck and wrote: “He was light and love incarnate. Fly sweet Gavin, fly.”
Later, on October 22, Swenson wrote a tribute to their late friend for American theaterlooking back on his time playing close friends Claude and Berger Hair. “While we were opening Hair I was going through a really difficult divorce on Broadway. I don’t recommend it. On the day of our opening I got some very frustrating news about it and I was telling Gav how I was afraid it was going to spoil the whole opening experience for me,” he wrote.
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From left: Audra McDonald, Will Swenson and Gavin Creel on June 1, 2009.
Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic
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He added: “Gavin said, ‘Absolutely not, Wilson! We’re meeting at the theater at noon, we’re going to play some music and we’re going to paint our dressing room hallway with huge, beautiful hippie graffiti.’ ”
“And that’s what we did. Buckets of paint. Giant peace signs. Our favorite lines from the show. Beads, flowers, freedom and happiness. Oh, and the song we put on repeat was ‘Ain’t nothin’ gonna break my stride,’ which has become our unofficial friendship anthem,” Swenson continued, before saying Creel “radiated light and kindness” and “lived in a constant state of pursuit of joy.”
Swenson concluded by noting Creel’s impact on the theater community. “Broadway mourns the loss of one of its purest, brightest stars,” he wrote. “Through his work and example, he left our art form and our community a better place. A kinder place. A fairer, fairer place. A far more beautiful place.”
Broadway show with Tamsen Fadal airs on weekends in syndication (check local listings).
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Source: HIS Education