Gavin Creel Interview with Oasis Journals
This past Saturday, Gavin Creel was in New York City, talking to me on the phone.
18 hours after this interview, a car picked him up early in the morning, and took him to the airport, where he boarded a jet to London. In a few weeks, he and the rest of the Broadway tribe of Hair will open the show in the West End. Creel was Tony nominated for his turn as Claude, the conflicted hippie who has to decide what's important for him as the summer of love overlaps with the Vietnam War.
I reviewed the show back in January, but didn't realize at the time that Creel was openly gay. Having figured that out at some later point, we had a few interview attempts, but our schedules weren't lining up.
With the clock ticking on how long Creel would be on American soil, before bringing his magical show of peace and love to London, we finally made it happen. Here's what we said:
I know we're catching you at a busy time here.
Yeah, it's a little crazy, but I'm happy to talk to you.
And you're leaving for London tomorrow?
Yeah, tomorrow morning, the car comes at 6:15.
Yikes.
Yeah, it's crazy. I haven't seen 6:15 in like 10 years.
So what is this vibe like for you? On one hand, you've left the show on Broadway. But then you're opening in the West End in a few weeks.
The last month has been a very emotional time. A lot of up and down and craziness, but it all happens the way it's supposed to, and it's weird, because we closed the show and it was really emotional, but yet the show is still going on, and we're going on, but we had two weeks off with no work and just getting our lives together, so it was like this weird limbo.
And now we're going to rehearse for a bit and open it back up officially on the 14th. The whole thing is very bizarre. Once we settle back down into the show, I think we're all going to be like 'OK, here we go, now I know what we're doing.' Even though we're in a place that doesn't look like anything what we're used to.
Is the vibe very different between Broadway and the West End? You've done both...
Yeah, I did the West End for a year and a half. It is different, but it's like... I think if you were to go see a show, you'd think it was pretty much the same. But I found the audiences to be different, so it's going to be interesting to see how this very American show and the whole in-your-face vibe rolls in the West End. I don't know how it's going to do. We'll see...
I saw the show in December, and it's interesting how the show always seems like it's about to careen off the rails, with how much improv seems to be occuring, yet it always keeps moving forward.
It's one of those things where, when I first started rehearsals, I was like 'Are we about to careen off the rails? Is that what this show is?' But then, the more we rehearsed it, and the more we put it in front of an audience, you're like, 'Oh, OK, this is pretty electric and bizarre,' but the whole vibe was to arrange it in a way that it felt like we were just making it up on the spot, but actually most of it is very staged and very planned.
It's just the beautiful freedom of an actor where you're not married to saying things or doing things exactly the same every time. That's kind of a beautiful freedom. It will be interesting. Plus, the biggest character in the play is the audience, so with a completely different temperament and nationality, it's going to be a new show all over again. So, we're kind of starting over in a few weeks, and it's going to be great.
And there seems to be something about this show where... I mean, I've known people who do this in regional theater, and you hear it's different than any show they've done, and the cast gels in a way they never do in other shows... what is that? Do you know what the magic is?
No. I do think it's magic. I think the fact that it's tribal. It's about being one being being that moves together. It's the fact that... I don't know. It's kind of like trying to explain love, in a way, I think. You can't really explain it. It's just a feeling. And it is true, though, you've nailed it.
Everybody who does this show sort of feels connected in a way, and I guess maybe that is it? The fact that it is love. It's connected, and it's about connecting to everyone around you, and being one unit and all things are one. I believe it. And even when things in your life break apart, or something happens to you that you feel you're a shard splintering off in some way, in your job, or your life, or whatever, I don't know... now I can't run from the truth that we kind of are attached, and that means ... I think I just sound high now (laughs).
Even anytime you and Will would be next to each other onstage, just looking at each other, you just felt that these guys have been friends all their lives for some reason.
Oh, I love that. I love that! I was so worried about that, because I actually saw the show and I was like, 'God, did I invent that relationship?' Because, to me, it's the most important thing. But when you step outside of it, you think, does the audience even see this?
So, I'm glad you said that. Berger, to me, and Will specifically, is just the most important on that stage for me. I mean, they're all important, but I'm kind of nothing without him. It's an amazing relationship.
How do you develop something like that?
I don't know. People have asked me that before, and I'm just like, I don't know?! I think it's just trust, and a willingness, because Will had obvious done it with two other people before me and I was like, 'I know you walked this walk with someone else, but I just ask that you stay open' and he was so game and ready to re-explore things and open up.
And I'd like to think my energy brought something out in him also, as his did in me. I think chemistry onstage is something that... you know, I'm a pretty easy guy, and pretty willing, but you either have that chemistry or you don't. And a lot of times, you do. There's a lot of times where I'll be able to find it.
You know, I never had chemistry like I had with Sutton Foster in (Thoroughly Modern) Millie, which was my first show in New York, and this is obviously the closest thing I've had with a guy, but it's weird because Will is so nothing like me and, offstage, he's nothing like the character that he plays. So, it's that magic again. So, I guess I can't explain that either. I'm not doing a very good interview here, am I? You ask me questions and it's all 'I don't know, man. It's unexplainable!' (laughs)
Well, it makes it clear why they cast you in Hair... (laughs)
(laughs) Exactly. Just go with it! Dude... Bro...
So, how many performance of Hair did you end up doing on Broadway?
Hmm, let's see, I started...
You don't know the tally?
I don't, because I missed a bunch from illnesses and injuries and stuff, but probably around 300? 300 and change, maybe? A lot.
And are there times when things do go off the rails? Or would most of that be invisible to the audience?
Hopefully, we handle it in a way that, because of the free nature, they might think we planned it, but there have been a million things that happened, like I forgot my lyrics to the entire second verse of the last song of the show before (Let The) Sun Shine (In), and I just walked forward and put my arms out, and it was so embarassing, but I was like, 'Oh my God, I don't know what I'm saying!?!'
That was probably the worst thing, when I completely blanked. But people forget lines, or forget stuff, or bump into things, or Caissie Levy got socked in the nose and had to leave the rest of the show, so her second understudy sang the last song that she was supposed to sing.
I barfed in the wings once, and some guy who knew the song just stepped forward and sang 'Hair' and I came back on, finished the act, and went home, and someone else went on for the second act. It's live theater, so anything can happen.
And the wig has always stayed on?
No, it came off once. It was our final rehearsal before we had a paying audience. So thank God it was that, but my father slaps me across the head with the newspaper and, when he hit me, it just flew right off. And I have like five wig clips underneath that, so we could not understand why it came off. But it was just 'boop!', easy as pie. And I just picked it up and was like, 'I'll be right back,' and I left the stage. If that ever happens, I'll just leave and we'll take a break.
And what was behind your decision to come out during the time that you've been in the show?
I didn't plan it. It was kind of one of those things that just... I was doing an interview in January of last year with Out Magazine, and before that I was always like, 'Oh, I don't talk about my personal life,' because I just worried, and was like, 'I don't want people to know me as dot-dot-dot, whatever,' and I just got tired.
I thought, to do what I do and love what I do and be who I am in the process of that is the most important thing. Now, I don't think everybody needs to make that decision. It's a personal choice, and I would never force anyone to come out of the closet or anything, but he just asked me a question and I thought, 'Oh, screw it! I'm just going to say it...' and it ended up being one of the greatest things I've ever done, because it opened me up to be free to talk about and fight for this equality movement that I'm trying to help do my part with, and I'm going to continue to do it.
And, also, now, all my skeletons are out. If anything else comes out, it'll be like 'Yeah? So? I told you..' At the same time, I don't talk about my private life at all. I'll tell you I'm gay and that's where it'll stop.
Just like, I don't really give a shit what's going on with Sandra Bullock and her husband, you know? I feel really badly for both of them, and I don't care about Tiger Woods and his sext messages. Why do we give a shit? It's just this sensationalized BS. So, to have your romantic life splattered all over the place... I'm not going to be a part of that.
But you'd always been out personally before that?
I came out for myself in the sophomore year of college. It was like, 'Oh shit, I think I'm gay.' And then I told my parents when I was 25, and then I went on the R Family Cruises with Rosie (O'Donnell) and (her partner) Kelly, you know, the gay family cruise. I was on the first year, and I've been on four of them, and they changed my life.
It made me realize 'Just wait a minute, there is nothing wrong with me, and anybody who says any different, there is no religion, no argument, that can tell me I don't deserve the exact same rights as every human being on this planet, or that I'm not just as good as anyone else because of my sexuality.' There is no argument. There is no person who can come to me with any justification and, if they think they have one, let's go out to dinner.
Let's have a civilized conversation and talk about it, because I'm not going to try and change their mind. If you're a bigot, you're a bigot. You'll have to go to bed dealing with that on your own, but I will witness to you that there's nothing wrong with me... but that's just me getting huffy. (laughs)
And that led you to being one of the co-founders of Broadway Impact?
Yeah, a friend of mine called and was like, 'We should do something,' and he introduced me to the people who are now the two co-founders with me, and we're still just making it up as we go, just thinking how can we help and what can we do?
I love the whole spirit where you're just going on the site and saying 'we're not sure what we want to do, but this is the direction we want to go in...'
Yes. It would be lying to say we have all the answers. We're literally making it up as we go. And I think it's working, and people are responding, and our strength is organizing this community, the community I'm a part of, the theater community.
I'm not trying to get Ellen DeGeneres to join us or whatever. I'm just trying to get people who are on Broadway, and people who work in the theaters Off-Broadway, and regionally across the country, to just stand up. We're the number one tourist attraction in New York City, and if we join together and make our voice heard, a lot of people come to Broadway shows every year.
So if they know where we stand, and how our community feels, and we're visual and out there as much as we can be... obviously the theater doesn't get as much press as -- thank you for covering me, heh -- but, we don't get as much press as American Idol or the Housewives of whatever f'ing city they're is up now. We get little bits and bites, but if we're consistent, and we're syeadfast, I think we can have a hand in it at least.
It seems like there's a lot of great stuff happening right now, with Yank! and the Temperamentals playing off-Broadway...
The Temperamentals is so good! I heard Yank is great, and I heard Next Fall is brilliant, and The Pride is opening, too, so it's nice because they're plays, from what I hear, I've only seen The Temperamentals and, while it's a piece of history, it's a play about activism.
It's not about stereotypes or whatever. It's about actual people, in time, dealing with stuff, and it's our stories. It's our lives. It's not sensationalized. It's what we are dealing with. Angels in America broke the mold in that way, where it was dealing with a really hard, horrible part of our lives, that you couldn't turn away from. It was everywhere, and people were just turning their backs on it, or trying to think that it wasn't their issue, or that AIDS was just a gay disease, and I think it gave voice to the theater community. So it's nice to see how things change and how they continue to change. I just hope people keep awake and not just apathetic. We'll do our part any way we can.
And do you know how long you're going to be in London?
Yeah, I'll be there until October 2. That's our last show. I come home on the third. Legally, we can't stay longer than that, our visas are done. It's crazy. We're going to go tomorrow and that's that. I move to London tomorrow, so we'll see what happens.
http://oasisjournals.com/2010/03/gavin-creel-interview?page=0%2C0