"I'm so many more things than just a homo," says Gavin Creel – an accomplished actor, recording artist, activist, sci-fi dork, and yeah, even a looker. He played Claude in "Hair" on Broadway and nabbed a Tony nod for his role in "Thoroughly Modern Millie." Creel even launched a theater-led grassroots movement called Broadway Impact that promotes marriage equality, landing him a spot in the Out 100.
The list goes on: He has two pop-vocal albums, one released in 2006 and an EP that followed last year. Earlier this month he wrapped "Prometheus Bound" in Boston. And he just finished auditioning for a TV show that he won't tell you about.
"I don't even tell my parents about anything that I'm about to do," says the University of Michigan graduate. "I only tell them when I get something, because I know they worry. I'm also superstitious."
Superstitious – that's not very gay, either. And neither is his sex life.
"I think, baby, if you knew how little sex I'm getting, you'd be like, 'This is boring,'" he says, laughing. "People think gay men just want to have sex all the time – I'm like, 'Are you high?' What I want to do more than anything is eat."
That Creel's officially out, which he publicly announced to The Advocate two years ago, also compels people to thank him after shows – two of which he'll play at 8 and 10 p.m. April 13 at the Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor. The gratitude is overwhelming.
"I feel almost guilty," he says, "because all I did was drop my shoulders and go, this is who I am. That's all I did. If me just relaxing a little changes somebody's life, my gosh, why didn't I do this sooner?"
For good reason. Creel was scared that he'd flush his career if he came out – especially since he wanted to shift from theater into film and TV. Has anything changed post-closet? "I don't know, because they're not telling me, 'Hey, there were 19 auditions, but we didn't get you an appointment because you're gay.' They don't tell me those things.
"The bigger deal the press or I make of it," Creel continues, "the harder it will be for anyone to see me as anything other than that."
And he's so much more than, you know, that.
Coming home
Creel doesn't get to the Midwest – let alone Michigan – very often. But he fondly recalls his "first grown-up decision" – attending U-M, where he majored in musical theater after leaving his hometown of Findlay, Ohio. He graduated in 1998, and the last time he returned to Ann Arbor was, maybe, a couple of years ago.
"The saddest thing for me," Creel says, "is whenever I go back and I'm like, 'That shop is a Starbucks and it used to be a vintage clothing store – shoot!' But I do have such a deep love for Ann Arbor and all things Michigan."
He's been working professionally for 15 years, but he's not sure how.
"It doesn't seem right. How could I be doing this for that long? But… I'm older," he says, laughing. "It's kind of awesome, but it's weird. I feel a little bit older, but I don't feel as old as my number says that I am. So I just choose not to believe it."
It's also hard to believe how much time has escaped him. Now, his four years of college are barely a blip, but necessary he says in preparing him for his professional career. Seeing teenagers hit the ground running, no school at all, just doesn't make sense.
"I was allowed to be a 19-year-old, a 20-year-old and a 21-year-old," Creel says. "And I do shows with 17-year-olds who are just growing up in New York City with a cast and I do not think that's the ideal – being forced to become a professional at such a young age. Go to school, rock it out – and go to Michigan if you can."
There, at school, he received his best bit of advice: "Other people's successes are not your failures," he recalls Bruce Kiesling, then a graduate of the conducting program, saying. "It's OK that people can succeed and be great and act just like you and they can get cast and you can't. It doesn't mean that you failed; it just means that they succeeded and there's still room for you to succeed."
And succeed he did. Besides "Hair" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie," Creel picked up a part in "Mary Poppins" – in London, where he lived for 10 months. He also starred in the Broadway revival of "La Cage aux Folles" and, most recently, as the lead in the experimental theater piece "Prometheus Bound." In which he's shirtless. The whole time.
More to live for
If success is measured in Perez Hilton posts, then Creel's more than made it. The infamous blogger likes to flirt with the actor on his website, recently linking to the shirtless pics of Creel in "Prometheus." The actor finds it flattering. And traumatic.
"I read the comments," he says, after Perez first posted about Creel, "and it was the most horrifying thing I've ever seen in my life. Just evil. People saying I was so ugly. I have a new appreciation of poor Britney Spears and how screwed up her life is."
Creel was intimidated when he met Hilton this past summer at a Pink concert. "In person," Creel says of Perez, "he was quite nice. He's a gentleman. I think he's just playful. I think he just wants to get a coffee with me, but he wants to screw someone else."
Maybe he's right. Not everyone wants a piece, and Creel found that out when the role of Mr. Schuester on "Glee" went to his good friend Matthew Morrison instead of himself – even though the role was a perfect match for the U-M graduate: Creel and the character graduated high school only a year apart, they're both obsessed with show choir, they teach and the musical-dramedy is set in Ohio.
Creel's connections to the show don't stop there. He dated one of the cast members, Jonathan Groff – even though he won't say too much ("I don't talk about my private life," Creel tells us). And Darren Criss, who currently stars as Kurt's boyfriend, also attended U-M.
But Creel doesn't get bitter. He has Kiesling's words-to-live-by in the back of his head, though it's still hard not to feel a little envious – a little like, "this person's making $500,000 an episode on a TV show and we went to college together and I'm like, 'Ugh, I can't pay my bills.'
"Then, the next year, I can be making great money on a TV show and they could, too. It's just a crapshoot. If I wanted to make money – which who doesn't? – I would've gone into something else."
After all, he says, "there are more important things than show business and being famous and making tons of money and even being a great artist – like love, friendship and fighting disease."
But Creel isn't giving up on performing just yet. Over the last five or so years, he's been focused on touring and, when he returns Michigan for his back-to-back gigs, he'll play lots of new and old material, pop covers and some Broadway show tunes. More than anything, he's thrilled to perform again at the Kerrytown Concert House – a place he calls "a unique space" and "a real true acoustic experience where people are just quiet and listening." He adds, "I just feel like that doesn't happen anymore."
The shows are a perfect way for him to try out the new songs, which he plans on rolling out one by one as he records them this year. "I'm just going to start sending songs out into the ether," he says, "because I think, sadly, that albums are going by the wayside and people are single addicts."
Those singles will connect to a bigger project, something "cool" that dovetails all his knacks – music, acting and activism. "I got things to do," Creel says. "I got songs to write. I got a puppy to raise and hopefully, someday, a husband and kids and a legal marriage."
But boy, would it be easier just being gay.
Gavin Creel
8 and 10 p.m. April 13
Kerrytown Concert House
415 N. Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor
$10-$30
http://www.gavincreel.com
