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IN THE NOH: Beauty, Splendor, and Wonder
By: DAVID NOH
04/02/2009
Some actors were just born to play certain parts and, from everything I now know about Gavin Creel, the role of Claude, who gets drafted and then killed in Vietnam, in "Hair" was meant for him.
"I don't think of it as a legendary part," he told me, "because that will intimidate me and I won't be able to do it. My approach is a human sense of him, which I hope comes across. I don't wanna play a hippie - he's a young man who's stuck between his sense of duty and his love of expression in a world his parents didn't show him. I sort of feel like him, in the sense that I'm from Ohio, a very structured place, and came to New York to be in musical theater with all kinds of people, an incredibly diverse profession.
"I did the Encores! revival in 2000, as part of the Tribe. I'd auditioned for Claude then and didn't get it and now I'm so glad, because then I wouldn't have understood how to play the part. I met [the show's creators] Gerome Ragni and Jim Rado, who's still such a hippie, an amazing free spirit who is not stuck in an era, but completely present and beautiful. He showed me an old character synopsis for Claude that said, 'He doesn't play the end -- he's a lover and the ultimate flower child, who doesn't want to go to war and die but he does, and doesn't know what's going to happen.'
"What's cool about this production is that it honors the time but is completely new, without being anachronistic, i.e., 'this is Iraq.' No, it's Vietnam, and the way Diane Paulus has staged it makes it just as relevant in 2009. 'Hair' had this amazing run in the park this summer, which I wasn't a part of, and Diane's concept was the whole Tribe got in their Love Bus and drove down to 45th Street, and just took over the abandoned Al Hirschfeld Theater. We snuck in and set up shop everywhere - backstage, the hallways, our dressing rooms are decorated - much of what the audience doesn't even see. And the way our brilliant set and lighting designers have done it with Diane, it's not just happening on the stage, but in the audience - you're not gonna be able to escape us!"
The essential spirit of rebellion has been on Creel's mind a lot: "I'm waking up and started a foundation, a grassroots coalition of the theater community in support of marriage equality, Broadway Impact. Right after Proposition 8 passed, Join the Impact organized big rallies in 300 cities and we were inspired by them. Broadway Cares' Tom Viola is mentoring us and we're working with Empire State Pride Agenda and Marriage Equality New York.
"It's an awesome time to be alive and love yourself and not be apathetic, which is as bad as being on the other side. I've been stuck myself because for the longest time I wasn't out in the press and was like 'I don't wanna talk about this -- what if I don't get jobs?' Fuck that shit-- fuck it! If I don't get a job because I'm gay, then I don't want that job. At the end of the day, it's really boring if you're not living your life.
"I just woke up. I have a pop album, 'Good Time Nation,' and my co-writer Robbie Roth, the biggest straight ally on the planet, came to me with this lyric 'Don't be alarmed, Mom/ Don't be ashamed/ I'm still your baby/ I'm still the same.' He asked, 'Can you write this?' I wasn't publicly out then, but had to finish that lyric: 'Feelings come quickly/ Some pass you by/I feel a stillness in not asking why/ There's a road that's divided in two/ All of us here have to find/ Most everyone goes the same way/You just love me as I go my mine.' I can't tell you how many young men contact me on Facebook and write stuff like, 'I want you to know that my Mom and I listened to that song together and cried,' or 'Thanks for speaking my heart --my parents kicked me out,' or whatever."
When I mentioned all the other out and proud Broadway actors there are now - Cheyenne Jackson, Malcolm Gets, Christopher Sieber - Creel interrupted me, "Cheyenne is totally inspiring to me. I didn't really say this in the press - I never read message boards or reviews, I'm too insecure and don't wanna know what horrible things people are saying about me - but I met Cheyenne when he was my understudy in 'Thoroughly Modern Millie.' I don't know when he came out, but he just owned it and he's a fuckin' superstar -- a knockout, super-talented, and a wonderful guy who lives an exemplary life. He's way more fabulous than I'll ever be. He's shiny; I just avoid the camera. I actually read the interview with him in Gay City News and that inspired me. He's a rock star!"
Asked if he has a partner himself, Creel said, "I don't -- that's all I'm gonna say. You know how people are like, 'You don't wanna talk about your sexuality.' No. I tell them I'm gay and that's all. My life is pretty simple -- it's not scandalous or interesting. I put my pants on just like everybody else. I'm 32 now and came out to my family seven years ago, when I was in 'Millie,' because I thought, they're coming to opening night of my first Broadway show and it's huge for all of us. Even if they kick me of the house, even if they don't wanna talk about it and ignore me, they're gonna come and cry and see their son up there, hopefully kickin' some ass. And the way they responded was the best, and it's not been easy for them. They're registered Republicans and very conservative. I talk to them about marriage equality and they say, 'We don't agree. It's not right -- you don't have the same rights as us.'
"But then my father is on their church board and someone in the church came out and my father said, 'I just want you to know that I've prayed about it, and if for some reason they don't allow this person to worship with us, I'm going to the board and say, "I respect all your opinions but I'm withdrawing," and I just cried. He's the most incredible man I know. My Grandma -- Guey -- was my idol, just angelic and he is her son, without a doubt."
The role of Claude came to Creel circuitously: "Christina Miller, who played Dion in the park, was a Facebook friend I didn't really know, but she wrote me: 'Jonathan and I were talking and we thought you'd make a brilliant Claude.' I didn't know who she meant and she said, 'Groff,' and I thought, 'That's weird -- why are you telling me this? Well, he's not going to do it.'
"I auditioned on Thursday, got called back Friday, and heard I got it Friday night. It's funny, because I've been pretty lucky, but 2008 was a rough year. I loved doing Bert in 'Mary Poppins' in London, and auditioned for 'Godspell' and got it very quickly. I waited nine months for that, and six days before rehearsals, it was canceled. So all that year -- no income, no health insurance. I called my agent to ask about the availability of 'Mary Poppins,' which I would love to play again. But if I'd taken that, I wouldn't be in this incredible 'Hair.'
"In 2008, my bike got stolen, I invested in the stock market -- everything went to pot, except for Obama and I got a great dog. One of my favorite things to do is teach master classes around the country, and I always tell my students, "You just can't know...'"
General Manager Peter Gelb threw another extravaganza with the Metropolitan Opera 125th Gala, lavish with its use of computer-driven visuals and recreations of historical performances, replete with costumes inspired by the original garb worn by the stars.
I met up beforehand with Natalie Dessay -- who was to sing the First Act arias from "La Traviata" -- in her West Side aerie, decorated with Hirschfeld caricatures. Dressed in black velvet Betsey Johnson and rocker boots -- no "important' gown for this youthful diva -- she was the perfect, easy hostess, despite the pre-performance pressure she was doubtlessly feeling. She made me an espresso and then easily warmed up, while expressing some uncertainty about the gown she was to wear, an enormous hoop-skirted affair inspired by Bidu Sayao (which impeded the abandoned movement she's famous for), a certain nervousness ("I hate concerts!"), and humor, as when, learning that James Levine was to conduct the entire program, I said, "It's an orgy of opera!" ("And then we'll all throw up!").
Dessay is the kind of ultra-rare, menschy opera star who pulls dollars out of her purse before hailing a cab ride to the Met, instead of expecting that the bill will somehow be taken care of (of course she didn't pay, but quel gesture!) And her nervousness was completely unwarranted as, despite thrilling contributions by singers Joseph Calleja, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Renee Fleming, and Placido Domingo (simultaneously celebrating his 40th Met anniversary), there was little doubt as to who stole the show.
Dessay sang and acted with a piercing delicacy which built to an electrifying high E-flat -- the note many say James Levine traditionally bans -- at the end of "Sempre Libera," making you want to immediately book tickets for her first "Traviata," this summer in Santa Fe, directed by the brilliant Laurent Pelly.
Best film I've seen this year is Gianni Di Gregorio's endearing "Mid-August Lunch," screening at New Directors/New Films Festival, Walter Reade Theater, on April 3 and 4 (filmlinc.com/ndnf/ndnf). The tale of a middle-aged guy living in Rome with his aged mother, who finds himself suddenly having to care for three other old ladies as well, is deeply human, hilarious, and a joy in every way.
Contact David Noh at
Inthenoh@aol.com and check out his new blog at
http://nohway.wordpress.com/.
©GayCityNews 2009
