Audra McDonald Says the Idea to Do Gypsy Came from Friend Gavin Creel Before His Death

Audra McDonald is giving her late friend, Gavin Creel. for inspiring her latest role on Broadway.

During an interview for The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal, the six-time Tony winner, 54, revealed that Creel once told her that she needed to play Mama Rose in Gypsy. 

Now, the actress is set to portray the bossy stage mother in the forthcoming Broadway revival, which begins previews on Thursday, Nov. 21 at the Majestic Theatre in New York City ahead of its official opening on Thursday, Dec. 19.

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 costarred with Creel in the 2009 Broadway revival of Hair — “had a Thanksgiving dinner about eight years ago.” And one of the guests was Creel.

“We spent a lot of Thanksgivings together,” she recalled. “He’s a very close family member to us.”

McDonald continued by saying that “[Creel] dragged me into my garage after we had eaten, and he goes, ‘Hey, I want to talk to you about something. You need to play Rose in Gypsy. You need to do it. You need to do it. It’s just right. It should be a Black woman and honey, you need to do it.’ “

She said Creel insisted that she needed to take on the famed role that was previously portrayed by theater icons, such as Patti LuPone, Ethel Merman, Tyne Daly and Angela Lansbury. “You need to figure out how you’re going to do this. You have to absolutely do this,” she recalled him saying.

The stage veteran said Creel even approached the show’s current director, George C. Wolfe, about the idea of a revival starring McDonald. “A few years ago, Gavin cornered George and went, ‘Are you going to direct Audra in this? Because you have to do it,’ ” she shared. “So he kind of put it in my head.”

Creel — best known for his work on Broadway in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hair, She Loves Me and Hello, Dolly! — died on Sept. 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, fellow actor Alex Temple Ward.

In the wake of the loss, McDonald posted a tribute to the actor on Instagram. She shared a headshot of the late actor smiling while wearing a gray turtleneck and wrote, “He was light and love incarnate. Fly sweet Gavin, Fly.”

Later, on Oct. 22, Swenson penned a tribute to their late friend for American Theatre, looking back at their time playing close friends Claude and Berger in Hair. “While we were opening Hair on Broadway, I was going through a really rough divorce. Don’t recommend. On our opening day I got some very frustrating news about it, and I was telling Gav how I was afraid it would sour my whole experience of opening the show,” he wrote.

He added, “Gavin said: ‘Absolutely not, Wilson! We’re meeting at the theatre at noon and we’re gonna put on music and paint our dressing room hallway with huge, beautiful hippie graffiti.’ ”

“And that’s what we did. Buckets of paint. Huge 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 became our unofficial friendship anthem,” Swenson continued, before sharing that Creel “radiated light and kindness” and “lived in a constant state of searching for joy.”

Swenson concluded by highlighting Creel’s impact on the theater community. “Broadway mourns the loss of one of its purest, brightest stars,” he wrote. “Through his work and his example, he left our art form and our community a better place. A kinder place. A fairer, more equitable place. A far more beautiful place.”

The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal airs weekends in syndication (check local listings).