When this sentence became a fact I felt so incredibly happy for this amazing performer, artist, and person. However, I checked the tag of his name today, and found a lot of negativity around it, and honestly, I can’t believe it. A lot of this seems to purely revolve around the fact that there are so many people who are so passionate about Falsettos and really don’t know that much about Gavin Creel just because they haven’t been following Hello, Dolly!. So now we have a list of why Gavin undoubtedly deserved this tony and you shouldn’t say anyone else was robbed (this year or ever).
I beg that if you think that anyone was robbed this year, that Gavin shouldn’t have won, or just don’t know much about Gavin Creel that you continue reading.
The whole point of nominating people and not just choosing one person is that ALL of the nominees deserve recognition for their work. so to say that one is not deserving (especially the one who won) is sort of fighting an uphill battle.
A lot of people were saying that Gavin robbed the award from the other nominees. The truth for Mike Faist is that he just debuted and is still young. He has a lot of chances to win later in life, and may even be too young to have garnered enough attention for his performance this year. As for Lucas Steele, this is only first major role on Broadway anyway, so it makes sense that he may not be as well known in the community yet either. Obviously, a lot of the attention went to Ben Platt and Rachel Bay Jones for DEH, but Mike’s performance still earned a nomination, so clearly he’s not doing terribly.
The Andrew Rannells argument is a bit more complex since a lot of people are saying that he “should have won his first tony” for a plethora of reasons. Let’s go into them.
Andrew Rannells made his Broadway debut in 2006, so he’s been working his way up to a Tony. Well, Gavin Creel made his debut in 2002 for originating his role in Thoroughly Modern Mille. He didn’t win that year and that may have been partly because the title role earned Sutton Foster her first Tony (and this year she literally presented his. COME ON, IT WAS PERFECT), and one for Harriet Harris as well in the featured actress category. That’s almost a DIRECT parallel to DEH. (I’m telling you guys, it’s really all about timing.)
So, of course, we all know Andrew Rannells was also nominated for a Tony in 2011, so that furthers the argument that he deserved one this year. Unfortunately, following that argument again leads to the fact that Gavin Creel has been nominated twice before this year anyway, so he wins by tally, if that mattered. But it doesn’t.
One of those nominations for Gavin went to his work in Hair, which as far as I’m concerned, is sort of when Gavin was “robbed” by the boys who played Billy Elliot. However, it was the year for them, and Hair was a bit of an underdog that year anyway, but it’s all about timing.
Last year, Gavin was in She Loves Me along with Laura Benanti, Jane Krakowski, and Zachary Levi, who were all nominated for Tonys. Gavin was not. To me, this qualified as a snub, but it made sense that he wasn’t nominated since his performance really kept the attention on Jane’s, which is partly why I thought it was so brilliant, but I digress. It wasn’t the right time.
A lot of the disappointment was towards the fact that Falsettos didn’t win anything, but the truth is that Tony Awards usually goes to shows that are still running. It helps sell tickets and gain attention. A lot of Broadway fans saw Falsettos, and considerably less have seen Hello, Dolly!, which is still sold out every night. This is because those seats are going to the critics, Tony voters, and the “insiders” of the community that decide who the award goes to. Those people chose Gavin as a winner, but they also chose Andrew and all the other men as nominees.
Also, a lot of fans were so surprised that Gavin won, but really, it was predicted by a lot of notable sources. I think Tumblr and social media in general sometimes create a vacuum of only fans and similar perspectives on theatre. To add to that, Gavin doesn’t use social media (he prefers to be in the moment. Guys, you really can’t hate him) so it makes sense that some fans may not be familiar with him, since that is a lot of fan’s only access to Broadway.
Another fact of the matter is that Gavin has been working in the theatre essentially his entire career. For sake of comparison, Andrew has made some transition to television, which I think is awesome. Something to keep in mind is that Gavin has been making his way through the theatre community for a while, meeting people who could vote for him to win an award, and actually did when he played Elder Price in London.
I believe Andrew Rannells deserves a Tony, and I believe each nominee deserve a Tony. I believe lots of people do. One of those people is also Gavin Creel. The truth is, careers are not built on or for Tonys. Some careers are helped by winning awards, but the best people really are not in it for the awards, so the fans shouldn’t be either.
In conclusion, go listen to Gavin Creel on the Millie, Hair, or Hello, Dolly! recording. Better yet, listen to one of the performances for which he wasn’t nominated, such as She Loves Me, or Bounce. If you still don’t trust that he’s deserving, go watch a bootleg of Hair, or even just the Tony performance. And if you still don’t believe it, go watch one of his interviews. When there’s a solid interview of Gavin talking for 30+ minutes you can tell just how intelligent, kind, and artistic he is, and just why those Tony voters trust that he deserves an award.
Have I won you over? Has he won you over? Okay, now go discover artists that you don’t know about and respect all the art that so many people have cultivated. That art is so much more interesting than any award, but when someone who is so great at it does get one, celebrate it.
