Audiences are about to get an eyeful of newcomer Creed Garnick as he makes his Broadway debut as nearly nude Spike in the Tony-winning play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Garnick, the role's current understudy, officially takes over on August 6; he replaces Tony nominee and rumored Into the Woods star Billy Magnussen, who will play his final performance on August 4.
A 2009 graduate of Juilliard's Drama Division, Garnick made his Broadway and off-Broadway debuts in Vanya. His additional theatrical credits include Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Little Shop of Horrors and Cat Ballou. At Juilliard, he appeared in Othello, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Seagull, The Crucible and Romeo and Juliet. He joins a cast that includes Tony winners Julie White and David Hyde Pierce, Tony nominees Kristine Nielsen and Shalita Grant and Liesel Allen-Yeager.
Inspired by the works of Anton Chekhov, the play takes classic characters and plotlines and transports them to modern-day Pennsylvania. Vanya (Pierce) and his adopted sister Sonia (Nielsen) live together in their family’s farmhouse. Their sister Masha (White) has been gallivanting around the world as a successful actress and movie star, leaving Vanya and Sonia feeling trapped and regretful. Meanwhile, their soothsayer/cleaning woman Cassandra (Grant) keeps warning them about terrible things in the future, which include a sudden visit from Masha and her twentysomething boy toy Spike (Garnick).
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike continues at the Golden Theatre through August 25.