'You Need to Do This!' Gavin Creel First Urged Audra McDonald to Take on Gypsy

Audra McDonald, currently in rehearsals for a Broadway return in Gypsy, says late friend Gavin Creel first brought her the idea of playing the classic role of Momma Rose.

“He put it in my head,” she told Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek at a press event for the anticipated musical revival. McDonald is the first Black actress to play the role on Broadway. “I looked at that role and thought, ’Well, no one will ever cast me in that.’”

Creel was visiting McDonald and husband Will Swenson (his co-star from Hair on Broadway) at their home on Thanksgiving “about eight years ago,” she shared. “We spent a lot of Thanksgivings together. He was a very close family member to us.”

“Anyway, he dragged me into my garage after we had eaten,” she continued. “He goes, ‘Hey, I want to talk to you about something. You need to play Rose in Gyspy. You need to do it. It’s just right. And it should be a Black woman and honey, you need to do this. You need to figure out how you’re going to do this.”

McDonald added that Creel also campaigned to Gypsy director George C. Wolfe. “A few years ago, Gavin cornered George and said, “Are you going to direct Audra in this? Because you have to do it!”

Hear more from McDonald and her Gypsy co-stars on this week’s episode of The Broadway Show with Tamsen Fadal.

Gypsy starts at the Majestic Theatre on November 21, 2024.