Broadway star Gavin Creel’s final words to a friend were all about the importance of living life to the fullest.
Creel, a Tony Award-winning actor known for performances in “Hello, Dolly!,” “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and “The Book of Mormon,” died Sept. 30 at age 48 of metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer.
Creel’s tragic death came just two months after he was diagnosed with the disease in July.
As Broadway’s biggest stars, including Sutton Foster, Josh Gad and Idina Menzel, paid tribute to to Creel on social media, composer and lyricist Benj Pasek shared a screenshot on Instagram showing Creel’s powerful final text message to him.
“Not living is the one thing I have learned so far during this time that is NO LONGER AN OPTION EVER AGAIN. Live. If you are alive LIVE,” Creel’s message read.
Pasek added in his caption, “I don’t have the words so I’ll let Gavin’s speak for themselves. This was the last text he sent me. If you are alive, LIVE.”
Creel’s death comes two years after he helped a TODAY viewer who had been diagnosed with breast cancer fulfill her lifelong dream of dancing on a Broadway stage.
“Broadway is a place where my dreams came true and it’s a place where yours can as well,” Creel told the woman in a segment that aired Oct. 27, 2022 on TODAY.
“You are meant for this,” he sweetly added after the pair danced onstage together.
Creel made his Broadway debut in 2002 playing salesman Jimmy Smith alongside Sutton Foster in the original production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” receiving his first of three Tony Award nominations for his performance.
His second Tony nomination was for playing the hippie leader Claude in the 2009 revival of “Hair.”
Creel played Elder Price in “The Book of Mormon” for several years and joined the show’s first national tour in 2012. He later took the the role to London’s West End and won a Olivier Award in 2014.
Creel took home a Tony Award for best actor in a musical in 2017 for his role as Cornelius Hackl in the revival of “Hello, Dolly!” starring Bette Midler.
Midler called Creel a “radiant actor” on Instagram, writing, “I looked forward to working with him every single night. He was fantastic. I can’t believe he’s gone. What a loss.”
Creel also starred in the Broadway productions of “La Cage Aux Folles” (2004), “She Loves Me” (2016) and “Waitress” (2019) and “Into the Woods” (2022), and appeared in his own Off-Broadway show, “Walk on Through: Confessions of a Museum Novice,” about his love for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.