Gary was born in Alexandria, Virginia, and is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts, the same school as Terrence Mann, his Beauty and the Beast costar. He and his partner, Jeff Barnett, live at present in New York City.

Gary's television credits include the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors, "Recording the Producers" (a documentary for PBS), Queer as Folk, Murder, She Wrote, Cheers, Sisters, Arli$$, and Saved by the Bell. He also performed in the chorus of Les Misérables: The Complete Symphonic Recording.

A familiar and popular Broadway performer, Gary has had several notable career highlights, including creating the roles of Lumiere (Tony Award nominee) in Beauty and the Beast in 1994, and Roger DeBris in The Producers, for which he won the Tony in 2001.

As Zaza/Albin in the 2004/5 revival of La Cage aux Folles, he earned another Tony nomination. Gary returned to his role as Roger De Bris in The Producers while the movie version was in release, thus becoming the first artist to play the same part on Broadway and in a film at the same time.

He toured nationally with the James Kirkwood comedy Legends! starring real life legends Mary Martin and Carol Channing. In addition to his Broadway credits, Gary is well known for his Summer stock theatre performances. For years he would return to Sacramento as a Music circus favorite. His last performance there was in the show "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum". It was after this production that he went into rehearsals for "The Producers".

Gary played Thénardier, the role that he originated in the original Los Angeles production, in the recent revival of Les Misérables on Broadway, at the Broadhurst Theatre. Beginning in March 2008, Beach assumed the lead role of King Arthur in the Broadway national tour of Spamalot and will stay with the tour until late summer.