1931-2023

I do not remember the exact moment that I met Joanna Merlin. But I cannot remember my life without her!

She lived her life as a Guardian Angel in human form to those of us who knew her and to the Community at large.

Casting Director.
Actress.
Mother.
Teacher.
Friend.

Talent…
Grace…
Incandescence…
Always and at every turn!

Early in the inception of the CASTING SOCIETY OF AMERICA, I was there when Joanna brought up the topic of what was then called Non-Traditional Casting. She was one of the founders of the NON-TRADITIONAL CASTING PROJECT, later the ALLIANCE FOR INCLUSION IN THE ARTS, which became a Tony Award-winning organization that serviced great progressive change on Broadway and in the American Theater… though a trailblazer, Joanna had an exceedingly gentle manner.

As an actress, her most impressive roster of credits includes working with Cecil B DeMille in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and with Bob Fosse in ALL THAT JAZZ.
As many obituary notices have headlined over these past weeks, she was the original Tzeitl in Jerome Robbins ‘ FIDDLER ON THE ROOF.
What they did not say was that, at the time, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF became the longest running show in Broadway history. Joanna found herself part of a run longer than anyone had expected – – and her life was moving on. She went to Producer, Hal Prince, and explained to him that she was recently married and starting a family (in another version of the story, she was already four and a half months pregnant and being squeezed into Tzeitl’s wedding gown) — in any case, she explained that she could not continue to perform eight shows a week. She asked him to let her go from the show. Hal responded, “Joanna, I can’t let you go! You’re too good!” (Oh, that is So HAL!)
Joanna thought for a moment, and responded by offering, “What if I could find for you someone who is just as good as I am or better? Would you let me go, then?”
And Hal, who could never resist a challenge, replied in the usual ebullient and joyful manner with which he greeted any situation in which there was something to be learned, “You’re on!”
Joanna responded, “Audition my understudy!”
And Hal did. And that was a young woman by the name of Bette Midler. Turned out, Joanna was right — she was pretty good! Bette replaced Joanna, and Hal let Joanna get on with her life.
Sometime later, Hal called Joanna on the phone and announced, “Joanna, I am creating a new position in my office, that of Casting Director. And I would like you to fill that position!” Joanna was mildly baffled by Hal’s making her a direct offer for a position no one at the time really had any idea how to fulfill.
Casting was a new frontier.

Up until this time, actors made the rounds to producer’s offices, and would ask their secretaries if they could read for a role in one of their shows. These secretaries are mostly known for having been polite and supportive of actors — a legion of unsung heroes of the theater. The actor would often sit in the waiting area of the producer’s office until the producer had a moment to see them, sometimes all day, and even returning the next. When a producer got a call from the theater that a cast member was down for whatever reason, they would tell their secretary to send the actor into their office, and the actor would read. If the producer liked them, he would send them down to the theater for a costume fitting and to rehearse with the stage manager and begin work. That is mostly how it happened. One exception was Shirley Rich, who was considered our very first Broadway Casting Director. Shirley was an amazing woman! (I have some great stories about her, as well!) She worked in the office of Joshua Logan and, from her small little typewriter table there, she had cast the original SOUTH PACIFIC, among other legendary shows! But the position of Casting Director was not something that even existed in most producers’ offices. Hal…innovating yet again!

Hal overrode her hesitation proclaiming with confidence, “Oh, Joanna, I think you will be way better at it than you think!”

And so it began. It marked the beginning of a new era in casting. Joanna cast some of the continued run of FIDDLER, and all of the Hal Prince/Stephen Sondheim collaborations of that era: COMPANY, CANDIDE, FOLLIES, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, PACIFIC OVERTURES, EVITA, SWEENEY TODD, among many other prestigious shows.

From left, Ms. Merlin, Stephen Sondheim, Hal Prince, George Furth during a casting session for the 1981 Broadway musical, MERRILY WE ROLE ALONG Photo Credit: Martha Swope/The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

She continued her career as an actress, as well. Though it would seem a conflict of interest, to date, she is the one person in our profession who has been most successful at a dual career in both Casting and Acting — Not so easy to accomplish, and yet, Joanna achieved exceptional success in both with her usual grace and aplomb.

A couple of decades later, I was hired to cast the Hal Prince / Susan Stroman production of SHOW BOAT.
We had begun the audition process. And somewhere in there, it occurred to me that there was history with this project in how Lena Horne was auditioned and called back several times for the MGM film version, but MGM ultimately gave the role to Ava Gardner. They matched Gardner’s makeup stick to Lena Horne’s skin color. Back in the day, I had learned that makeup was titled, “Light Egyptian” or “Egyptian 86,” although current internet research uses other appellations, as well. The studio gave Ava Gardner recordings of Lena Horne’s voice and asked her to imitate it.
I don’t honestly know how I knew this story, as there was no internet then, at least not in common usage. I probably learned it as a theater geek avidly soaking up every documentary and PBS Special about anything to do with the theater, and seeing every stage performance and movie musical that I could. And so it came to pass that at some point in the audition process, with this information filed away somewhere in the back of my mind, I realized that the role of Julie would need to be cast with a Black woman. Of course, she needed to be light-skinned enough that it would be believable that her face could be featured on posters up and down the Mississippi River in the 1800s and no one would guess that she was actually Black. But, my conscience told me that it needed to be a Black actress. I did not know how to approach Hal Prince about such a monumental shift in casting, and I did not know how he would receive it. So, I called my guardian angel, Joanna Merlin. Since she had cast for Hal for so many years, I asked her what to do. In her typically warm and Loving, nurturing manner, she encouraged me to pick up the phone, call Hal, and tell him just as I had told it to her. She assured me that, even with his being such a legendary Titan by this point in theater history, I would find him very reasonable, and he would very much understand. And so, I did. Hal not only understood, but he respected me for it, and it set our relationship on a wonderful track to work together for the next decade. Joanna was a guardian angel, not only to me, but to all of us who knew her, and she somehow had the keenest instinct of just how to support, foster, and encourage you to do exactly the right thing.

A few years ago, we ran into each other in the hallways at NYU. We were both teaching there, albeit in different programs. I told her that her seminal book, AUDITIONING: AN ACTOR FRIENDLY GUIDE, was required reading for my students. I had mentioned this to her before, over the years. She always lit up, delightedly. But this time, I added that I was writing my own audition book. I reminded her that Michael Shurtleff’s book was the big audition book that came out in the early 1980’s, and hers was released in the early 2000’s, so it felt like with another 20 years gone by, the next big book was needed. It was an unconscious combination of asking her permission and needing her support. Sensing this, she placed her hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eye with that unmatchably nurturing and motherly care which she radiated so naturally, and she pronounced over me, “Arnold, you have my Blessing!”

She told me she had just returned from Russia where she was given an award by the Michael Chekov Society. I congratulated her, and she smiled wryly with a bit of a laugh and told me, “Well I don’t know how much congratulations are in order, as the award was for being the oldest living practitioner who had studied with Michael Chekov!”

Talent…
Grace…
Incandescence…
Always and at every turn!

And that’s the core of it and where the great lesson is! Joanna’s legacy was not only the extraordinary career that she forged as a woman working in the theater during the Golden Age of Broadway, and the pathways she pioneered in such an embryonic field of the industry. Her legacy is found in the extraordinary kindness with which she treated every human being!

When I was working as the Executive Director of Casting at Disney Theatricals, she had just begun teaching. She called me up to say that one of her students had not gotten any response in their showcase, although she thought he was a wonderful actor. She asked me if I would call a few agents on his behalf to set up some meetings for him. I asked her why she thought they would listen to me about him. She gently explained to me that because I was at Disney now, a lot of people would listen to me. But she also had great empathy for my not understanding the power that my job title would wield. She and I had that in common. We were never drawn to the power aspect of any one job or title, especially because we knew it was all transitory, ephemeral, and had little to do with the people that we really are. I made the calls for her. The truth is that I would have done anything for this woman! And, surely enough, every agent agreed to meet him. I was only too happy that I could help her. And, of course, that help she wanted was for someone else, not for herself. Such was her nature. Her interest lay in helping other human beings and making the world a better place. That seemed to be her motivation with every move, every request, every step forward, every action she took, and every word out of her mouth!
And she did!
She left the world better than she found it!

The last time I saw her in person was at a retirement brunch for Meg Simon. We had such a lovely time. We left together heading to the elevator and out to the street. I remember sharing with her as we left that a certain producer had just stiffed me for $50,000 after I cast his show. She knew the character involved. Her face was just aghast! She was so expressive! There was a mixture of sadness and rage mixed with a desire to comfort me, and she reflected back to me, without a word, all the complexity of my own emotions. She had a way of making you feel understood…known…seen.
Joanna was compassionate in a way that you could feel so deeply. I remember in that moment thinking of Robert Benchley’s quote, “Drawing upon my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.” And yet, she communicated everything… She was that way as an actress, as a casting director, and as a human being!

And that kindness, that empathy, that great compassion and Love for every living creature on this planet… That is the legacy that she leaves for us to emulate.
With each passing day, since Joanna has transitioned to the non-physical realm, I find the words of Maya Angelou resonating through my mind:
“We can be
And be better
Because they existed!”

And that is the great gift I have received from my experience with Joanna and her life here on earth! I am forever Grateful!

There are moments when I worry about state of theater, and then I think about the souls of Hal and Steve and Joanna, Titans like these, returned to that great ball of energy — Universal Consciousness — that we all come from and return to… And I think how with those great energies radiating from beyond, guiding us, inspiring us, and bringing us forward, first for over 90 years in the physical realm, and now through infinity and beyond, as has been said. I have no worries about us at all. We will find our way. And yet, I also think it is important to pause, take a moment, and recognize on whose shoulders we stand.

“We can be
And be better
Because they existed!”

Here is the full text of Maya Angelou’s poem, “When Great Trees Fall.”
It is what came to me the moment I heard the news of Joanna’s transition to her Spiritual Destiny to guide us now from a much higher purview:

“When great trees fall…
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.
Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by the
irradiance, fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance of
dark, cold
caves.

And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.” 

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