Yahoo Lifestyle Merle Louise Dies: Original ‘Gypsy’ Cast Member, Sondheim Favorite Was 90
Merle Louise, whose Broadway debut in the original cast of Gypsy launched a decades-long association with Stephen Sondheim that would include notable appearances in Company, Sweeney Todd and Into The Woods, died January 11 in New York City. She was 90.
Her death was announced by family.
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Born Merle Louise Letowt on April 15, 1934, in New York City, she started her stage career in local theater companies in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, traveling back to New York for auditions. While still using Merle Letowt as her stage name, Louise landed the ensemble role of Thelma in the original 1959 Broadway production of Gypsy. She soon took on the featured role of Dainty June in the musical, both on Broadway and in the first national tour.
Though she would appear in non-Sondheim musicals on Broadway – La Cage aux Folles (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993) and, most recently, Billy Elliot (2008) – Louise, after dropping the “Letowt,” originated the role of Susan in Sondheim’s Company and can be seen in D.A. Pennebaker’s celebrated 1970 documentary Original Cast Album: Company.
Thought to be the only performer to appear in the original Broadway casts of four Sondheim musicals, Louise went on to portray The Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979). In Into The Woods (1987) she played Cinderella’s Mother, Granny and the Giantess; her performance in those roles can be seen in the 1987 PBS film taped at San Diego’s Old Globe Theater.
In La Cage aux Folles she originated the role of Mme. Dindon, and in Kiss of the Spider Woman originated Molina’s Mother, a role she also performed in productions in London’s West End, Toronto and on the national tour.
She appeared frequently Off Broadway and in regional theater, returning to Broadway in her 70s as an ensemble member of Billy Elliot.
Louise is survived by daughters Laura Simon and Heather Simon, son Matt Simon, sister Jane Halteman and brother Alvin “Butch” Letowt, Jr.
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