A book called "The Showrunners" by David Wild (published in 2000) gives more detail on the last-minute casting changes of this episode:
"The 'My Fair Maid-y' episode they just finished has proved to be another difficult one, and the pair found themselves in the awkward position of letting go of Cyndi Lauper, who was already an MTV icon when they were still in school.
'It didn't work out,' David Kohan explains. 'We brought it to the table and we'd written something we thought was very much in her voice. Then she sort of somnambulated through it at the table. Maybe that was partially our fault because we didn't get the script to her early enough. Then because of story problems, we had to do a major rewrite that evening--I mean a page one rewrite--and that part had been cut down.'
Max Mutchnick was hoping to see some of the spark he'd seen from Lauper on a Mad About You appearance (for which she won an Emmy) but found himself less than mad about her in this role. The role was recast and given to veteran character actress Wendy Jo Sperber."
"The 'My Fair Maid-y' episode they just finished has proved to be another difficult one, and the pair found themselves in the awkward position of letting go of Cyndi Lauper, who was already an MTV icon when they were still in school.
'It didn't work out,' David Kohan explains. 'We brought it to the table and we'd written something we thought was very much in her voice. Then she sort of somnambulated through it at the table. Maybe that was partially our fault because we didn't get the script to her early enough. Then because of story problems, we had to do a major rewrite that evening--I mean a page one rewrite--and that part had been cut down.'
Max Mutchnick was hoping to see some of the spark he'd seen from Lauper on a Mad About You appearance (for which she won an Emmy) but found himself less than mad about her in this role. The role was recast and given to veteran character actress Wendy Jo Sperber."
(episode #1.12) Cyndi Lauper was originally cast as April, but was fired because she "just didn't work out".
This episode contains a jibe at Susan Lucci being a perennial Emmy-loser. At that point, she had been nominated 18 times without a win. Ironically, the year this episode aired, she finally won that elusive Emmy for her work on All My Children (1970).