There wasn't any mention of a Caribbean background at the staged reading as far as I remember, although the voodoo doll was still in the show.
Both Shalita Grant and Genevieve Angelson dropped out at some point after February, so LCT was probably scrambling a bit to get suitable replacements. The "original cast reunion" aspect was also thrown off, now that 3 of the 6 original cast members weren't participating, so LCT may have felt they should get a name as a replacement. Lavin's take on Cassandra was unsurprisingly quite different than Grant's. Lavin's Cassandra was much more the tough old broad who's been around the block a bit. But she still blended in well with her castmates, and her casting really worked well for this one-night-only event.
I just found out through Wikipedia that Lavin is 86 years old! On stage, she looks and acts a decade younger. |
