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Cyndi Lauper on Her New Doc, ‘Let the Canary Sing,’ and Meaning It With Her Fall Farewell Tour: ‘I Want to Do Something Great… and Then Say, Bye, That’s It!’
Cyndi Lauper talks about why she decided to do a farewell tour now: 'I'd rather let them remember me like this. I'm not gonna be out with a walker!'
If musical theater work is where her true colors might best be found nowadays, the Alison Ellwood-directed doc is a timely reminder of how Lauper revolutionized pop in the early and mid-’80s as a visionary icon of fashion and style… who also happened to sing like a canary blessed with apparently bottomless lungs. Variety caught up with Lauper at her hotel after a recent Chinese Theatre handprint ceremony for a conversation about saying goodbye to fans on the road; facing sexism and legal obstacles in her early career; how she feels about Madonna comparisons; and why the battle over women’s rights makes voting this fall especially critical, even if you won’t hear her espousing her candidate from the stage. There’s an especially interesting segment just about the long history of the evolving arrangement of “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” and how you incorporated bits of reggae and Motown and a Coney Island feel into what could have been a pretty staid new-wave song.
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