reCAP :: Cyndi Lauper :: 2013.07.12
July 12 / Friday
When Cyndi Lauper was 17-years-old, she took a Metro-North train from New York City to Port Chester, New York to see Derek and the Dominos perform at The Capitol Theatre. She was an enthusiastic member of the audience, but didn’t think she would ever amount to anything else.
Cyndi Lauper finally got to play The Cap on Friday, where she told that story to a packed audience. Decked out in a yellow top hat and black leather pants, she opened the show with the “Money Changes Everything," the first track of her first album. Backed by her band of guitars and synthesizers, Lauper belted out every song from that 1983 debut album, She’s So Unusual.
The audience ranged from older women sporting neon glittered shirts to a younger generation of multicolored hair, but they all embraced Ms. Lauper's raw stage presence. She tossed off her top hat, shook out her magenta hair, and bopped to her 80's anthem “Girls Just Want To Have Fun," clearly the favorite of the night. Everyone in the theater jumped to their feet and sang along, word for word.
The evening continued with Cyndi Lauper occasionally standing on chairs in the crowd, singing along with her audience. She also shared stories about the making of the album, and about her unique life as an artist. Lauper talked about her first gigs promoting She’s So Unusual back in the day, performing in venues like The Chance and getting complaints that her voice was too shrill (which caused all 10,000 people in attendance to boo her and the band).
Cyndi Lauper fed her fans great anecdotes from her past, such as the origin for lyrics from “Time After Time,” which involved the second hand of her producer’s watch moving counterclockwise randomly (“The second hand unwinds.”) She recounted meeting Bruce Springsteen at The Record Plant, an old recording studio in New York City where she was working on She’s So Unusual.
After these insights into her past, Lauper flipped to the B-side of She’s So Unusual and kept the electricity of the ‘80s alive with “She Bop,” “All Through the Night,” and “I’ll Kiss You.” The Capitol Theatre complemented her music with a stellar light show, especially on her encore songs, like “Sex is in the Heel” from her Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots.
The night concluded with Cyndi Lauper playing “True Colors” on the dulcimer, backed by her keyboard player, proving she could still sing in her stunning original vocal range and also connect the audience to the emotions behind the song.
Cyndi Lauper is not just an icon from the 1980s — she is a kick-ass musician who truly cares about the importance of music. She refused to put on a false face to gain acceptance, and for that she is loved and respected. She has stayed true to her unique style, showing her fans at The Capitol Theatre that after all these years, she’s still so unusual.