Review: Despite vocal problems, Cyndi Lauper has fun in her Minneapolis farewell show

Chatty as always, pop icon Cyndi Lauper was telling the story Wednesday night at Target Center of how she wanted to learn a new song with her pre-solo band Blue Angel. “I tried to sound like Gene Pitney,” she said in her Edith Bunker-like Queens, Noo Yawk, accent, “and I sounded like Ethel Merman.”

She reprised that 1960s song, Pitney’s “I’m Gonna Be Strong,” a power ballad before they were called power ballads, at Target Center and stopped in mid-song. Then she started over from the top. And stopped again midway. And a third time and halted even earlier in the song.

“I don’t know what’s wrong,” she said, coughing and sounding like she was suffering from winter dry-throat. “I don’t sound like Ethel, but now I don’t even sound like me.”

Reminding the crowd that her show was live and imperfect, she instead offered an a cappella version of “Fearless,” an unplanned 1996 number during which she mixed up some of the verses. Didn’t matter. She was all heart, determination and fearless. It was live and her personality saved the moment.

So did bringing out soon thereafter special guest Lucinda Williams, queen of Americana music, to duet on Lauper’s classic “Time After Time.” Williams told the crowd how important Lauper was as a woman in rock history. Their harmony on the synth-drenched ballad wasn’t perfect but their spirit was.

There were more surprises than expected Wednesday as Lauper winds up her U.S. farewell tour this week. Her vocal issues, her duet partner and all her wigs. Mint green, canary yellow, sun-bleached blond worn long and straight, a blond updo with purple highlights. Oh, she also donned a black wig cap for a couple of selections to make a point.

At 71, Lauper remains as colorful, kooky, talented and fun as she was when she arrived with her 1983 debut album, “She’s So Unusual,” that led to the Grammy for best new artist.

Unusual, indeed. Over the next 40-odd years, Lauper became queen of the outsiders, an advocate, an ally, a messenger whether it was women’s rights, gay rights, human rights or fundamental rights. It’s OK to be “other” and have fun with it, she told us in song, conversation and action long before Lady Gaga and Chappell Roan were born this way.

On Wednesday, after a quick photo montage of her career, Lauper kicked off her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour show with “She Bop,” a 1983 ode to masturbation that was as bouncy as it was bold. Then she immediately shifted gears to the lightweight “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough” from the 1985 Steven Spielberg-produced kids movie “The Goonies.” That’s Lauper, who changes colors like a chameleon.

Wednesday’s 16½-song repertoire reminded 9,000 fans that, over the years, Lauper has delivered airy pop, peppy new wave, buoyant rock, rousing rockabilly, soaring standards, New Orleans party jams and, especially, heartfelt ballads. In Minneapolis, she gave a shout-out to Prince, though not when she covered his “When You Were Mine” (from her debut album) bathed in purple lights. Although she surveyed her career in song, she didn’t offer anything from her 2010 album “Memphis Blues” or her 2013 Tony-winning musical “Kinky Boots.”

Backed by a seven-person band, Lauper showcased her familiar frayed-on-the-edges Betty Boop-ish squeal of a singing voice that can be as startling as it is expressive. Oftentimes, she opted for lower keys than heard on the original versions of her songs but that didn’t diminish the emotive qualities of her voice, especially when she hit big notes on “I Drove All Night” and “Shine.”

It’s hard to believe this was Lauper’s first arena headline tour since 1986, though she has appeared in Twin Cities arenas more recently opening for Rod Stewart (2018) and Cher (2002). Her U.S. farewell run ends Saturday before heading to Europe, Japan and Australia next year as the not-retiring Lauper still works on her long-gestating “Working Girl” musical (based on the 1988 rom-com movie) due on Broadway in 2026.

Saying she wanted “to go out big,” Lauper made effective use Wednesday of video across an accordion-like wall of screens, but it was her outfits — designed by, among others, “Project Runway” champ Christian Siriano and polka-dot-loving 95-year-old Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama — that helped her tell her story along with all those wigs.

The minimally produced “I Drove All Night” was one of the night’s most striking numbers as Lauper held up part of her voluminous white dress as a screen on which driving scenes were projected.

Equally memorable was “Sally’s Pigeons,” Lauper’s 1993 ballad about a childhood friend who died seeking a back-alley abortion.

With white sheets strategically blowing in the wind over a satellite stage, “Sally’s Pigeons” was a tender, touching moment during which Lauper wore a black wig cap and a black dress with a long train. What a powerful mid-show statement. It was as essential as the hit-filled encore of “True Colors,” the LGBTQ anthem that’s more broadly a prayer for all kinds of outsiders, and the inevitable “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” which loudly broadcasts that now, more than ever, girls/women just want to control their own lives.