Cyndi Lauper is bidding farewell to her touring days as the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour. This is one of 23 stops before the tour concludes with a final performance in Chicago on December 5. Lauper expresses mixed feelings about the transition. “It’s not that I don’t enjoy performing,” she states. “I just dislike the packing and the constant moving around.”
Lauper has put together a talented team to help realize her vision for this farewell tour. “It’s a bucket list tour,” she explains. “I have an amazing artistic director, Brian Burke, who is helping me bring to life things I’ve only imagined. Visually, it’s stunning. We’re collaborating with Yayoi Kusama and her exquisite artwork, as well as Daniel Wurtzel and his dynamic art.”
The timing of the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Tour was partially motivated by the documentary “Let the Canary Sing,” directed by Alison Ellwood, which explores Lauper’s career and premiered on Paramount+ on June 4. Lauper explains, “The documentary was being released, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to do a farewell tour with flair.”
For the past eight years, Lauper has been collaborating with Rob Hyman of the Hooters, who co-wrote her hit “Time After Time,” on the musical adaptation of “Working Girl,” a 1988 film starring Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver. “Working Girl is going to La Jolla Playhouse in California in the fall of ’25 and will open on Broadway in the spring of ’26,” Lauper says. “I’ve been working on it for about eight years. It takes a long time. I wanted to do the tour now while I’m still strong and capable.”
Though this tour marks the end of her traveling performances, Lauper has no intention of leaving music behind. “I can still perform,” she notes. “I’ve been writing a lot for ‘Working Girl,’ so I’m still very much involved in music.” Lauper reached out to Hyman because “Working Girl” is set in the ’80s. “I thought, ‘We were both around in the ’80s. Let’s do this together.’ I’m also collaborating with Sammy James Jr. from the Mooney Suzuki, and I got Salt from Salt-N-Pepa to write a rap for one of the songs since they were also prominent in the ’80s.”
