“I look like what’s-her-butt, from ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ ” Cyndi Lauper announced in her pipsqueak voice. She checked herself out in the mirror in her foyer, surrounded by framed platinum records. Though she talks with the panache of a 1940s movie moll crossed with a character from “Goodfellas” — all dames and broads and outer-borough curse words — she didn’t resemble even a profane Norma Desmond. In head-to-toe black, save for a leopard-print sweater and a tight cap over her hot pink hair, Ms. Lauper, the singer of enduring hits like “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “True Colors,” mostly looked like what she is, a pioneering rocker.

It was a Wednesday, and she was heading from her apartment in the Apthorp building on the Upper West Side, walking a few blocks to the Beacon Theater to see her friends Tegan and Sara, the twin indie-pop duo, perform. This was a rare night off for Ms. Lauper, who has had the busiest and most creatively diverse year of her career. Backstage she told the duo, Tegan and Sara Quin, about her latest projects: a memoir, published in September; a reality series (her second, after a stint on “Celebrity Apprentice”), focused on her life on tour and with her family, called “Still So Unusual,” for the WE channel; and, most pressingly, the Broadway version of “Kinky Boots” (adapted from the 2005 movie), for which Ms. Lauper composed the music, a first for her.

Tegan and Sara were duly impressed. “All we talk about since we toured with you is how hot you are and how good you sound,” Tegan said. Onstage they covered one of her hits, “When You Were Mine,” dedicating it to her; it influenced them as kids, they explained. In the audience Ms. Lauper teared up, while remaining highly enthused. “This is awesome, it’s awesome!” she crowed, and sent out a tweet saying the same.

Ms. Lauper has been wavering on the border of teary and exuberant a lot lately, particularly with regard to “Kinky Boots.” Though she helped produce her own records and wrote a slew of radio hits, selling over 40 million albums, she is not perceived as a composer. “Kinky Boots,” with songs in styles that range from pop to funk to new wave to tango, with highly personal lyrics and several standout ballads, may change all that, potentially paving the way for another phase in her career. In previews now and due to open on April 4, it’s the culmination of four years of work, a collaborative back and forth among Ms. Lauper; the director, Jerry Mitchell; and the book writer, Harvey Fierstein. But getting top billing without having to sing onstage has made her nervous, she admitted.