Cyndi Lauper is a renaissance woman, moving from pop to blues and now to Broadway.

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter who grew up in Ozone Park, Queens, will make her Broadway debut Thursday night. She wrote the music and lyrics for the musical adaptation of "Kinky Boots," collaborating with actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein.

Lauper tells WNYC’s Soterios Johnson she found more freedom in writing for a musical than she does in writing music for an album.

“It doesn’t have to be all one thing. Because you can have an idea in your head and decide what you want,” she explained. “Of course it was more freedom than a freaking record company that constantly tells you, ‘You gotta be this or you gotta be that.’”

A call from Fierstein sparked her involvement in the musical. She says she “jumped” at the chance.

“Harvey’s fun,” she explained. “He’s funny, he’s a good storyteller, he understands theater. Who the hell wouldn’t want to work with him? You’d have to be nuts!”

Diversification, be it Broadway, blues or writing a best-selling autobiography, is how she stays inspired.

“I like to study, I like to study music and I like visuals. I think that there’s nothing better than telling a story that’s authentic about the real human condition, about people who are trying,” she said.

Listen to Soterios Johnson’s full interview with Cyndi Lauper above.