Lauper and assistant Mitchell Reichler instruct singer Tiffany, foreground, actress Charlotte Rae, far left, NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, actress Kelly LeBrock, actor Corey Feldman, rapper Darrell McDaniels and former 'VJ' Julie Brown. Behind Lauper are wrestler 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper, actor Philip Michael Thomas, actress Charlene Tilton.
By Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Here on a Sony soundstage, the '80s are so back, they might have never ended.
Weird Science's Kelly LeBrock, gaudy in a scarlet jacket that impeccably matches her puffy pout, gets her reddish mane curled by a stylist. Near her is fellow burgundy-haired songstress Tiffany, a vision of garishness in sequins and taffeta under a sweeping black coat and leggings.
Standing alone and keeping to himself is Miami Vice's detective Philip Michael Thomas, 57, in a jaunty fedora.
When the director barks out "You're on!" LeBrock, 46, flips her head upside down and tousles those tresses, her face expressionless. Moving to the stage, she stands next to Tiffany, 34, and the two start bopping to an imagined rhythm as cameras roll and record their exaggeratedly choppy dance moves.
They're here — along with one-time bad boy Corey Feldman ('80s flicks The Goonies, The Lost Boys), Dallas darling Charlene Tilton, hoops legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and more — to shoot a commercial for the Trivial Pursuit Totally '80s edition, out this month ($30).
The director is an '80s icon herself: She Bop-per Cyndi Lauper, 53, who also happens to be starring in The Threepenny Opera on Broadway.
"Move closer in," she orders Tiffany, who swishes the tufts of orange, yellow and pink taffeta attached to her black knee-length leggings and laughs as she moves closer to Feldman, 34.
"Everybody into place! Please move!" Lauper shouts in a gravelly Noo Yawk accent. "Get in your position, please. Everybody squeeze into each other."
There's no attitude on this shoot; most everyone is friendly and approachable. After all, they are earning dollars for reliving the decade that made them stars. LeBrock groans when she sits down in a comfortable swivel chair during a break from shooting, promptly removing her white-and-black wedge heels and putting her feet up.
Tilton, 47, is wearing caked-on blue shadow and electric pink lips that hark back to the days when J.R. Ewing still ruled Southfork and she played Lucy, the resident floozy. A pink taffeta wrap curls around her shoulders, and the requisite black Stetson is perched on her head. She's a pixie, even in her tall plexiglass "stripper heels."
She's thrilled about the upcoming big-screen adaptation of Dallas and checks her cellphone feverishly because daughter Cherish, 23, is auditioning to play Lucy. "It would be coming full circle, you know?" Tilton says.
But she doesn't have much time to mull her daughter's career, as Lauper directs her back to the stage to join the rest of the actors.
"Stay right there. I'll need to light you," says Lauper, dressed in black save for her orange-framed glasses and jaunty yellow beret perched on her spiky hair.
Most of the stars got involved after getting calls from Lauper herself, and they relish reliving their professional glory days.
"I wanted to celebrate these people who were '80s icons," the director says. "Wouldn't it be great to have them come and have an '80s party and celebrate the vitality and humor of it? Remember Charlene Tilton in Dallas? Philip Michael Thomas was great. Tiffany — what a great voice."
The '80s, says Lauper, were "a very creative time. People did wild things.
"There were the bad hairdos and tacky moments, but people had the courage to have a bad hairdo. The fashion police meant nothing to us then."
Had the fashion police shown up to the shoot, they might have made a few citizen's arrests.
Says Tiffany: "My son (Elijah, 13) is going to be embarrassed when he sees this on TV."
