Cyndi Lauper signs on for guest role in Prime Video's The Horror Of Dolores Roach

Girls just want to have fun, but grown women with storied careers? They want to guest star in television dramas distributed by popular streamers. Demonstrating the hypothesis: Ms. Cyndi Lauper, who has signed on for a recurring guest spot on Prime Video’s upcoming series The Horror Of Dolores Roach.

The series, helmed by Aaron Mark and Dara Resnik, first received an eight-episode order from Amazon back in February, but the streamer has yet to nail down an official release date. The show is based on a Gimlet podcast of the same name, which Mark also wrote and directed.

Per Variety, The Horror Of Dolores Roach follows the titular character (played by Justina Machado), an ex-convict who returns to her former home of Washington Heights 16 years after beginning her sentence. The $200 she has to her name and clothes she has on her back aren’t enough, however, to buoy Dolores to financial freedom in the severely gentrified neighborhood. Strapped for cash, she turns to a former smoking buddy, Luis (Alejandro Hernandez), who offers her a job giving massages in the basement of his empanada joint. Soon “Magic Hands Dolores” has a successful career and a loyal following— but her increasingly codependent relationship with Luis eventually turns dangerous, and Dolores must fight tooth and nail just to stay alive. Kita Updike, K. Todd Freeman, Marc Maron, Jean Yoon, Judy Reyes, and Jeffery Self round out the cast in to-be-announced roles.

Lauper joins the cast as an especially colorful character: Ruthie, a “Broadway theatre usher who moonlights as a private investigator.” Ruthie is reportedly the root of a good portion of Dolores’ discontent, and the idea of Lauper as a hawk-eyed villain feels like a deliciously out-of-character onscreen turn for the bubbly, whimsical performer. Although the role may not bring Lauper closer to her E.G.O.T., this has nothing to do with her multi-faceted talent and everything to do with the fact that she’s an Emmy (and Tony, and Grammy) winner already. Get this woman some Oscar bait, stat!