Life is a cabaret

What use, indeed, is sitting alone in your room when you could be checking out Berlin Expedition this weekend, a show at Upstairs (1254 Mackay) featuring locals Mary Ann Lacey, Josée Gagnon and pianist John Roney. Clad in various garish costumes, singer/dancers Lacey and Gagnon simultaneously send up and celebrate the once-shocking, now almost venerable cabaret form.

The two sing tunes from the ’30s and ’40s (works by Kurt Weill, Boris Vian, Fred Hollander and the like), move through the audience, chat, and generally cast a Weimar-ish spell over the audience. An award-winner (for Best Presentation) at last year’s Fringe Festival, the show’s also been performed to hurrahs in New York and Toronto. It’ll play two nights at Upstairs, Sunday, May 12 and Monday, May 13. Both shows are at 8 p.m. and admission is a very affordable $7. :

—Mark Slutsky