Sarah’s Weekend List Mardi Gras, Bike Show, VDay bureslque, a rock opera

The Montreal Bicycle Show wheels into a new location for its 21st edition. Hear from famed professional cyclists like Olympian Geneviève Jeanson, peruse new bikes and gear, pick up tips at a workshop and explore tour packages. You can also get a permanent token of your love for cycling at the sports-themed tattoo booth! Until Sunday Palais des congrès.
Black History Month continues: Comedians Rodney Ramsay and Daniel Woodrow bring the Underground Comedy Railroad to the Comedy Nest, Sunday 8pm. co And La Petite Librairie D+Q hosts a special storytime for young ears, Saturday at 11am.
Imago theatre has just opened The Flood, a play following women incarcerated in a dank basement prison in Toronto. Today, the historic St Lawrence Market is a tony place to sup and shop, like our Marché Atwater, but at the turn of the 19th century it housed a prison. Canadian author Leah-Simone Bowen explores the experiences of Black and indigenous prisoners through an unlikely friendship between two women named Mary. Until February 25 at Centaur Theatre.
MainLine Theatre hosts two encore presentations. The deliriously funny Johnny Legdick: A Rock Opera, a made-in-Montreal tale about freedom and unlikely bodily transformations, marks its 10th anniversary. Friday, 9pm and Saturday, 8 and 10pm. Plus,storyteller Paul Shenkar de Tourreil recounts all his near-death encounters. 9 Lives, 8 Near-Misses: Life Lessons from Near-Death Events, Friday, 7pm and Saturday, 4pm.
Theatre Ouest End presents All You Need is Love? An evening of readings expounding on the theme of love, with local luminaries like Michaela Di esare, Jeff Gandell and Marianne Ackerman. Cité des Hospitaliers on Sunday, 5 to 7pm.
Dawson College’s The Dome has the honour of presenting the Canadian premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Tony-winning play Leopoldstadt. Graduating students will perform this family saga, set in the titular Jewish neighbourhood in Vienna, spanning from the late 19th century to the post-Holocaust era. Until Saturday.
It’s also the final weekend to see Donna-Michelle St. Bernard’s new work, Diggers. This Black Theatre Workshop play follows three gravediggers and the community they serve, at Segal Centre Studio until Saturday.
Friday’s music picks: Montreal electro-pop duo Milk & Bone at Beanfield Theatre, 8pm. Saguenay singing sensation (you loved her on Canada’s Got Talent!) Jeanick Fournier performs at Casino de Montreal, 8pm.
Saturday’s music picks: Gothic rock-witch house duo ††† (CROSSES) at Beanfield, 8pm. DJ duo PRAANA at Le Studio TD, 9pm. Canadian-Punjabi wunderkind producer Ikky at Bar Le Ritz, PDB at 7:30pm. Up-and-coming Scottish producer Barry Can’t Swim aka Joshua Mannie at Fairmount Theatre, 10pm.
Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day meet at the Red Roof Rendezvous cabaret and dance. Enjoy dancing, live music and cabaret performances at the parish hall at the crimson-topped Church of St John the Evangelist. Saturday, 6:30pm.
Laissez les bon temps rouler at The Wheel Club in NDG: they are hosting Mardi Gras in Montreal with the Louisiana Night Train and brass band The Fat Tuesday Horns.
Go dancing at Canicule Tropicale’s mix of vintage Latin, African and Caribbean music with DJ Philippe Noel, at La Sala Rossa, Saturday 10pm. Saturday, 8pm.
Nuits d’Afrique continues its series of weekend concerts, Les Cabarets Acoustique, at Club Balattou, including Team Salsa Sextet, which fuses New York and Afro-Caribbean sounds, Sunday at 9pm.
Matt O’Brien (Conan, JFL, CTV Comedy Channel) headlines at The Comedy Nest, with support from the likes of Gino Durante, David Pryde, Mike Carrozza and more! Friday and Saturday, 8 and 10:30pm.
Several shows on tap at Montreal Improv in St Henri, including The One That Got Away, where inspiration will be derived from the audience’s tales of missed connections, Friday 8pm.
Dr Sketchy Montreal is a cheeky live drawing session featuring burlesque dancers. Entertainer Velvet La Touche poses for the theme of date night, Saturday, 2 to 5pm at MainLine Theatre.
It’s sultry Valentine’s Weekend at burlesque headquarters The Wiggle Room: Roxy Torpedo, Holly Von Sin, Wild D’Lilah and Cat Zaddy perform Friday, 9pm. Saturday’s lineup includes Lily Monroe, Ophelia Rass, Celesta O’Lee and Rose De Flore. Owner Frenchy Jones has hosting duties. On Sunday at 7:30pm, Montreal’s Most Delicious Date will spoof dating TV game shows, with a musical-comedy-burlesque flourish!
ONGOING EVENTS
The Arsenal hosts Immersive Disney Animation, which spotlights House of Mouse characters and music, including movies like Frozen, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid. At Arsenal Contemporary Gallery until May 4.
Visit the ongoing 14th edition of Luminothérapie, a display of outdoor light installations in and around Place des Festivals, including the larger-than-life flower installation Astera. Bring your skates (or rent a pair) for a turn around the refrigerated rink at Place Tranquille. The rink has an interactive projection nightly at 6:30pm: Au Bord du Lac Tranquille captures the flora and fauna of the St Lawrence, playfully moving along with your feet. (But do check weather conditions - 15 to 20 cm of snow is expected to fall by Saturday night.)
Dreaming of Asia is a stunning exploration of Chinese and Japanese culture, making its North American premiere at OASIS Immersions. French digital art studio Danny Rose has crafted four different experiences, including a look at shadow puppet theatre. On now at Palais des congres.
Still time to visit the city’s newest museum: Centre des Mémoires Montréalaises promises to capture the metropois’ history and citizens. Check out the vintage neon signs at the entrance, and look for the colourful balls that once decorated Ste-Catherine in the Gay Village. There are two exhibition up now: a lookback at the 90 years of Le Chaînon, the women’s shelter and resource centre, and Détours, which focuses on hidden corners of the city. Located at 1201 St Laurent.
Artist Sonia Bazar explores the people and history of a Jewish cemetery using photography, textiles and sculpture. Back River is at the Museum of Jewish Montreal, until March 3.
The McCord Stewart Museum’s excellent and informative Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience. The show profiles the 11 nations living within the borders of Quebec, with testimonies and carefully curated objects. Two of the McCord’s current shows include Becoming Montreal is about the depictions of the city in the 1800s, and Wampum: Beads of diplomacy, which displays over 40 wampum belts from different collections, underscoring their symbolism and history.