Strippers With a Plot - Audra McDonald and Sharon Van Etten - NYTimes.com Maria Teresa DeJesus Alvarez Cyndi Freeman, a k a Cherry Pitz, right (with Lil Miss Lixx and Adam "the First Real Man"), is reviving her "Hotsy Totsy Burlesque" show. Gyms are packed with people who resolved to get fit in the new year, and while we're all for getting healthy, nothing depresses us more than watching a roomful of hungry New Yorkers fight over free weights and climb Stairmasters to nowhere. The Miser is on vacation this week, living it up in the hedonist's paradise of New Orleans, so we think it's safe to assume that she'd prefer to kick back with a martini and a dish of salted peanuts and watch women of all shapes and sizes get their (and their audience's) heart rates up the old-fashioned way: with stripping and high drama. Cyndi Freeman, 47, a comedian and actress, was always intrigued by the idea of performing burlesque but was intimidated by the idea of dancing around au naturel in front of strangers. In 2002 she had a breast cancer scare and subsequently tested positive for a BRCA genetic mutation, which significantly increases the chance of developing breast and other cancers. It was then that she decided that it was time to give her fantasy a whirl. "I wanted to celebrate my body while it was healthy," she said. And in burlesque, she added: "Every body is beautiful. Every shape, every size, every age. No one's going to tell me I'm too old. She took classes and within a year she was performing in burlesque shows in New York as Cherry Pitz. In 2007 she met Joseph Naftali, a k a Joe the Shark, and together they created "Hotsy Totsy Burlesque," a scripted, high-camp soap opera with comic-book and sci-fi twists that features a rotating cast and a different story every show. After taking a yearlong break, they're restarting the monthly series on Tuesday. "The thing I've noticed is that if the audience is drawn in to a drama, they have a heightened experience," Ms. Freeman said. "They are "right there" for the entire show." Worry not. While this may not be your typical burlesque show, there's nothing highbrow about it. There are still plenty of spinning tassels and G-strings. In this week's episode, which features, among others, Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey, an "award-winning acrobatic burlesque superduo," the women are holding a fund-raiser in the basement of the Home for Wayward Girls and Fallen Women to get a housemate out of jail. Martha Steward, a homemaking guru and their current patron, makes an appearance. 8 p.m., every third Tuesday of the month; RBar, 218 Bowery, between Prince and Spring Streets, Lower East Side; hotsytotsyburlesque.com; $10. Also on Tuesday, the four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald performs songs from the revamped musical "The Gershwins" Porgy and Bess" with her co-star, Norm Lewis. The Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten follows with selections from her album "Tramp." 2 p.m., the Greene Space, 44 Charlton Street, at Varick Street, SoHo; thegreenespace.org; $15.