CABARET REVIEW: Arisha's OK Cabaret - Sonata Piano Lounge, Manchester.

“Arisha’s OK Cabaret: An Operatic Extravaganza” is an unusual cabaret show based on the

experiences of a distressed British musical theatre student who was trapped in the United States

when the world went into lockdown. This performance was presented by To Bee Productions at the

Sonata Piano and Cabaret Lounge, as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival.

The performer, Arisha-Jane Marsh, is a non-binary alto. The performance began with a lot of bounce

and zest. Marsh started with the early excitement of being twenty years old, and winning a

scholarship to a prestigious conservatoire in Oklahoma City to train in musical theatre and opera.

There was a lot of poking fun at the Americans, and their obsession with all things British; and some

description of the new customs in this place, such as the students’ Halloween production of “The

Zombies of Penzance” – a production that I would dearly love to see brought to Manchester.

Marsh’s own ambitions and dreams were high, summarised in performances of Barbra Streisand’s

“I’m The Greatest Star” and Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!”

This would have been a show in its own right: Manchester singer meets the USA. However, we only

got about two terms’ worth of this joy before we reached March 2020 and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The USA, and Marsh’s conservatoire went into lockdown.

It is great credit to Marsh as a performer that the story could swing into this area, and what sounds

like quite a harrowing time for Marsh, and never once was the audience dropped or let down.

Though plainly quite personally affected by the memories, Marsh still sustained a powerful and

moving dynamic, moving easily around a range of musical styles and spoken storytelling as the

ensuing dystopia was described.

Whatever the audience’s own experiences of lockdown had been, Marsh’s would have topped most

of them. With the conservatoire closed down, and international flights out of the country stopped,

our stranded Mancunian no longer had a place to stay, or scholarship funds to eat with, and no

knowledge of how long this was going to last for. There were detailed descriptions of how all the

students were tearfully running around saying goodbye to each other before going home to an

assorted fifty states, and the big adventure already felt at an end. Basic survival needs now took

over. Marsh did eventually get into a bubble with a group of local LGBT+ residents, and managed to

struggle through the lockdowns with their support – and a lot of alcohol and Dungeons & Dragons.

The last part of the show described the turbulent return of education as the lockdowns lifted, and

Marsh’s return to Manchester. The impact of the adventure is that there are no Broadway dreams

now, and Marsh feels very tied to home and being near familiar support networks. It was a

rollercoaster of an emotional journey to take the audience on, and the very supportive audience

stayed engaged every step of the way. Everything was bright and poppy again for the end!

Director Jas Nisic made the most of a small stage and intimate space, and ensured the different

scenes were clean and flowed together. Musical director Jess D’Silva accompanied on the piano with

great flourish.

Reviewer - Thalia Terpsichore
on - 19.7.23