David Sabella

David Sabella enjoys a successful and varied career. As a performer, he's appeared on- and off Broadway—most notably in the 1996 revival of "Chicago"—and in cabaret; in 2018 he received the Outstanding Performer in a Lead Role award for his work in "The Phillie Trilogy" at the Fresh Fruit Festival. In classical music, he was a winner of the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition and the New York Oratorio Society Competition, and he has performed leading roles throughout the US and abroad. As an educator, he served as President of the New York Singing Teachers Association (2008-2014) and has been published in the Association's journal, and he has served on the faculty of several prestigious universities. He's the author of the forthcoming "So You Want to Sing Cabaret" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020).

Nicci Nicholas

David Sabella
At Don't Tell Mama, Nicci Nicholas is currently offering a saloon show of sorts, directed by Lennie Watts and with music director Ian Herman at the piano. A saloon show, or saloon set, as it is often referred to, is a set of seemingly unconnected songs, each in its own right a classic of the...

Bob Simonello

David Sabella
Bob Simonello performed a lively Rock/Blues/Jazz fusion show, Rollin' a 7, to a packed house at Don't Tell Mama recently, aided by music director Jeff Harris on piano, Scott Thornton, bass, and Steve Singer, drums. Simonello, possesses many qualities with which to entertain his audience, not the least of which is his personable and genuine...

Eric Michael Gillett

David Sabella
With his new offering, Stop This Train, recently at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, Eric Michael Gillett returned to the cabaret stage as a phoenix rising. Beginning the show in an unusual way, he meandered about the audience introducing himself to newcomers and cajoling with friends. After a while, he made his way to the stage...

Mark William

David Sabella
With Feeling Good, his new show at The Green Room 42, vocalist Mark William celebrated the release of his debut CD, Mark William: Come Croon With Me. The recording is billed as his "critically acclaimed nightclub act"; accordingly, the show was a hybrid of nightclub- and cabaret-style performance. This is sometimes the case with a...

Mark Nadler

David Sabella
Mark Nadler recently regaled the audience at the Laurie Beechman Theatre with his new show, The Old Razzle Dazzle – an Evening of Lies, Lying and Liars. Appearing dapper at the piano in a vested suit and black Bowler hat, he assured the audience that "Everything I am going to tell you tonight is a lie."...

Jordan Wolfe & Michelle Dowdy

David Sabella
Jordan Wolfe and Michelle Dowdy are two very enthusiastic and charismatic performers who have a lot to offer, both vocally and energetically. And in '67: The Summer of Love Show, the two performers took every advantage to offer as much of this enthusiasm, and vocal volume, as possible. Playing to a sold-out crowd of exuberant...

Yael Rasooly

David Sabella
In her show Glamour in the Dark, Israeli singer-actress Yael Rasooly, joined by accordionist Iliya Magalnyk, offered a glimpse into an almost other-worldly and very international cabaret experience. The evening had a theatrical feel, with Rasooly entering onto the stage slowly singing "La Vie en rose" (Louiguy, Marguerite Monnot, Édith Piaf) to discover—as if for...

Madelaine Warren

David Sabella
Madelaine Warren's voice has a lovely warm tone—one could even say burnished. And her musicality and phrasing, as one might expect from a former classical singer, are well thought out and refined. It is with these gifts that she presented Mad for Romance at Don't Tell Mama, directed by Barry Kleinbort. In large measure it...

Dorian Woodruff

David Sabella
Dorian Woodruff is an elegant and refined man. And, with a voice that is just as elegant and refined, he captivated the audience at Pangea with his show Welcome Home: Everybody Has a Story. The MAC Award nominee crafted a lovely program of stories and songs that almost always intertwined seamlessly, sung with a formidable...

Shana Farr

David Sabella
Shana Farr has brought her latest show, It's Not Where You Start: The Songbook of Barbara Cook, to the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Farr certainly looks the part. One can see in her the bright face of a young Barbara Cook, ready to take the stage, and the world, by storm. And, she sounds the part,...