BWW CD Review: David Sabella's Debut Solo Album TIME HEALS Is A Tonic For The Times

Releasing a live album is a very tricky thing to do for an artist. There are so many factors involved in the creation of the disc, almost all of them out of the artist's control: the quality of the recording equipment available, the abilities of every single technician whose fingers twist a knob, slide a dial, or adjust a level, and the ever-changing nature of live performance. It might sound like an ideal way to make a record - just show up, sing into the mic, catch the audience applause, and you have a CD, and have it all done in one fell (and financial) swoop. It is a serious artistic decision to be weighed beforehand and a tightrope wire that must be walked with great care and consideration.

With his debut solo album TIME HEALS, David Sabella has joined the circus and he needs no net because the CD succeeds, on all fronts.

TIME HEALS is a live recording made at New York City's downtown cabaret venue PANGEA, and though the show being documented was titled PANDEMIC RELIEF, Mr. Sabella made the wise choice to not put out an album that would live forever with the word Pandemic in the title. The name change is incredibly appropriate because the show (one this writer reviewed and praised) occurred at a point in the pandemic timeline when the clubs were still pretty newly reopened, when people everywhere were still shell-shocked, suffering, and nervous about being out in public. The production was a salve to club-goers and cabaret artists then, and, months after the premiere of the musical play, the album continues to inspire healing, through Mr. Sabella's frank observations, witty repartee, and unbridled theatricality.

TIME HEALS, it turns out, is a cast album.

Structured like a play, Sabella's one-man show possesses high volumes of drama (both serious and comedic) and the leading man himself has terrific flair. Whether telling tales in songs that have been electrifyingly arranged by a handful of David's Musical Director colleagues or delivering monologues in a manner reminiscent of Eve Harrington's Sarah Siddons acceptance speech, Mr. Sabella has done his full due diligence in mapping out and planning the paths proper to take his audience on a visual, visceral, musical journey. Like a true professional, Sabella rehearsed this show within an inch of its life, and it shows, one of the reasons the album succeeds. Without the benefit of being in the theater and seeing the artist's face, with only the sound of their voice, their inflection, their sense of the theatrical, a live recording might carry over none of the sense of occasion to be experienced during that live show. Goodness knows how they did it, but Sabella and his musical director, the remarkable Mark Hartman, did - with an assist from engineer JP Perreaux, album mixer Colin Freeman and master Roger Lian, all of whom managed to keep a significantly noteworthy balance between voice, musicians, and audience reactions. It's an admirable effort on everyone's behalf that helps to seamlessly capture the live theater experience.

As for the theater itself, the TIME HEALS team (featuring bassist Sean Murphy and drummer Mike Lunoe) puts on a hell of a show. With his aforementioned theatricality, Mr. Sabella devours the magnificent arrangements, throwing himself into the lyrics and the musicality and emerging like some musical Thespis. He leaves no stone unturned in his quest to explore every facet of the tales he is telling, whether it is an oddly refreshing up-tempo of "Take Me To the World/More" that opens the show or a devastating number from Lippa's WILD PARTY that (aided by specifically written and deliberately recited dialogue) takes the breath away. Joking about pandemic stress, single parenting, and the struggles of mid-life dating while juggling those two things, Sabella manages to keep the pandemic talk light most of the time (not entirely), choosing carefully when to get serious about his daughters and the social injustice in the world, and when to really make fun of himself (chat about the nature of drama addicts will resonate with many who might laugh out loud, like this writer did). Sabella and his team also make wise choices about the number of ballads to present in the show because, when talking about a global health crisis, the black lives matter movement, and the death of close friends like Rick Jensen, a ballad-heavy program runs the risk of depressing a listener - the balance of musical offerings is masterful, and David and Mark deserve praise for keeping the show and album from becoming dirgical. With vocals that run the gamut from tender-as-a-whisper to awesomely powerful, Sabella acquits himself distinctively, especially on a gorgeously arranged and performed "Wondering" from THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY and a spectacular Sondheim mash-up that tells the tale of a man raising two teenage daughters who simultaneously bring joy and chaos to the home.

The unquestionable triumph of the recording is a tribute to the late Maestro Jensen in which David Sabella proves that a middle-aged man who has sung opera and musical theater can have a life as a rock and roll singer. The recording of "The Show Must Go On" is, alone, worth buying the album. It is a master class in acting and in vocal performance that stood out during the live production and that is immaculately captured on the disc. Other than this musical moment, this writer's favorite part of the album is actually the magical moment right after the Freddie Mercury classic, at the end of the album, when Mr. Sabella is making his thank you speech and talking to the audience, out of the character of the show: it drives home the notion that this is a play. This is a piece of theater. What we have been enjoying for the last hour has been a theatrical production, and as soon as the epic final notes of the Queen number are finished and Sabella lets out a big giggle of relief, we are given a few minutes with the man behind the artist. It is a beautiful moment of vulnerability and honesty that makes the previous fifty minutes even more memorable because we have had time with David Sabella the actor and time with David Sabella the man, and it is the combination of both that makes storytelling so special. When artistry and humanity exist in the same space and time, we make magic. And, as live recordings of nightclub acts go, TIME HEALS is pretty darn magical.

David Sabella TIME HEALS is a 2021 release on the Cabaret HotTrax label and is available on all digital platforms and at Cabaret HotTrax HERE, with physical copies available on amazon. Access all platforms HERE.

David Sabella returns to the stage on March 9th at Feinstein's/54 Below.

To post a comment, you must register and login.