Goldie Dver
The Rhythm of Life: The Dorothy Fields Songbook
The Laurie Beechman Theatre, NYC, June 2, 2026
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
Dorothy Fields wrote over 400 sets of lyrics for Broadway and Hollywood with a wide range of composers from Jerome Kern to Cy Coleman. During an almost 50-year career, she managed to stay surprisingly contemporary as both lyricist and librettist. She was definitely a pioneer and the most successful female writer during Broadway’s Golden Age. Weren’t we lucky to have another energetic, witty, creative, and warm guide to take us to her world. That would be the wonderful Goldie Dver, who brought her show The Rhythm of Life: The Dorothy Fields Songbook to The Laurie Beechman Theatre.
Dver worked with her great team of director James Beaman and music director/arranger/pianist and occasionally vocalist Dan Pardo (plus bassist John Miller and drummer Chip Fabrizi) for top-notch results. The only flaw of the evening was early on when there was a noticeable imbalance between Dver and instruments that threatened to drown her; fortunately this seemed to be rectified as the show went on. Although a 75-minute show could not possibly encompass all of Fields’ lyric-writing career, this event did a great deal to sample every aspect of it, from her early revue efforts (“I’m in the Mood for Love” with composer Jimmy McHugh) to Hollywood (“A Fine Romance”; Jerome Kern in a charming duet with Pardo) to book musicals on Broadway, both old-school (“Happy Habit”; Arthur Schwartz) and contemporary (“I’m Way Ahead”; Coleman).
Of course, this journey would have been meaningless without Dver’s joyful, warm, and encompassing presence in conjunction with her fine voice and her considerable acting talents. She was occasionally reminiscent of the fabulous Dorothy Loudon in both her generous humor and her ability to bring out the emotion of the material. There was a brilliant medley of “Make the Man Love Me’ (Schwartz) and “He’s Good for Me” (Coleman) that was the soul of torch singing. And “Happy Habit” (Schwartz) was as joyful as the lyrics indicated with an impressively jazzy arrangement. Another mash-up was “I’m in the Mood for Love” with “Don’t Blame Me” (both McHugh), which added up to romantic perfection.
When Dver was given the chance to create a full personality she did just that. Aunt Cissy in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of those rich characters that actresses love to explore, and in “He Had Refinement” (Schwartz) Dver truly brought her to life. Throughout the evening she had great fun interacting with Pardo, as in a cute counterpoint arrangement of “You Couldn’t Be Cuter” (Kern) for her and “Exactly Like You” (McHugh) for him. This led to “April Fooled Me,” with a melody by Kern to which Fields wrote the lyric after he suddenly passed away. This song, with its lush arrangement, was one of the highlights of the evening. But then every number was a highlight up to the perfect closing number, “Thank You for a Lovely Evening” (McHugh). It was the sold-out audience that was ready to say that to Dver and company.
