By Marilyn Lester***A scientific analysis of what makes a great cabaret show would have to include Goldie Dver‘s recent The Rhythm of Life: The Dorothy Fields Songbook at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, where it was easy to check off all the boxes. 
The house was packed with friends and colleagues, a laudation of popularity, but far more than that, the knowledge that Dver knows how to deliver the goods. The Rhythm of Life was full of great music, a meaningful narrative, charm, intimacy, superb musicians and the central figure of Dver singing her heart out—entertaining with the gusto of the legendary Washington party-giver, Elsa Maxwell.
What’s more, the show was personal, tied to Dver’s mother, with an opening and closing of the evening book-ending a charming special history. Beginning with an uptempo “I’m a Brass Band” (Cy Coleman) paired with “I Feel a Song Coming On” (Jimmy McHugh), we soon learned that Dver’s Philadelphian parents, married 
in 1947, spent their honeymoon in NYC—and among their celebratory activities was a trip to the famed Latin Quarter nightclub. It was the kind of place, among others back in the day, where a souvenir photo was de rigueur, and other mementos could be had. That photo, framed, graced the piano with a lovely vase of flowers. And then! Dver produced a souvenir songbook—from which young Goldie began her training. As she did at age nine, she offered a Fields-written (with McHugh) “I’m in the Mood for Love.”
The stage was intriguingly set. And upon that stage, director James Beaman had Dver make the most of it, with active movement that organically made use of her natural proclivity for the expressive delivery of her material. Could there be a better choice than Dorothy Fields—Latin Quarter songbook or not? Answer: not if you’re considering a giant among giants. Fields may often be referred to as the American Songbook’s greatest 
female lyricist, but she was, in fact, one of popular song’s greatest lyricists, period. As Dver moved through the set list, she succinctly hit the salient points of Field’s long career, from early days with McHugh, starting at the Cotton Club, to her last collaboration, with Cy Coleman on the 1973 Broadway musical Seesaw.
Given that Fields wrote about 400 songs, presenting many of the lesser-known tunes was welcome, which helped make The Rhythm of Life that more special. There were some big hits including “The Way You Look Tonight” (Jerome Kern), but fascinating were songs such as “Happy Habit” and “Make the Man Love Me” (both Arthur Schwartz) and “He’s Good for Me” (Coleman). Dver mined her inner comedienne for comic turns on “After Forty, It’s Patch, Patch, Patch” 
(Coleman), and with an extra layer of Brooklynese, a stellar “He Had Refinement” (Schwartz) from, what else, the 1951 Broadway musical, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
Double delight: pianist and musical director Dan Pardo. He deftly headed a trio of bassist John Miller and drummer, Chip Fabrizi, but his pianism and arrangements were full of terrific creative ideas, expressed, for one, in a ”send ‘em out happy” Latinized encore of “Thank You For a Lovely Evening” (McHugh). Pardo delightfully mirrors Dver in a cheerful, winning personality with lots of energy and joie de vivre. And he sings. Duets with Dver on “You Couldn’t Be Cuter/Exactly Like You” (McHugh/Kern) and “A Fine Romance” (Kern) couldn’t be cuter. But it was the title song “The Rhythm of Life” (Coleman), with Pardo donning shades, that was a charming theatrical capper, also bringing Dver back to the Latin Quarter and tying up a grand show full of life, love and joy.
