Back Together Again
Dorset Theatre Festival in Dorset, Vermont
Music by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
“You just hold out your hand…”
Covers in pop music can sometimes better the originals. Likewise in theater, there are times when people portraying other real people can be quite compelling. Dorset Theatre Festival’s third offering of the season is just such an occasion. Husband and wife team Ken and Christina Acosta Robinson are offering their view of occasional singing team Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack. Hathaway, a depression-ridden songwriter/singer who died at age 33 teamed with the superstar gospel singer on several occasions. Their friendship was a tortured one due to his illness/mania, and their time together would make a terrific play, but this is not that show. This is a concert by two fine artists representing the music of two other fine artists.
The Robinsons created this concert/show for the Merrimack Theatre Company in Lowell, Massachusetts and this is its second major engagement. Its format is a major shift for the Vermont company. To be fair, it is a fine show, 85 minutes of fine singing and patter, mostly about their own relationship and not that of Flack and Hathaway. The songs, solos, and duets are those that historically belong to their predecessors. They are very well delivered by this team, although they do not sound like either Hathaway or Flack.
Accompanied by the very talented musician Taylor Peckham, the seventeen songs in this show include major hits such as “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” and “For All We Know” along with lesser-known gems like “A Song For You,” “Be Real Black For Me,” “I Who Have Nothing.”
As the Robinsons sing and indulge in seemingly improvised conversation (carefully scripted, I suspect), we discover a loving pair who enjoy one another’s personal and professional company. We learn about their early time together, his proposal of marriage, her family ties in rural Pennsylvania and other topics totally unrelated to the subject of their show. As a result of their singing and their dialogue we end up adoring the two on stage and not caring about Flack’s uneasy relationship with Hathaway.
A sing-along moment at the end of the show with Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” sums up the wonder of an intimate time with two lovely, talented people. It’s a worthwhile time, widening your knowledge of some great songs and some super-fine performances by two talents who will certainly go on giving us top-notch work in the future.
“Back Together Again” plays at the Dorset Theatre Festival, 104 Cheney Road, Dorset, VT through August 7. For information and tickets call the box office at 802-867-2223, Ext. 101 or go to the theater company’s website.
