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1981

No Place Like New York: Diana Ross's ‘Home’ (1978) from

image of No Place Like New York: Diana Ross's ‘Home’ (1978) from The Wiz

This article discusses the song ‘Home’ as sung by Diana Ross in the 1978 musical film The Wiz. Unlike the Broadway stage version of The Wiz, which is set in Kansas, the film version takes places in a fantasy land modelled after New York City. Together with the ‘real life’ move of Diana Ross to Manhattan during the shooting of the film, this geographical change presents New York City as a ‘home’ providing a space of freedom and independence.

Keywords: Central Park ; Dorothy ; Michael Jackson ; Motown ; Musical ; Sidney Lumet ; Star studies ; The Wizard of Oz ; Twin Towers ; Utopian longing

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References

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  6. Brooks, Daphne A. (2020), ‘Diana Ross's Greatest Songs: Ranked!’, The Guardian, 18 June, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jun/18/diana-ross-greatest-songs-ranked. Accessed 26 March 2021.
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  9. Carlson, Peter (1984), ‘Diana Ross Promised New York a Playground; Now She Tells Ed Koch Her Concert Went Broke’, People, 23 January, https://people.com/archive/diana-ross-promised-new-york-a-playground-now-she-tells-ed-koch-her-concert-went-broke-vol-21-no-3/. Accessed 26 March 2021.
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  12. Dyer, Richard ([1982] 2023), ‘Diana Ross’, in G. Davis and J. Kooijman (eds), The Richard Dyer Reader, London: BFI, pp. 58–61.
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  13. Fleetwood, Nicole R. (2015), On Racial Icons: Blackness and the Public Imagination, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
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  15. Hassler-Forest, Dan (2016), ‘Utopian Afrofuturism in The Wiz’, Science Fiction Film and Television, 9:1, pp. 88–90.
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  16. Kelleter, Frank (2012), ‘“Toto, I Think We're in Oz Again” (and Again and Again): Remakes and Popular Seriality’, in K. Loock and C. Verevis (eds), Film Remakes, Adaptations and Fan Productions, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 19–44.
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  17. Lawson, Shayla (2020), This Is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope, New York: Harper Perennial.
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  19. Massaquoi, Hans J. (1973), ‘There's No Place Like Home for Diana Ross’, Ebony, July, pp. 100–10.
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  20. Massaquoi, Hans J. (1981), ‘Ebony Interview with Diana Ross’, Ebony, November, pp. 38–50.
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  21. McMurran, Kristin (1979), ‘Showbiz Wiz’, People, 15 January, https://people.com/archive/cover-story-showbiz-wiz-vol-11-no-2/. Accessed 26 March 2021.
  22. Pileggi, Nicholas (1984), ‘Endless Expenses: How Diana Ross's Free Central Park Concerts Wound Up Costing $2.5 Million’, New York, 17:7, pp. 30–35.
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  23. Ross, Diana (1993), Secrets of a Sparrow, New York: Villard Books.81
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  24. Scott, Jesse (2009), ‘The Black Interior, Reparations and African American Masculinity in The Wiz’, in E. Watson (ed.), Pimps, Wimps, Studs, Thugs and Gentlemen: Essays on media Images of Masculinity, Jefferson: McFarland & Company, pp. 68–84.
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  25. Small, Michael (1983), ‘Ain't No Storm Big Enough’, People, 8 August, https://people.com/archive/cover-story-aint-no-storm-big-enough-vol-20-no-6/. Accessed 26 March 2021.
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  26. Windeler, Robert (1976), ‘Mr. & Mrs. Diana Ross’, People, 26 January, https://people.com/archive/cover-story-mr-mrs-diana-ross-vol-5-no-3/. Accessed 26 March 2021.
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  27. Yakir, Dan (1978), ‘Wiz Kid [Interview with Sidney Lumet]’, Film Comment, 14:6, pp. 49–54.
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References

  1. Anon. (1972), ‘New Day for Diana: Now a Movie Star, Too, Diana Ross Has Everything – And Likes It’, Life, 8 December, pp. 42–45.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Bennetts, Leslie (1983), ‘A Singer, a Throng in Central Park, a Deluge’, New York Times, 22 July, p. A1, C3.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Bogle, Donald (1994), Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretative History of Blacks in American Films, 3rd ed., Oxford: Roundhouse.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Boyer, Jay (1993), Sidney Lumet, New York: Twayne Publishers.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Brooks, Daphne A. (2014), ‘Let's Talk About Diana Ross’, in C. Wilson (ed.), Let's Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste, 2nd ed., New York: Bloomsbury, pp. 205–20.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Brooks, Daphne A. (2020), ‘Diana Ross's Greatest Songs: Ranked!’, The Guardian, 18 June, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jun/18/diana-ross-greatest-songs-ranked. Accessed 26 March 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Bunch, Ryan (2015), ‘Oz and the Musical: The American Art Form and the Reinvention of the American Fairy Tale’, Studies in Musical Theatre, 9:1, pp. 53–69.80
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Bunch, Ryan (2019), ‘“Ease On Down the Road”: Black Routes and the Soul of The Wiz’, in D. Birkett and D. McHugh (eds), Adapting The Wizard of Oz: Musical Versions from Baum to MGM and Beyond, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 183–204.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Carlson, Peter (1984), ‘Diana Ross Promised New York a Playground; Now She Tells Ed Koch Her Concert Went Broke’, People, 23 January, https://people.com/archive/diana-ross-promised-new-york-a-playground-now-she-tells-ed-koch-her-concert-went-broke-vol-21-no-3/. Accessed 26 March 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Curry, Tommy J. (2008), ‘When the Wiz Goes Black, Does It Ever Go Back?’, in R. E. Auxier and P. S. Seng (eds), The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy: Wicked Wisdom of the West, Chicago and La Salle: Open Court, pp. 63–78.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Daley, Suzanne (1983), ‘Youth Gags Rob Fans After Show’, New York Times, 24 July, https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/24/nyregion/youth-gags-rob-fans-after-show.html. Accessed 26 March 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Dyer, Richard ([1982] 2023), ‘Diana Ross’, in G. Davis and J. Kooijman (eds), The Richard Dyer Reader, London: BFI, pp. 58–61.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Fleetwood, Nicole R. (2015), On Racial Icons: Blackness and the Public Imagination, New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Forsgren, La Donna L. (2019), ‘The Wiz Redux; or, Why Queer Black Feminist Spectatorship and Politically Engaged Popular Entertainment Continue to Matter’, Theatre Survey, 60:3, pp. 325–54.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Hassler-Forest, Dan (2016), ‘Utopian Afrofuturism in The Wiz’, Science Fiction Film and Television, 9:1, pp. 88–90.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Kelleter, Frank (2012), ‘“Toto, I Think We're in Oz Again” (and Again and Again): Remakes and Popular Seriality’, in K. Loock and C. Verevis (eds), Film Remakes, Adaptations and Fan Productions, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 19–44.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Lawson, Shayla (2020), This Is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope, New York: Harper Perennial.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Martin Jr., Alfred L. (2021), ‘Blackbusting Hollywood: Racialized Media Reception, Failure, and The Wiz as Black Blockbuster’, JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, 60:2, pp. 56–79.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Massaquoi, Hans J. (1973), ‘There's No Place Like Home for Diana Ross’, Ebony, July, pp. 100–10.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Massaquoi, Hans J. (1981), ‘Ebony Interview with Diana Ross’, Ebony, November, pp. 38–50.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. McMurran, Kristin (1979), ‘Showbiz Wiz’, People, 15 January, https://people.com/archive/cover-story-showbiz-wiz-vol-11-no-2/. Accessed 26 March 2021.
  22. Pileggi, Nicholas (1984), ‘Endless Expenses: How Diana Ross's Free Central Park Concerts Wound Up Costing $2.5 Million’, New York, 17:7, pp. 30–35.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Ross, Diana (1993), Secrets of a Sparrow, New York: Villard Books.81
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Scott, Jesse (2009), ‘The Black Interior, Reparations and African American Masculinity in The Wiz’, in E. Watson (ed.), Pimps, Wimps, Studs, Thugs and Gentlemen: Essays on media Images of Masculinity, Jefferson: McFarland & Company, pp. 68–84.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Small, Michael (1983), ‘Ain't No Storm Big Enough’, People, 8 August, https://people.com/archive/cover-story-aint-no-storm-big-enough-vol-20-no-6/. Accessed 26 March 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Windeler, Robert (1976), ‘Mr. & Mrs. Diana Ross’, People, 26 January, https://people.com/archive/cover-story-mr-mrs-diana-ross-vol-5-no-3/. Accessed 26 March 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Yakir, Dan (1978), ‘Wiz Kid [Interview with Sidney Lumet]’, Film Comment, 14:6, pp. 49–54.
     [Google Scholar]

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