DIANA ROSS REVIEW
Lights! CAMERA! Action!
It's DIANA ROSS!
MORE LIGHTS! ADD THE STROBES!
Cameras are on the audience!
THE BAND IS TAKING ACTION!
Saturday night, November 1, 2025, at Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, CT.
The opening videos depict Diana on stage, off stage and with family interaction. Her father states how much trouble she was. Diana says, "I was my mama's best friend." A sister retorts, "You never did anything mama told you to do." The audience laughs, waves and searches for her. You know ... HER!
And to the song 'I'm Coming Out', she emerges in a gold lame' gown and long ruffled coat.
It is Diana Ross. You expect the glitz, the glamour, the show-stopping elegance. She is iconic. She MUST have all this. BUT what you don't expect is the kind, family-dedicated unassuming woman who talks to her audience, asks for lights on in the house so she can see faces, and speaks of the fearful covid time when she worried, she would not be allowed live performances ever again. That's the trouble with icons. Just when you have them firmly placed on a pedestal above you, they ask to get down and have a chat.
I Love You More Today Than Yesterday
Baby Love
You Can't Hurry Love
Come See About Me
Stop In The Name of Love
Touch Me In The Morning
It's My House
The Boss
Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)
Upside Down
Don't Explain (from Lady Sings the Blues)
Love Hangover
Take Me Higher
Ease on Down the Road
In Your Heart (from her latest album: Thank You)
Diana introduces her first-born: Rhonda Ross Kendrick. Together they sing 'Count On Me.' Rhonda writes and sings her songs, having her own style of "settling" people with her music. Diana leaves stage to change outfits and Rhonda continues the show with her songs:
Driving Me Away
Back to Love
Maybe I'll Fly
Diana returns in a white princess style gown and satin coat singing 'Dance'.
Theme from “Mahogany” (Do You Know Where You're Going To)
Ain't No Mountain High Enough
I Will Survive
This is the last night of her short (two weeks?) tour, and she is reluctant to leave the stage. She thanks everyone in her troupe, including lights, sound and band, by first name only and then sings her finale:
All We Do Is Win
You can imagine the applause, the waves, the shouts as she and her entourage take bows and then depart the stage.
Oh yeah ... you are thinking, just wait for the encore!
We wait. We clap. We cheer. We Wait. We WAIT. This can't be! No encore? We are not sure if we should stop. People are massing out of the theatre. The lights are up. Is this it? I am not sure about the expectations now.
Somebody sees the guitarists returning! Now the rest of the band and vocalists emerge and yes! Rhonda comes out with Diana, who has changed into a black slinky gown. AHA! The reason for the delay is now evident. She is so grateful for her life and states that it was not a "rags to riches" story as the Rosses never had rags. But they were grounded and she wants to keep that in her memory. The encore song is 'Thank You,' the title song from her latest album.
I heard reports that her previous show at St George's on Statin Island had some physical conflicts in the audience that required security intervention to ensure safety. I love the St George and am so sorry to hear about this. It had nothing to do with the show presented but was a personal disagreement among ticket holders.
This was my first time seeing Diana live on stage. Coming out of covid, and natural aging (Diana is 81) has shortened the tour spans and thus lessened the number of her stage shows. This is a visually over the top presentation with a grounded foundation. How can you do that?
Shelley J Sweet-Tufano
NE Correspondent
Forgotten Hits
I didn't realize she was still performing. (We're going to see another diva icon next week, Gladys Knight.)
I saw Diana TWICE many, many years ago ... mid-to-late '70's I think ...
She did two nights here and I went both times ...
And was SO shocked and disappointed to see that she did the exact same performance, down to even the slightest ad-lib (or what we THOUGHT was an ad-lib the first night) ... it just felt so "mechanical" after that ...
Blown away the first night ... and so disappointed after the second ... and this was during her solo peak! (kk)
Interesting! Having nothing to compare it to, I don't know if she has maintained the "same" show each tour. Like you, it seemed extemporaneous when she was talking to the audience. I would hope that she would be able to relax enough not to need scripting. However, the show, vocalists and band, are for sure choreographed as were The Supremes. I don't need it, but I understand that is part of many high-end shows. Just the fact that she still sounds great (yes, she is definitely singing live) and although older, does not show her 81 years is enough for me.
Shelley
I’m not quite as confident when it comes to Gladys … unfortunately, we’ve heard some disturbing reports about her losing her way on stage. Will report back on OUR experiences once we’ve seen the show … but she is someone that we have always wanted to see … kind of an anniversary treat for us this year. (kk)
