Diana Ross Gave The Sold-Out Crowd Life At Brooklyn's Gorgeously Refurbished Kings Theatre
The legendary Diana Ross lent her fame to another indestructible cultural icon last night, entertaining a sold-out crowd at the grand re-opening of the Kings Theatre in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Opened shortly before the stock market crash of 1929, the former movie palace was reportedly a favorite hangout for a teenage Barbra Streisand, before it was shut down and boarded up in 1977. It was essentially left to rot for decades until a $95 million renovation project began in 2013.
The expensive facelift re-created every detail of the original theater from light fixtures to plush seating, though a modern state-of-the-art sound system was installed.
Balconies that had collapsed onto water- and mold-soaked floors are up again," the Daily Mail reports. "The carpeting is patterned after the original one that was destroyed - except for a tiny strip discovered under a defunct popcorn machine that served to duplicate the pattern."
The 70-year-old Motown songstress was welcomed to the stage as the theater's first performer in four decades, kicking off an upcoming lineup that includes Gladys Knight, Frankie Valli and Sarah McLachlan.
Tickets for the performance, originally priced around $100, were reportedly going for as much as $1,000 before the show last night.
By all accounts, everyone in attendance got their money's worth – Ross covered Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" not once, but twice, inviting the audience to sing-a-long the second time.
Check out some clips from some of last night's lucky concert-goers below:
