Home

On the evening of May 29, 2026, at Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida, the Gay Men's Chorus of Tampa Bay turned its concert "Love in Technicolor" toward its Act 2 theme, "Let's Go to the Movies!" For the fourteenth number, soloist Elias Scultori stepped forward alone to sing "Home," Charlie Smalls's closing ballad from The Wiz, the song Diana Ross made unforgettable in the 1978 film.

"Home" is a soul ballad built on patience. Smalls writes a melody that begins low and confiding, almost spoken, before opening into wide, aching intervals as Dorothy realizes how far she has traveled and how deeply she longs to return. It is a song that lives or dies on a single voice, and Scultori clearly understood the stakes, shaping each verse as a confession rather than a performance.

His reading was unhurried and beautifully controlled. He kept the opening phrases close and warm, letting the lyric breathe, then released into the chorus with a chest-voice fullness that never tipped into shouting. The climactic lines, where the melody reaches and holds, were met with steady, supported tone and a sense of hard-won release that earned every rising note.

Allendale's resonant sanctuary flattered the moment, letting his sustained pitches bloom and decay naturally without amplification swallowing the soft passages. When he settled the final "home," the room held its breath before answering with a warm, immediate ovation.

Placed within "Let's Go to the Movies!", the choice resonated past nostalgia. "Home" is a song about longing for a place where you are truly known, and in a solo turn like Scultori's it spoke to the chorus's deeper work: building chosen family and a sense of belonging. It was a quietly radiant centerpiece, and a reminder that some movie songs simply want to bring us home.