It’s all for show.
The wealthiest New Yorkers are no longer just having fancy parties, they’re staging events with elaborate, world-class entertainment elements, from violinists suspended from the ceiling playing rock songs to boudoir circus acts.
“[We work] with a roster of talent that rivals productions from Broadway to Vegas,” Darren Olarsch, founder of On The Move Entertainment, an event production company based in NoMad, told The Post. “Our office is literally a cabaret.”
Earlier this year, Olarsch worked with one high-net worth client who requested aerial musicians perform above the stage at Midtown event space The Shed.
To make it happen, Olarsch and Co. had to install aerial straps on the stage ceiling, and get a fleet of violinists certified in aerial lift training so they could perform hits like “Sky Full of Stars,” by Coldplay and “Fly Like An Eagle” by Steve Miller in the air.
“We sent them to acrobatic school and got them trained and certified for the event,” Olarsch said of the extravagant affair, which was punctuated with a piano performance by John Legend.
For another high roller, Olarsch came up with an idea to put a life-size glass jewelry box — with a classically trained ballerina twirling inside — in the center of the Russian Tea Room.
“What better eye candy than having a living Russian Jewelry Box pop up in the Russian Tea Room?” he said.
Sometimes, it’s all about making an entrance. For the wedding of Jordan Serafino, 31, who works in the spirits industry, and entrepreneur Anthony Serafino, 33, Olarsch’s team worked to optimize the acoustics in the historic opera boxes at The Plaza Hotel. That way, the venue was able to properly accommodate a performance by three tenors recreating Andrea Bocelli’s rendition of John Legend’s “All of Me.”
“At the top of the performance, Anthony and I walked in,” Jordan recalled. “It felt like we were walking onto a movie set.”
Others are having multiple “acts.”
When Christina Mannino and Michael Santora tied the knot earlier this year, they went with a theme of Italian Renaissance meets New York Glamour and created a full “entertainment segment” at Cipriani Wall Street, complete with a “Black Sawn”-inspired ballet and opera performances.
The following night, they held an Arabian Nights themed spectacle at West Village Egyptian restaurant Casa La Femme with a belly dancing performance and costumes for guests to wear.
“The entertainment wasn’t background; I wanted [guests] to live inside it. ” Mannino, a fashion designer, told The Post. “The opera singer, the ballet dancers – the surprise moments – they weren’t extras.”
Earlier this year, Olarsch had to produce nine independent theatrical acts for a Fortune 500 company client — and make it seamlessly span during a single dinner seating.
That meant securing 128 artists — current and former Broadway professionals — to perform and commissioning custom costumes for them to wear.
“[The] choreography was incredibly complex so that we could take advantage of a 360-degree in-the-round stage,” Olarsch said.
Last May, he flew 60 entertainers to perform near Cairo, Egypt, for the four-day wedding of Bilt Rewards CEO Ankur Jain to former WWE wrestler and creator of Knockout fitness class Erika Hammond. The reception was held at the base of the Great Pyramids of Giza.
“It was the first ever event in the grand Egyptian Museum which wasn’t even open to the public. We had to take all of our outside talent and curate the music and styling to compliment the Egyptian culture because it was in such a highly prestigious place,” Olarsch said, of using Egyptian and Arabic musicians to cover “Toxic” by Britney Spears.
He added, “They wanted the ultimate New York experience and they went out with a bang.”
