SOCIAL SAFARI:
LET THEM EAT SHORT RIBS
STEPHEN SCHWARZMAN’S 70TH
Stephen Schwarzman’s Birthday Party- Geisha girls in red greeted the guests with flutes of champagne. The fete unfolded in a series of exotically carved, three-story-high golden temples. Trapeze artists twirled from the dining pavilion’s red cupola.Red-lacquered staircases flanked by gigantic blooming trees led to a grand tier for additional seating. Hand-embroidered napkins were folded on teal satin tablecloths, with pleated edges revealing shades of green and blue. Debutante of the Year- Kiera Rumbough, the granddaughter of actress and philanthropist Dina Merrill and the great-granddaughter of E. F. Hutton and Marjorie Merriweather Post, is my pick for Debutante of the Year.
Ode to Joy- Sylvia Hemingway hosted a dinner in honor of conductor Iván Fischer after his concert with the Budapest Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center. The maestro invited students from the Juilliard School to dash onstage to play at the end of Beethoven’s Fifth, and peppered the hall with undercover singers to surprise the audience by jumping up to sing “Ode to Joy” during a rapturous Ninth Symphony.
CiGive- Jenna Bush Hager and Blair Underwood have added Cheri Kaufman as a judge to their NBC show, Give. Kaufman is the founder of CiGIVE, an organization that empowers the charitable spirit of millennials by connecting them to business leaders. Recently, she surprised the young players of Broadway Bound Kids by providing them with a real stage for their next performance. cigive.com