HOLLYWOOD -- Oscar Day has arrived and whether or not the new organizers make good on their threat to reinvent the wheel -- a notably squeaky and slow-moving wheel -- one thing's for sure: It's going to be business as usual for the Governors Ball, the official Oscar after-party which, in the assured hands of longtime event producer Cheryl Cecchetto, has always emerged as the mood-setting epitome of elegant opulence.
Or will it?
Is the crummy economy putting a damper on what the Sudbury, Ont.-born Cecchetto can do this year?
"It's not what I could or could not do, it's what I chose to do that felt appropriate," says Cecchetto, whose company, Sequoia Prods., is putting the finishing touches on its 20th Governors Ball. "The decor this year is all Asian elements. It's still elegant, but it has a very simplistic, very natural, harmonious and balanced look. It's not over the top."
In other words, resisting any temptation to take a stylistic cue from Slumdog Millionaire, she's passing up an obvious Bollywood vibe in favour of something more Kung Fu Panda.
"It's using all the Feng Shui elements, so it will be very calming," Cecchetto says. "Oscar Day is very chaotic for everyone, between the getting ready and the traffic and the red carpet. We're incorporating all five elements -- earth, air, fire, water and wood."
Specifics?
How about a colour palette of sea foam and bronzes, plenty of sustainable bamboo along with obi table runners and huge shadow boxes installed in the ceiling of the ballroom representing skylights?
Or the dining tables outfitted with four-inch-deep rectangular or square troughs containing living landscapes composed of old, dried vineyard stems, moss, floating candles, orchids and succulents or, in some cases, oversized bonsai trees.
"It's like a Japanese Zen garden," Cecchetto promises. "It's got the river rocks and those elements that can't help but make you feel transformed."
Try telling that to the losers.
Arriving guests will be serenaded by a 21-piece orchestra, to be followed by jazz great Barbara Morrison, the smooth jazz stylings of Rick Braun and Richard Elliot and, rounding out the evening, the a cappella quartet, Impulse.
And, of course, there's no Governors Ball without the grub, and Wolfgang Puck is once again doing the honours.
That East-meets-West theme will be played up in Puck's signature tray of passed hors d'oeuvres featuring tuna tartare in black sesame miso cones and mini Kobe beef burgers.
Then there will be the seafood and sushi stations on both sides of the ballroom, mounted with kimonos on bamboo, not to mention the Asian vegetable salad served with Maine lobster, pumpkin coconut soup and slow-braised Asian-spiced short ribs served with spring vegetable risotto.
Anyone for dessert?
Acclaimed L.A. pastry chef Sherry Yard ties it all up with a trio of tiered bento boxes containing little pastries, sorbets and gelato.
And, of course, one of Wolfie's trademark gold-dusted Oscars will be popping up in one of those boxes.
"It's unbelievable," Cecchetto says assuringly.
We believe her, but for those of us who have spent at least one past Oscar night in front of the TV feasting on containers of Chinese take-out and Canadian beer, it's nice to know we were ahead of the whole East-West curve.
