The people behind
the performers.
Onstage is more than a roster. It's a team that treats every booking like our reputation depends on it, because it does.
Built on a better standard.
In 2011, Joe Costello looked at the event entertainment industry and saw a gap. Venues and event professionals were making high-stakes decisions with minimal support, no real vetting process, and no dedicated partner to manage the details. He built Onstage to fix that.
What started as a single-market operation has grown into a nationwide entertainment agency with a constantly growing roster of vetted performers across 50 states, trusted by some of the most recognized resort properties, DMCs, and corporate event teams in the country. The model hasn't changed. The reach has.
Onstage has always operated as a behind the scenes partner. We don't chase recognition. We chase results, and let our clients take the bow.
The Founder's Story arrow_forwardOnstage opens its doors
Onstage opens its doors in Phoenix, Arizona. From day one, one standard: exceptional entertainment, flawlessly delivered.
The DMC market opens up
Onstage expands into the DMC market. A natural evolution, bringing the same trusted standard to destination programs and high-profile corporate incentive events nationwide.
Colorado expansion
Relationships built across 42 days of back-to-back meetings. Six months later, a global pandemic shuts down every event in the world.
Onstage endures
The relationships hold. The work resumes.
A nationwide roster. Fifty states. One standard.
And no plans to lower it.
"We don't just book entertainment. We deliver experiences."
An entertainment partner that operates more like a private concierge than a talent marketplace. No public roster. No open directory. Every performer vetted, every booking managed, every detail handled by a team that understands the difference between filling a time slot and creating a moment.
2011
Founded
1,200+
Performers
50
States Covered
2,500+
Events Per Year
The team
Small team. Big reach. High-touch by design.
Joe Costello
Founder & CEO
Joe Costello has spent more than 40 years in hospitality and live entertainment. He has been the musician on stage, the bandleader in the room, and now the founder of the agency that books talent for some of the most demanding events in the country. He started Onstage in 2011 on a simple belief: live entertainment is not a line item, it is the one element of an event with the power to rewire a memory. That belief built a vetted nationwide roster of 1,200 performers, and the kind of trust where a general manager calls the day before a gala knowing Joe will handle it. He sets the standard. Every time.
Jo Ellen Verna
VP of Events
Jo Ellen brings four decades of hospitality and event production experience to every engagement she touches. When the stakes are highest she is the one in the room: the complex multi-entertainment programs, the high-profile corporate events, the nights where everything has to go exactly right. She anticipates problems before they surface and draws on a career's worth of relationships to solve them quietly, usually before anyone else knows there was one. Clients trust her because she has seen every version of what can go wrong and knows how to keep it away from the floor. Everything between confirmed and encore is her domain.
Michele Morabito
VP of Talent
Michele is the engine that keeps Onstage running behind the scenes. She is responsive, detail oriented, and thinks several steps ahead, which means problems are usually solved before anyone else notices them. With deep knowledge of the full roster, she knows exactly who fits where and why, and she makes sure every performer arrives prepared and on time. Patient under pressure and precise in execution, she is the reason the logistics side of a booking feels effortless from the client's side of the table. On complex or large scale programs she is onsite, quietly making sure every moving part lands where it should.
Ashley Manoff
VP of Sales
Ashley is who you want on the other end of that first call. As VP of Sales she has a genuine gift for listening, asking the right questions, and turning a rough idea into an entertainment plan that feels exactly right. She knows the roster, she knows the industry, and she makes the process effortless from inquiry to confirmed booking. She also happens to know everyone, and somehow makes every one of them feel like an old friend. On larger programs she sees it through to the final note, onsite from load-in to last call. Work with Ashley once and she becomes your first call every time.
Proud Members & Partners
Ready to work with us?
Tell us about your event. We'll take it from there.