Musicians Gavin Rossdale, left, and Gwen Stefani attend the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Inaugural Gala on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Musicians Gavin Rossdale, left, and Gwen Stefani attend the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Inaugural Gala on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Actress Demi Moore watches a performance at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Inaugural Gala on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Actors Kevin Spacey, left, and Charlize Theron attend the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Inaugural Gala on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Actress Demi Moore, left, and musician Gwen Stefani attend the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Inaugural Gala on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Actor Kevin Spacey arrives at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Inaugural Gala on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Most community performing-arts centers open with the mayor in attendance, maybe a few local business owners.
Not in Beverly Hills.
The opening of the city's Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts was celebrated with a black-tie gala Thursday night that drew scores of stars, including Kevin Spacey, Charlize Theron, Jodie Foster, Amy Adams, Demi Moore, an apparently pregnant Gwen Stefani, Gavin Rossdale and many others.
"It's such an artistic community here," said Adams, who sat near actress Maria Bello. "It's really nice to bring the arts that inform the film community to Beverly Hills. It's nice to have it in our backyard."
Joe Jonas, Josh Duhamel, Sherry Lansing, Nicole Richie, Courteney Cox, James Caan, Jason Bateman and Suzanne Somers also attended the opening-night gala. The mayor of Beverly Hills was on hand, too, thanking the center's namesake benefactor for "saving our city from being a cultural wasteland."
The new facility, which has been under construction for a decade, takes over the city's original 1933 post office building. It now boasts two theaters and will host concerts, plays, dance performances and drama classes for young people.
Keeping with the building's original theme, Spacey, John Lithgow and Diane Lane helped inaugurate the new 500-seat Goldsmith Theater by reading letters from Groucho Marx, Tennessee Williams, Peter Tchaikovsky and others.
A dinner of filet mignon over white truffle risotto followed the performance, along with a fashion show by event sponsor Salvatore Ferragamo and a performance by Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo.
Public performances by the Martha Graham Dance Company begin at the Wallis center next month.
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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen at www.twitter.com/APSandy .
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Online:
http://www.thewallis.org/
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-10-18-Beverly%20Hills%20Performing%20Arts/id-700528c3a0e3411ebe52d58e04dd5bebRelated Topics: steelers tom brady Janet Yellen tampa bay rays ben affleck
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