Wacky Cirque du Soleil Is Back in Town : Celebrities Turn Out for Opening of Canadian Show

Hip Canadian circus Cirque du Soleil returned to town for another engagement at the Santa Monica Pier.

Wednesday’s opening-night performance drew hundreds of Cirque fans, as well as first-timers, to the beach where a party followed the show.

In the audience were Matthew Broderick, pictured left, with Helen Hunt, and, at right, Cirque founder and president Guy Laliberte with Scott Baio.

Spotted at the show and the late post-show party, which featured a live band and food from area restaurants, were Ted Danson and family, Corbin Bernsen and Amanda Pays, Howard Hesseman, Sharon Gless and Barney Rosenzweig, Shelley Duvall, Carol Channing and Steven Bochco.

There was much gushing about the show, even from those who had seen it several times. Other audience members were grateful they weren’t the ones the circus clowns splattered with water during the first act.

Said Laliberte, who was ecstatic at the turnout and the crowd’s several standing ovations: “L.A. was the first American city we did, and there is something a little more here.”