Lancaster Performing Arts Center Takes Its First Bow : Entertainment: The $10-million theater, the first of its kind in the Antelope Valley, kicks off its season with Henry Mancini and his orchestra.

Premiering with a sold-out concert headlined by Henry Mancini and his orchestra, Lancaster inaugurated its new 758-seat Performing Arts Center on Friday night, a $10-million-plus boost for downtown that arrived nearly a year behind schedule.

City officials, civic leaders and other Antelope Valley residents turned out for the black-tie optional event that kicked off a weekend of theater activities. The $50 and $75 Mancini tickets had sold out long in advance.

“I think this is the night we’ve all been looking for for a lot of years. I believe tonight we would all agree the city of Lancaster has risen to a new level,” said Vice Mayor William Pursley before the concert began.

The center, as it turned out, opened on the 14th anniversary of Lancaster’s incorporation on Nov. 22, 1977. “This theater is going to make Lancaster a real place. It’s going to put us on the map,” said former Councilman Lou Bozigian, president of the private foundation that helped raise funds to build the theater.

By show time, virtually every seat was filled. The audience enthusiastically cheered Mancini--who has recorded more than 90 albums and contributed music to many films--as well as singer Gloria Loring and stand-up comic Pete Barbutti.

A formal ribbon-cutting and jazz concert is scheduled for tonight.

The facility is the Antelope Valley’s first formal theater. And with the opening, Lancaster edges its sister city of Palmdale, which has yet to begin construction on a planned $4-million, 400-seat complex to the south along the Antelope Valley Freeway.

Lancaster’s theater, on Lancaster Boulevard between Fig and Fern avenues just two blocks from City Hall, replaces a long-demolished bowling alley and movie theater, and is expected to become the premier attraction in the city’s downtown area.

The theater originally was supposed to open early this year. But the original contractor, Lancaster-based Cates Construction Inc., halted work in February and ultimately went out of business. After some delays, the city finally hired W.D. Gott Construction Co. of Upland to finish the job.

Building the theater and buying the site has cost the city an estimated $10 million, and the city spent hundreds of thousands more to construct a nearby parking area to serve the facility. In addition, the city expects to pay a first-year operating subsidy of $680,000, and continue subsidies for the foreseeable future.

The inaugural season includes scheduled performances by entertainer Shirley Jones, the avant-garde Joe Goode Performance Group dance company, magician Harry Blackstone, the Oakland Ballet, a touring company of “Nunsense,” and local jazz and dance performers.

Tonight, the theater will have a 7:30 ribbon-cutting ceremony by city officials, followed by an 8 o’clock performance by the Antelope Valley Jazz Ensemble, with more moderately priced tickets at $7.