Starry Starry ‘Sunset’ : 1,520 of Barbara Davis’ Closest Friends Converge for Benefit Preview and Festivities for the Newest Musical From Andrew Lloyd Webber

A spectacular audience filled first the Shubert Theatre, then the Century Plaza’s Los Angeles ballroom Tuesday for the benefit preview of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard.” The event raised $1.7 million for a half-dozen diabetes charities.

Chaired by Marvin and Barbara Davis, the evening brought together a spectrum of entertainment industry, social and business leaders. “I felt like I was going to the Oscars,” said the show’s star, Glenn Close, as she entered the party.

It could have been an Academy Award audience except there was only one award (to Webber for his generosity in the fight against diabetes) and the evening was not black-tie.

“The ladies are just as dressy,” said Barbara Davis, who wore a beaded Oscar de la Renta jacket over burgundy chiffon pajamas. “But I thought the men would be more relaxed if they didn’t have to wear tuxedos in the theater.”

Among the guests were Lee Iacocca, Billy Crystal, Bo Jackson, Sugar Ray Leonard, New York socialite Nan Kempner, Luke Perry, state Treasurer Kathleen Brown, Betsy Bloomingdale, Clive Davis, Denzel Washington, Mary Tyler Moore and the mono-named Eurohunk, Fabio. “These are all my friends,” said Barbara Davis of the 1,520-strong crowd. “I’m just very friendly.”

Her guests began the evening watching the musical (with the addition of one song not heard in its London performance), and Close’s singing was a major topic of conversation during intermission. “It’s remarkably powerful,” Liz Taylor said.

Billy Wilder, the writer/director of the 1950 film upon which the musical is based, said he thought Webber did “a helluva job.”

“It’s very difficult to make a play out of a movie,” Wilder said. “It’s easy the other way around. Here you have only one camera to work with--the long shot. In the movie you put the camera wherever you want.”

After the show, the guests marched from the Shubert to the hotel along a red carpet that took them through a 30-foot-high replica of the original Paramount studio gates. Murray Korda’s violinists played along the way. The crowd entered the ballroom, where the walls were covered in burgundy velvet drapes, to the sound of Peter Duchin’s 12-piece orchestra.

Pat Ryan of Party Planners West said every square inch of the room was used for tables. The only sacrifice of space was for a black-and-white checked dance floor in front of the band.

To feed the guests quickly (it was 11 p.m. when they got to the ballroom), food was served on Lazy Susans with shrimp, prosciutto and vegetables waiting as the guests arrived. Filets of chicken breast and tenderloin of beef were served later.

Among those dining were Anjelica Huston and Robert Graham, Dominick Dunne, Peter and Lynda Guber, George and Jolene Schlatter, Daryl Hannah (in a clingy/slinky ‘30s-style dress with a boa); Jackie Collins, Joan Collins, Paul Marciano, Revlon’s Ron Perlman, Kenny G, Candice Bergen, John and Marian Anderson, Merv Griffin, Anne and Frank Johnson, Neil Simon, Laura Dern, Don Johnson, and Nancy Livingston, who was in the film and said, “To be in a classic alters your life forever.”

As for the play’s theme of a fame-obsessed film star gone mad, Clint Eastwood had the wisest comment. “This is a story about taking it seriously,” he said. “One should never take it seriously.”