Arts Center Opens in Style : Culture: Rita Moreno brings glamour to the Simi Valley stage for the glitzy celebration in the transformed 71-year-old church.

Tux-clad dignitaries glided up in limousines, and Rita Moreno christened the stage with a blast of Broadway brass Friday night as nearly 300 people turned out for the grand opening gala of this city’s new Cultural Arts Center.

Jeweled, coiffed and snappily dressed, city leaders and arts center boosters milled around before the show in the downstairs community room, which doubles as a gallery for Simi Valley artists.

They noshed on Brie and caviar, sipping champagne as the ebb and flow of excited conversation mingled with the lilting strains of a classical wind ensemble.

Mayor Greg Stratton and a horde of city officials chatted and compared notes on how successfully the 71-year-old church had been transformed into what they hope will become Simi Valley’s cultural heart.

“I think this was the perfect size center for this city, and it will be for the next 20 years,” said tux-clad Councilman Paul Miller, cradling a flute of champagne.

“When you look at it, this is a really neat place,” Miller said, glancing around the room at paintings by Simi Valley artists. “The advantages are that if you want to see a show, you don’t have to travel to L.A. or even to Thousand Oaks. You can see it right here, and the ticket prices are low enough even for senior citizens to afford.”

Though tickets for Friday night’s and tonight’s fund-raising galas cost $100 a head, ducats for musicals, plays and concerts will cost $10 to $17.50.

Cultural Arts Center Commission Chairman Jay Bloom said he took the afternoon off from work to get ready for the opening, and pronounced himself “thrilled” to see the theater come alive.

“Everything’s going to be terrific,” Bloom said. “As you look around, this is what we hope it will always be like, the festivity, the camaraderie, the feeling that it can be a kind of showcase for the community.”

“This is really great,” said a sequined and giddily excited Peggy Sadler, head of the center’s fund-raising organization. “We just never have black-tie affairs in Simi Valley.”

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Even Councilwoman Sandi Webb, who had opposed the project as too expensive, praised Friday night’s opening event.

“I lost a vote, and I don’t throw sand in the gears,” Webb said, with a shrug. “Onward and upward. I’m still proud of this city for not having put a whole lot more money into this thing than they could have. They did an outstanding job on it.”

As the room filled, lighting technicians in the theater upstairs were making last-minute adjustments to the battery of well-tuned spotlights.

To guard against a capricious air-conditioning system either chilling or roasting the guests, General Manager David Ralpheposted a technician at the controls, poised to adjust the atmosphere at a moment’s notice.

Yet some bugs clearly remained: A musician quipped about the frigid men’s room, “It’s a morgue in there.”

The lights dimmed and everyone streamed upstairs to witness the dedication of the new theater.

Stratton recalled the building’s multiple past lives as a Methodist Church, Jewish synagogue and mortuary and marveled at the change.

“We got this . . . nervousness that something might happen to it and it would be lost from the community forever,” Stratton said. “So, when the opportunity came to put together a small community arts center, [it] was just too good to pass up.”

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Stratton expressed firm wishes that the building would become a center for the community and “something for the kids.”

Then the mayor took an oversized pair of gold-plated sheers and clipped a broad gold ribbon stretched across the stage, saying “We hope you enjoy tonight’s performance and come back for many more in the future.”

After fund-raisers pitched the opening-night crowd for more donations to fill out the center’s $2-million operations endowment, campaign co-chairman Bruce Strathearn gave dewy-eyed thanks to the boosters for their work.

“You’ve saved a fine building, and it means a lot to me,” said Strathearn, recalling in a choked voice how he was baptized in the church in 1944.

“You’ve made the place into something meaningful for our valley’s youth, and for that I thank you.”

Then Moreno hit the stage, a vision of Broadway glamour in low-cut gold spangles, she perched atop a black baby grand. Backed by a smooth five-piece jazz combo, Moreno launched into a version of “I Got Love.” With high-kicking dance and shimmering tremolo, she strutted through the number, which ended with a roar of applause from the crowd.

Then she indulged in a bit of the intimate patter that was to endear her to the audience more and more throughout the evening: “I’m truly happy to be here, and you must be so proud,” Moreno told them. “It’s adorable! It’s just a jewel box of a place.”

She segued effortlessly into a duet with daughter, Fernanda Luisa, of a dance number inspired by legendary choreographer Bob Fosse, “Hey There Good Times.”

Friday’s grand opening culminated months of construction and more than a decade of dreams.

Simi Valley officials first conceived of an arts center of their own at least 10 years ago.

But it was not until 1991 that the council agreed to buy the former Community Methodist Episcopal Church on Los Angeles Avenue and turn it into a $3.6-million arts center.

The result is a far cry from the musty, quake-cracked rattletrap of a building that had seen nearly 70 years of hard duty before the workers got to it.

Contractors ripped out the old plaster-and-lath ceiling and some walls, replacing them with fresh drywall.

They recast the cracked plaster bas-relief columns in new fiberglass.

They stripped and refinished all the old oak trim, from the broad facade of the choir loft to the hand-carved pew-ends that now hold up the teal-padded bench seats.

And they transformed the church’s dusty basement into a multipurpose room that will play host to cabaret shows, art exhibits, seminars and wedding receptions.

The builders also paid tender attention to architectural detail, carefully folding modern necessities into the church’s Greco-Roman design:

The main floor’s 11,100 square feet were stretched to 12,615 square feet by adding stage space behind the original altar area and duplicating the Greco-Roman decor of the facade on the building’s exterior.