Serving Star Treatment : Ready for your close-up? While dining at the new Tinseltown Studios, VIP wannabes are celebrities for a night. But watch out for the paparazzi.

Even before his Italian lace-ups hit the red carpet, talent agent Keith Lewis was workin’ that Hollywood thing.

Armani suit. A 3-week-old goatee. A look that screamed A-list.

But Lewis wasn’t the only one getting the star treatment at this glitzy gala. For this was Tinseltown Studios in Anaheim, a new entertainment concept that pushes the envelope of dinner theater by allowing anyone to play celeb for a night.

“I’ve been to a lot of star-studded events, and this definitely creates the scene,” said Lewis, president of the Costa Mesa-based Morgan Agency, dedicated to launching models, actors and child hopefuls into stardom.

The scene? Tinseltown is illuminated by Klieg lights. And a 75-foot water tower on the grounds calls attention to the $15-million facility on the edge of the parking lot of Edison International Field.

When it premieres Friday, it will accommodate as many as 700 visitors looking for the Hollywood experience, including mock celebrity arrivals and an elaborate awards dinner and show.

Each evening, the gates of the Tinseltown Studios lot (founded by the mythical film pioneer Cohnwarner Mayerwyn Selznuck) open to a gathering of guests who attend to participate in the Tinseltown Awards. Seventeen performers play roving Hollywood reporters. They also sing, dance and show film clips from major motion pictures in which some audience members are featured in roles such as Kevin Costner’s role in “Field of Dreams” or John Belushi’s part in “Animal House.”

During the sneak preview last week, Lewis came along to provide an industry insider’s perspective of Tinseltown, a 40,000-square-foot facility on East Katella Avenue in Anaheim not far from two other themed dinner theaters in Buena Park.

Wild Bill’s has an Old West theme, and Medieval Times has a jousting arena, but the grand scale of Tinseltown Studios “puts it in a different league,” Lewis said.

“With all the lights, you can feel the energy. At the Academy Awards, it’s clear by the mob of fans that the average person really wants to be a part of the inside action. This allows them to do that for a night--it’s fun.”

The brainchild of Jim Garber and former Disneyland President Jack Lindquist, Tinseltown Studios is owned and operated by Ogden Entertainment, a division of Ogden Corp., a $2-billion company based in New York.

Ogden operates more than 130 different entertainment facilities worldwide, including the nature-based Silver Springs theme park near Orlando, Fla., and the Top of the World observation attraction on the 107th floor of Manhattan’s World Trade Center. In Southern California, Ogden Entertainment operates the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim and the Great Western Forum in Inglewood.

Despite the $15-million start-up, promoters said Tinseltown already has the makings of a Hollywood success story. According to Garber, $1.7 million in group business has been booked between now and January.

“So far things are looking great,” says Garber, president of Anaheim-based GarLin Productions, responsible for creating the Tinseltown concept. “The feedback [at sneak previews] has been very positive,” Garber said.

After guests are greeted by “paparazzi” and “autograph hounds” straining the velvet ropes, they are led into a celebrity bar area with purple-draped curtains and cast members in elaborate evening wear who toss air-kisses and chatter like self-aggrandizing stars. Famous clips from a century of movie making play continuously on four pre-show monitors.

“It’s been ages, dahling,” one sequined starlet said to a guest sporting blue jeans and a white T-shirt. “Simply ages.”

“Famed legendary film mogul” Cohnwarner Mayerwyn Selznuck greets guests from a balcony above, a la Richard Attenborough as John Hammond in “Jurassic Park.” He welcomes his “closest friends,” making everyone feel like a star, if only for a moment.

Guests are then led into the grand ballroom, where a waitress or two may point and squeal at them.

“Look! It’s Mel Gibson!” shouted one server, pointing at a Tinseltown guest, who was confused for a second because he in no way resembles the hunky star. “I just looove you,” she gushed.

At the table, Tinseltown serves a three-course meal. Guests dine on green salad, choice of steak, salmon, chicken or vegetarian pasta. The signature dessert? A rich chocolate filmstrip with the Tinseltown logo in each frame.

As dinner is served, many of the Tinseltown celebrities are able to see themselves on two enormous television screens on each side of the stage. This “pre-award show telecast” features interviews conducted by mock reporters with guests as they arrived for the evening.

The screens display a “flyover” shot of the Anaheim building while dessert and coffee are served.

“Live from Anaheim, Calif.,” booms the announcer, “it’s the ‘Tinseltown Awards Show,’ honoring the finest in motion picture achievement.” Red-carpet interviews acquired earlier by Tinseltown’s exclusive TV show, “Access Entertainment,” are shown to the awards audience.

The show features Academy Award-like production numbers, Hollywood song medleys, as well as a series of repartee between acts that are frighteningly similar to the real thing.

“Oggie” statuettes are given for best actor and actress, and this is when some of the guests will see themselves actually inserted into real motion picture film clips via the ulti-mat (green screen) process. (Studio technicians and editors digitally recompose the film, inserting the guest’s picture into the clip after the real actor’s image has been removed. The guest appears in the clip talking to the original co-star.)

Appearing in a Hollywood movie is voluntary. Not every guest would want so much attention, after all.

Lewis didn’t seize his 15 minutes of fame on screen. Still, returning to reality was a bit of a letdown. His Armani suit a touch wrinkled after the 2 1/2-hour Tinseltown experience, he headed out to his car and felt a tad deflated.

No limo. No driver. Just his Jeep in a self-parking space.

“It was fun while it lasted,” he said, sighing.

BE THERE

Tinseltown, 2200 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim. Shows: 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 4 and 7 p.m. Sunday; closed Mondays. Tickets: $44.50 for adults and $34.50 for children 11 and younger. Call (714) 712-2700.