An 86 salute at the Bowl

THE Hollywood Bowl kicked off its 86th season June 22 with aerial acrobatics, arias, fireworks, and a li’l Led Zeppelin, the latter courtesy of goofball Jack Black. The orchestra’s founding director and Hall of Fame honoree 1. John Mauceri, right, gave Kirk Douglas a hand, as did the audience after the 90-year-old jokingly longed to be 86 again. A star-struck 2. Joe Mantegna brought his own camera so he could score souvenir photos with everybody from musical theater vet Carol Lawrence to the second Hall of Fame inductee, Placido Domingo. Kristin Chenoweth serenaded the legendary tenor before singing a duet with him, accompanied by L.A. Philharmonic’s 3. Alexander Mickelthwate, who kicked up his heels before the show.

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A lot of congrats after ‘Sheba’ opens

Samuel L. Jackson and Benjamin Bratt attended the opening night of “Come Back, Little Sheba” last Sunday, but one of S. Epatha Merkerson’s other former costars was noticeably absent: Pee Wee Herman. Instead, his bowtie-less alter ego, Paul Reubens, slipped into the Kirk Douglas Theatre to catch the drama, also starring lucky 4. Jenna Gavigan, who got double-bussed by Josh Cooke, left, and Bill Heck at the post-show reception in the lobby. Their cast mates 5. Alan Rosenberg, center, who is also the president of SAG, and Merkerson felt the love from Bratt, while 6. Jackson, left, had a heart-to-heart with Reginald VelJohnson.

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Humanitarian ‘Hairspray’

9. Brett Ratner, center, impressed guests with his Hebrew school skills at the Wiesenthal Center National Tribute Dinner on June 20, where he blessed the bread before cozying up to New Line’s co-chairmen-CEOs, Robert Shaye, left, and Michael Lynne, who received the Humanitarian Award. Presenter 10. Queen Latifah schmoozed with the Jewish human rights organization’s founder, Rabbi Marvin Hier, at the Beverly Hilton affair, which handed out posthumous honors to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Virginia Tech professor Liviu Librescu. Latifah’s “Hairspray” costar, 11. Nikki Blonsky, belted out “Good Morning Baltimore” with Marc Shaiman. Zac Efron and Elijah Kelley stayed seated alongside director Adam Shankman. The only thing missing was leading “lady” John Travolta.

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Even ‘Heroes’ need some R&R;

The stars of “Heroes” might be off hiatus, but that’s not stopping them from hitting the party circuit. At EA’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” launch party on June 21 in Playa Vista, it was game on for 7. Masi Oka and host Hayden Panettiere, while 8. Zachary Quinto, right, made peace with George Takei at LG’s Mobile TV party on June 19 at Paramount Studios as Jack Coleman looked on. Perhaps the evil superhero prefers to save the mayhem for the small screen? That same night, which marked the beginning of production on Season 2, Milo Ventimiglia hit a book party in West Hollywood for “intuitionist” Laura Day. Wonder if she revealed whether he will return to the hit NBC show.

-- Jenny Sundel