Monday, April 6, 1998
Second time around
ROYCE: Newly renovated Royce Hall reopens with star-studded
gala event
By Lawrence Ferchaw
Daily Bruin Contributor
When UCLA Provost Ernest Moore dedicated Royce Hall on Sept. 23,
1929, before students and faculty assembled in the auditorium, he
wanted the students to "make Royce their own." When Royce reopened
Saturday night, the scene was quite different.
Celebrities, community leaders, alumni and donors filled the
auditorium for "Encore," which featured, among others, Paul Simon,
Stevie Wonder, Carol Burnett and John Lithgow.
Nearly 2,000 people attended the gala event celebrating the
reopening of the newly renovated Royce Hall.
Four individuals with ties to the UCLA community were also
honored during the gala, which raised over $1.5 million for the
School of Arts and Architecture and the Center for the Performing
Arts.
"Four years ago, we faced the reality of a battered Royce;
tonight we celebrate the return," said Chancellor Albert Carnesale,
introducing the performance portion of the event.
Royce Hall was severely damaged by the 1994 Northridge
earthquake and the last four years have been spent strengthening
the building and renovating the interior.
After the earthquake, the building was so damaged that it was
near destruction, said Charles Oakley, assistant vice chancellor
for design and construction.
"This building has been strengthened so it will keep operating;
it will not be made unusable by another earthquake," Oakley
said.
The extent of the damage was so severe that workers practically
rebuilt Royce’s interior.
"We had to rip everything out, insert what is essentially a new
structural system, and then put the whole building back together,"
Oakley said.
The project cost $68.3 million over four years, and was funded
by both private and public sources, including the state government
and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
While working on the structure of the building, planners also
sought to renovate and modernize some of the features of the
building, including the auditorium.
The auditorium was originally designed to be a meeting place for
the campus, but its role evolved over the years into a venue for
classical music. Part of the renovation plans also included
improving the acoustics in the auditorium for speech.
John Lithgow, who co-hosted the evening with Paul Reiser, tested
the acoustics with a speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V, which
received thunderous applause.
"The hall is big and intimate at the same time," Lithgow
said.
Lithgow said his jaw dropped when he first saw the interior of
the hall, which now incorporates some of the building’s exterior
brick design.
Donors Ginny Mancini, Lew Wasserman, former Dean of the Graduate
School of Management Harold Williams and famed basketball coach
John Wooden were recognized for both individual commitments to the
university donations made to the arts at UCLA and Los Angeles.
"They are giving a generation of promising young scholars the
ability to live their dreams," said Frank Biondi, chairman of
Universal Studios, in his tribute to his predecessor Lew Wasserman
and his wife Edith. The Wassermans recently donated $10 million to
UCLA.
Fundraising was a theme of the event, which started the School
of Art and Architecture’s part of Campaign UCLA. The school has
already raised $15 million toward its goal of $35 million.
Money raised from the evening will benefit students and programs
in the school, as well as support the Center for Performing Arts,
enabling it to continue to attract talent to perform at UCLA.
"The programs are expensive, and funding for the arts,
especially from the public, is on the decline, and that’s why we
have to turn to the private sector," Carnesale said.
Mancini echoed Carnesale, expressing the importance of the arts
on campus, and the need of support from the community.
The performance itself featured comedy from Paul Reiser who was
inspired by his piano professor from college who now teaches at
UCLA.
Flutist James Galway performed a number of pieces, including one
with his wife Jeanne. This was followed by individual performances
from Paul Simon, Don Henley and Stevie Wonder.
The three later sang together as the audience applauded loudly.
Wonder also succeeded in persuading Simon to sing an audience
favorite, "Mrs. Robinson."
The caliber of the performers led Reiser to joke that it was
amateur night. He later described the evening as "great fun."
Lithgow admitted that he almost missed an entrance since he kept
sneaking out from backstage to see the performances.
After the three-hour performance, guests attended a dinner
catered by Wolfgang Puck in a tent between Royce and Powell.
"To me it was pretty amazing," said Jaleesa Hazzard who attended
the gala with her husband, former basketball player Walt Hazzard.
"The resources this school can put together are amazing."
Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan was pleased with the
performance, and the interaction with the performers and the
audience. He also enjoyed that the event was held in Royce
Hall.
"To me, Royce is not just a name or a symbol, it is an
incredible venue I’d like to come back time and time again,"
Riordan said.
(Above) Actor John Lithgow emceed the event that reopened Royce
Hall along with fellow actor Paul Reiser (not pictured).
(Left) Musicians Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and Don Henley
provide entertainment during the gala event.
Photos by JAMIE-SCANLON JACOBS/Daily Bruin