Broad Stage opens with gala

4:01 PM PDT 9/21/2008 by Mike Barnes, AP

Barbara Cook on hand for Santa Monica theater bow

SANTA MONICA -- The smell of fresh Honduran mahogany and the stylish sound of legendary Broadway vocalist Barbara Cook were in the air Saturday night for the opening of the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage, a $45 million performing arts center that was 10 years in the making.