Judy Collins Will Solo at Irvine Barclay Theatre

Judy Collins has been signed for a solo show at the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Oct. 9, a theater spokesperson said Thursday, which will make her the first nationally known performer to appear there.

The $17.6-million theater is to be launched with speeches by local dignitaries and a brief ceremony Sept. 30, after which the 750-seat auditorium will be thrown open to the public for inspection. The facility is owned by the city of Irvine, UC Irvine and the theater’s nonprofit operating company.

The first performance of any kind will be given Oct. 7 by the South Coast Symphony in what officials consider “an acoustic tuneup” for the hall. After Collins’ show, the National Theatre of the Deaf will stage a production Oct. 10.

Concluding the first week of festivities, on Oct. 12 a “Trustees’ Gala” to raise funds (at $250 to $300 a ticket) will feature five veteran Broadway performers doing numbers from the musicals for which they won Tony Awards: Gene Barry (“La Cage aux Folles”), who will also host the benefit; John Cullum (“Shenandoah”); Donna McKechnie (“A Chorus Line”); Michael Maguire (“Les Miserables”) and Judy Kaye (“The Phantom of the Opera”).