Barclay Plans an Eclectic 5th Season : Scheduling: Programs range from Randy Newman to Balinese dancers to Shakespeare.

With 37 acts in all, the Irvine Barclay Theatre’s fifth season brings the return of Randy Newman and Judy Collins, first-time appearances from Cleo Laine and John Dankworth and international acts including Ballet Folklorico de Chile, which opens the season Oct. 5, Cajun group Beausoleil and the Musicians and Dancers of Bali.

Though the number of acts has increased this season over last year’s 32, the number of performances--58--remains about the same. (Last season, Le Ballet National du Senegal gave eight shows.)

The biggest change in programming is the quantity of theater events scheduled.

“Last year we had one, and he canceled,” IBT spokeswoman Karen Drews said. (That show was Christopher Plummer.) “This year there are five.”

Among those are two Shakespeare plays--”Much Ado About Nothing,” presented by the Bay Area’s California Shakespeare Festival, and “As You Like It,” by the Los Angeles-based A Noise Within--and a two-character musical, “Jelly Roll.” Solo evenings include James Whitmore’s “Will Rogers’ U.S.A.” and monologues by Eric Bogosian.

The Philharmonic Society of Orange County offers a series of non-standard chamber music called “Series Eclectic”--which began life last season as the society’s subscription series “E.” This season, the series features “Piano Mix” by new-music specialist Ursula Oppens; “Ars Sacra” by the Hilliard Ensemble; the Celtic band Altan, and “Adams to Zappa,” with composer John Adams conducting the Ensemble Modern of Frankfurt.

The Philharmonic Society also continues its Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Series and co-sponsoring the Laguna Chamber Music Series, which includes the Beaux Arts Trio, St. Petersburg String Quartet and Kalichstein-Laredo Robinson Trio.

The Feet First Contemporary Dance Series features Compagnie Maguy Marin from Paris in a full-length work, “Waterzooi,” the first international contemporary-dance company the theater has presented. Because of funding cutbacks by the Brazilian government, the originally scheduled Grupo Corp: Brazilian Dance Theater has been replaced by the New York-based Stephen Petronio Company.

Among family events is “Ramona Quimby,” based on the popular Beverly Cleary books, performed by the Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis.

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IRVINE BARCLAY

1995-96 season highlights:

* Oct. 18: Compagnie Maguy Marin

* Oct. 21: “Much Ado About Nothing,” California Shakespeare Co.

* Oct. 29: “Ars Sacra,” Hilliard Ensemble

* Nov. 21: St. Petersburg String Quartet

* Nov. 25: “Will Rogers’ U.S.A.,” James Whitmore

* Dec. 8: Randy Newman

* Dec. 29: Beausoleil

* Jan. 19: Eric Bogosian: Solo

* Jan. 26: The Bobs

* Jan. 29: “Ramona Quimby,” Children’s Theatre Co. of Minneapolis

* March 5: Musicians and Dancers of Bali

* March. 29: Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio

* July 12: Preservation Hall Jazz Band

The Irvine Barclay Theatre is at 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine. Information: (714) 854-4646 (box office) or (714) 740-2000 (Ticketmaster).