RICHARDSON—Tickets go on sale Monday June 3 for the gala events that will be part of the September opening of the Charles W. Eisemann Center for Performing Arts and Corporate Presentations located at the Galatyn Park Urban Center on the east side of Central Expressway south of Lookout Drive in Richardson. 

The official opening night of the Eisemann Center will be a black-tie affair at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14, featuring a concert of Broadway show tunes in the Eisemann Center’s 1,550-seat Margaret and Al Hill Performance Hall entitled, “A Special Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin.” Tickets ($105 - $255) for this opening night event include a post-concert reception for all attendees with dancing, music, and entertainment throughout the Center’s other venues and lobby spaces. Patrons also have the option of purchasing tickets to a formal gala dinner ($100) being held prior to the performance at the Renaissance Dallas-Richardson Hotel located directly across the street from the Center. 

Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin are both noted for their performances on Broadway, in television, movies and concerts. Their opening night concert for the Eisemann Center will represent the first time these two premier artists have performed together since they both appeared in the original Broadway production of “Evita” in 1980. In that acclaimed production LuPone won both the Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Actress in a Musical for playing the role of Eva Peron, and Patinkin won a Tony Award for his role as Che. 

FIRSTNIGHTS! goes classical at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 19, when the Hill Performance Hall is transformed into a concert hall setting. The Richardson Symphony, under the direction of Anshel Brusilow, joins with pianist Jon Nakamatsu for an all Rachmaninoff program. The Classical Celebration concert will feature Nakamatsu, winner of the 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, performing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in d minor. The 75-member Richardson Symphony will also perform Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. Tickets ($75 - $150) include a post-concert reception for all attendees. 

The focus of the gala will shift to the Center’s adaptable Theatre space on Friday, Sept. 20, and Saturday, Sept. 21, when The Second City National Touring Company brings its unique brand of improvisational comedy to the Theatre’s stage for four performances. Friday night’s performances at 7 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. are billed as a “fun” black-tie affair in keeping with the light-hearted nature of the evening. Tickets ($150) for “Mission: Im-prov-ible,” include a dinner and reception for all patrons attending the two performances that will take place in the Center’s lobby between shows. The Second City will perform again on Saturday, Sept. 21, with performances at 7 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. (tickets $25 and $30). 

Major sponsors for the Eisemann Center’s gala of FIRSTNIGHTS! are the Margot W. and Ben H. Mitchell Fund of Communities Foundation of Texas - Opening Night, Sept. 14; the Galatyn Park Corporation - Classical Celebration, Sept. 19; and Hunt Construction Group, sponsors of the Center’s Dedication Ceremony that will take place at 4 p.m. Sept. 12.

The Eisemann Center’s ticket office may be reached at 972.744.4650 or by visiting the web site at www.eisemanncenter.com. Until the Center’s construction is completed in August, the Ticket Office will be temporarily located on the second floor of the City of Richardson’s Service Center at 1260 Columbia Drive. The ticket office will be open Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. The Charles W. Eisemann Center is located at 2351 Performance Drive in the new Galatyn Park Urban Center of Richardson. Administrative offices are currently located directly across the street from the Eisemann Center at 959 E. Lookout Drive, Richardson. Phone 972.744.4600.