8pm: Pop Music

Celia Cruz has favored nightclubs such as the Conga Room and the House of Blues in recent years, but no small room could contain the pipes power represented by the salsa matriarch and the evening’s co-star, Nuyorican diva India. The L.A. Sports Arena concert also features one of Latin pop’s hot newcomers, Puerto Rican merengue singer Elvis Crespo.

* Celia Cruz, India and Elvis Crespo, Los Angeles Sports Arena, 3939 S. Figueroa St., 8 p.m. $40. (213) 748-6136.

8pm: Theater

Actors’ Gang launches its 1999 mainstage season with David Schweizer’s adaptation of Phillip Dunning and George Abbott’s fast-paced, 1926 gangland musical, “Broadway,” set in a Roaring ‘20s cabaret. It’s about a small-time hoofer, his sweet young protegee and the ruthless, suave gangster who wants her for his own.

* “Broadway,” Actors’ Gang Theater, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Thursdays through Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends April 3. $15 to $20; except opening night with post-show reception, $30. (323) 660-8587.

8pm: Performance

Canadian multimedia artists Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon create a nouveau “Orfeo”--a high-tech “virtual performance” of the ancient can-love-and-art-triumph-over-death tale of Orpheus and Eurydice. Part theater, part dance, part sound and image gadgetry, this “Orfeo” seeks to blur the line between imagination and reality. Live performers combine with live projections, and among the visual tricks is Eurydice, post-death, turned into a life-size, moving and speaking hologram.

* “Orfeo,” Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts, Cal State Long Beach, 6200 Atherton St., 8 p.m. $21 to $27. (562) 985-7000.

8pm: Theater

South Coast Repertory’s American Classics Series continues with its third production, “Of Mice and Men.” John Steinbeck’s classic drama about two Depression-era drifters is directed by David Emmes, with a veteran cast including Jonathan Fuller as quick-witted George and Jefferson Breland as the hulking, tragically childlike Lennie.

* “Of Mice and Men,” South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Through April 4. $18 to $45. (714) 708-5555.

all day: Movies

Veteran casting director Risa Bramon Garcia makes her feature film directorial debut with “200 Cigarettes,” an ensemble comedy about a motley assortment of punks, rockers and wannabes searching for a New Year’s Eve party in New York’s East Village (the year is 1981). The cast list reads like a who’s who of young, hip Hollywood: Ben and Casey Affleck, Courtney Love, Christina Ricci, Paul Rudd, Jay Mohr, Martha Plimpton, Gaby Hoffman, Dave Chappelle and newcomer Kate Hudson (Goldie Hawn’s daughter).

* “200 Cigarettes,” which is rated R, opens Friday in general release.

8pm: Family

“Master Magician” Lance Burton stars in a magic and illusion stage extravaganza, with special guest the noted juggler Michael Godeau.

* “Master Magician,” Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m. $37 to $47. (800) 300-4345; (562) 916-8500.

Freebies: Classical music on themes suggested by the audience is the form for the 30th annual Improvisation Fest, Thorne Hall, Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, Eagle Rock, 8 p.m. (323) 259-2785.

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Pianist Terry Trotter (Natalie Cole’s accompanist) and his trio play jazz at LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., 5:30 p.m. (323) 857-6000.