8:15 pm: Pop Music

Soul sensation D’Angelo knocked ‘em dead in his recent five-night engagement at the House of Blues. Does he have the charisma to fill a room six times bigger? The answer will come Friday and Saturday when he headlines the Universal Amphitheatre.

* D’Angelo, Friday with the Dead Presidents and Saturday with Jurassic 5at the Universal Amphitheatre, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, 8:15 p.m. $22.50 to $50.50. [818] 622-4440.

8 pm: Theater

The Acting Company, the nationally touring classical repertory theater, presents “The Rivals,” the comedy of manners by Richard Sheridan. The company also will switch gears with a presentation of Shakespeare’s tragic “Macbeth” during its Southland stop.

* “The Rivals,” Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Friday at 8 p.m. “Macbeth,” Saturday at 8 p.m. $22 to $37 each. (800) 300-4345, (562) 916-8500. “The Rivals” also at UC Santa Barbara, Campbell Hall, Sunday at 8 p.m. $16 to $22. (805) 893-3535.

8 pm: Pop Music

The formula for singer-keyboardist Ray Charles’ success was spelled out in the ‘60s with the release of his recording “Genius Plus Soul Equals Jazz.” Here, Charles will perform “Georgia On My Mind,” “I Can’t Stop Loving You” and other hits from his half-century career, accompanied by the Pacific Symphony Pops orchestra.

* Ray Charles and Pacific Symphony Pops, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, 8 p.m. $23 to$54. (714) 556-2787.

8 pm: Theater

Open Fist Theatre Company’s festival of French theater continues with the U.S. premiere of Jean-Noel Fenwick’s comedy “Talk Show From Hell,” in which a politician, hairdresser and radio talk-show celebrity in the anteroom of hell channel the living.

* “Talk Show From Hell,” Open Fist Theatre Company, 1625 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood. Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 3 p.m. Also May 4, 6, 8 p.m.; Sunday and April 30, 3 p.m. Ends May 6. $15; Sunday and April 30, pay-what-you-can. (323) 882-6912.

7 pm: Pop Music

Their current rock hit is called “Miserable,” but the members of Lit are anything but. The quartet is the latest Orange County band to make a national noise. While not yet up there with the Offspring and No Doubt, the group is making strides, with its current album, “A Place in the Sun,” nearing the million sales mark.

* Lit, with Save Ferris and 22 Jacks, Hollywood Palladium, 6215 Sunset Blvd., 7 p.m. $17.50. (323) 962-7600.

all day: Movies

In the military drama “Rules of Engagement,” Samuel L. Jackson stars as Col. Terry Childers, a highly decorated career Marine who is put on trial when a rescue mission he orchestrates goes horribly awry. Tommy Lee Jones plays the second-rate attorney that Childers chooses to defend him, a fellow Marine whose life Childers saved in Vietnam 30 years before. The cast includes Guy Pearce, Philip Baker Hall, Bruce Greenwood, Blair Underwood, Kim Delaney, Anne Archer and Ben Kingsley. The film is directed by William Friedkin.

* “Rules of Engagement,” rated R for scenes of war violence and for language, opens Friday in general release.

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FREEBIES: A puppet show called “Animal Tails” is presented at the Brea Library, 1 Civic Center Drive. 3:30 p.m. (714) 671-1724.

Clowns, live ethnic music, arts and crafts vendors, and carnival rides will all be part of the four-block Carnaval Primavera, between Gage and Slauson avenues on Pacific Boulevard in downtown Huntington Park. Friday, 5 to 11 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. (323) 585-1155.