9pm Pop Music

Francisco Slinger has been one of the Americas’ most popular artists for half a century--you might know him better as the Mighty Sparrow, so named for the rapid stage moves he displayed when he became a calypso star as a teenager in 1950s Trinidad. Now in his mid-60s, the singer remains an active performer, incorporating such later developments as soca (soul calypso) into his sound.

* Mighty Sparrow, with Yellowman and Sanchez, at Hollywood Park Casino, 3883 W. Century Blvd., Inglewood. 9 p.m. $28 in advance, $38 at door. (310) 330-2841.

all day Movies

“Beau Travail” (Good Work) is the latest from French director Claire Denis, best known in the United States for her films “Chocolat” and “Nenette et Boni.” “Beau Travail” is set in a small Foreign Legion outpost in East Africa and inspired by Herman Melville’s novella “Billy Budd.” Coincidentally, Los Angeles Opera is staging “Billy Budd,” starting Saturday (see Page 4).

* “Beau Travail,” Nuart, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles. Today-June 8, 5:10, 7:30 and 9:50 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday matinees, 12:30 and 2:50 p.m. $5.25 to $8.50. (310) 478-6379.

all day Photography

Intimate photographs taken by a Hollywood insider document the bustling Los Angeles art and film scene of the ‘60s in “Dennis Hopper: American Pictures 1961-1967,” opening Friday at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture. Capturing a period Hopper describes as a “return to reality” following Abstract Expressionism, the exhibition will include portraits of artists from both coasts, such as Andy Warhol and Ed Ruscha, as well as behind-the-scenes pictures of movie sets and current events.

* “Dennis Hopper: American Pictures 1961-1967,” MAK Center for Art and Architecture, 835 N. Kings Road, West Hollywood. Wednesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Dennis Hopper and Henry Hopkins will participate in the lecture “The Seductive Sixties” at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Reservations are recommended. In addition, a film series will run from July 13 to 15. $5. Ends Sept. 17. (323) 651-1510.

8pm Theater

A Noise Within presents “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” Tennessee Williams’ classic tale of unspoken truths, desire and revelations as a family gathers at dying Big Daddy’s plantation to celebrate his birthday. Geoff Elliott heads the cast as Brick.

* “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” A Noise Within, Luckman Fine Arts Center, Cal State L.A., 5151 State University Drive. Friday and June 14, 15, 22 and 23, 8 p.m.; Saturday and June 24, 2 and 8 p.m.; June 11, 2 and 7 p.m.; June 25, 7 p.m. Ends June 25. $26 to $30; opening, $40. (323) 224-6420.

8pm Theater

“Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde,” Japanese American Players’ comedy-drama, is a bilingual production of Robert Louis Stevenson’s horror classic.

* “Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde,” Gene Bua Acting for Life Theatre, 3435 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank. English: Friday, Saturday and June 16, 17, 30 and July 1 at 8 p.m.; June 11, 25 and July 9 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Japanese: June 9, 10, 23, 24 and July 7 and 8 at 8 p.m.; Sunday and June 18, July 2 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Ends July 9. (818) 781-1736 (Japanese), (818) 997-0571 (English).

8:15pm Music

With the same cast he led last week at the final Los Angeles Philharmonic concert of the season, conductor Simon Rattle opens the 54th Ojai Festival in the town’s pleasant Libbey Bowl with Ravel’s short fantasy-opera, “L’Enfant et les Sortileges” on a program with works by this year’s featured--and attending--composers, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Thomas Ades. Among the soloists: cellist Ben Hong and singers Heidi Grant Murphy, Rinat Shaham, John Aler and Francois le Roux. A children’s concert takes place Saturday morning, followed by an intriguing afternoon recital by pianist Gloria Cheng. Saturday evening, the Philharmonic and Rattle return, with music by Turnage and Naomi Sekiya. Sunday morning, the young American Flux Quartet gives a program of mostly premieres. The festival closes Sunday afternoon with Rattle and the Philharmonic in Ades’ “These Premises Are Alarmed,” excerpts from Britten’s “Peter Grimes” and Poulenc’s brief opera, “Les Mamelles de Tiresias.”

* Simon Rattle, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and soloists perform on the Ojai Festival opening night in Libbey Bowl, Libbey Park, downtown Ojai. 8:15 p.m. $15 to $65. (805) 646-2053. Subsequent events Saturday, 10 a.m., 2:30 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.

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Freebie

More than 50 artists will take part in a ceramics sale at the Roger Barkley Community Center, 4469 Chevy Chase Drive, La Canada Flintridge. 7-10 p.m. Also Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (818) 790-4353.