5pmTheaterPhylicia Rashad, Diahann Carroll, Clifton Davis and...

5pm

Theater

Phylicia Rashad, Diahann Carroll, Clifton Davis and Michael McElroy star in “Blue,” Charles Randolph-Wright’s coming-of-age comedy set in rural South Carolina, about a black family and its successful funeral parlor business as seen through the eyes of the eldest son. West Coast premiere.

“Blue,” Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena, 5 p.m. Regular schedule: Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m.; Tuesdays to Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 5 and 9 p.m. Ends Oct. 13. $40 to $60. (626) 356-7529.

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7:30pm

Opera

The second production in Los Angeles Opera’s new season, “Nabucco” (1842) was Giuseppe Verdi’s third opera and first major success. The title role, King Nebuchadnezzar, will be sung by Georgian baritone Lado Ataneli; the soprano roles will be taken by Maria Guleghina and Kate Aldrich. Lawrence Foster, the American conductor who has led many L.A. Opera productions since the company’s beginning in 1986, returns to the podium; Thor Steingraber is stage director.

Los Angeles Opera, “Nabucco” (Verdi), Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A., 7:30 p.m. $30 to $170. Through Sept. 28. (213) 365-3500.

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7pm

Jazz

This year’s edition of the Jazz Bakery’s “Early Autumn Jazz,” its annual fund-raising concert at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, features some younger-generation jazz heavyweights: singer and six-time Grammy nominee Kurt Elling with the Laurence Hobgood Trio, vibes master Stefon Harris and pianist Cyrus Chestnut.

Kurt Elling and Laurence Hobgood Trio, Stefon Harris and Cyrus Chestnut, Jazz Bakery at John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, L.A., 7 p.m. $75 to $125. (310) 271-9039.

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5pm

Dance

After an odyssey that took him from Russia to Iran, Sarkis Djanbazian opened a ballet school in Tehran in 1941 and made it prosper long before his death in 1963 at age 50. His family continues the tradition in Southern California, with the Glendale-based Djanbazian Dance Academy celebrating more than 60 years of achievement with a program titled “The Beginning Lies in the End.” Besides speakers, a video documentary and a related photo exhibition, the event will include choreography by Anna Djanbazian (Sarkis Djanbazian’s daughter) in a number of styles: traditional Persian and Armenian, contemporary and the classical ballet her father learned in St. Petersburg and carried with him.

Djanbazian Dance Academy in “The Beginning Lies in the End,” Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale, 5 p.m. Free, but reservations required. (818) 242-4403.