6pm Movies

The Queen Mary is hosting a special screening of the 1973 disaster-adventure movie “The Poseidon Adventure� in the ship’s Exhibit Hall. The movie, about a luxury liner that is overturned by a giant wave caused by an earthquake, was filmed aboard the Queen Mary (a tilted set was constructed in the Grand Salon). The evening begins with a silent auction of “Poseidon� memorabilia (proceeds will benefit the Queen Mary Restoration and Historic Preservation fund) and the screening will be followed by a question-and-answer discussion with several of the film’s stars, including Shelley Winters, Carol Lynley, Stella Stevens and Pamela Sue Martin.

* “The Poseidon Adventure,� Queen Mary, Exhibit Hall, 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach. Silent auction, 5 p.m. Screening, 6 p.m. $35. (562) 435-3511.

6pm Celebration

The Irish Center of Southern California presents its sixth annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration at the Los Angeles Police Academy. Irish music--including performances by the Fenians and Irish bagpipers--and step dancing will be featured, along with a silent auction and a raffle. Cocktails will be served at 6 p.m.; a sit-down dinner follows at 7 p.m.

* St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, Los Angeles Police Academy, 1800 N. Academy Drive, 6 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. $45 (includes valet parking). (818) 238-0445.

1pm Lecture

The roots of rap and its impact on society are the focus of “20th Century Musical Radicalism,� a lecture at the California African-American Museum by Cheryl Keyes, UCLA assistant professor of ethnomusicology. Keyes will link today’s rap with the West African griot tradition, the blues, game songs, folk preaching, jazz hip talk, 1960s black nationalist rhetoric, Jamaican dub poetry and the 1970s conversational-style rap heard in the music of Isaac Hayes and George Clinton.

* “20th Century Musical Radicalism: Rap Music and Its Impact on Contemporary Culture,� California African-American Museum, Exposition Park, 600 State Drive, Los Angeles, 1 p.m. Free. Parking, $5. (213) 744-7432.

7:30pm Movies

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art film program “Berlin Between the Wars� continues with a screening of director Josef Von Sternberg’s 1930 erotic classic “The Blue Angel (Der Blaue Engel),� the film that made the sultry German actress Marlene Dietrich an international star. In the movie, Dietrich plays Lola-Lola, a cabaret singer who entrances and ultimately destroys a sober schoolteacher (Emil Jannings). Von Sternberg shot the film simultaneously in German and English. LACMA will screen the German-language version with English subtitles. Ilona Ziok’s “Karussell,� a documentary about the life of Kurt Gerron, a famous stage and screen comedian and character actor, will also screen. In “The Blue Angel,� Gerron plays the seedy music hall promoter-magician who orders an indolent Dietrich to “get out there and sing!�

* “Berlin Between the Wars,� LACMA, Bing Theater, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. Saturday: “The Blue Angel� and “Karussell,� 7:30 p.m. The film series will continue on Friday and Saturday evenings through March 25. $5 to $7. (323) 857-6010.

8pm Pop Music

Audra McDonald’s new album, “How Glory Goes,� confirms the young Broadway star’s position as a link between theater music’s past and future. Her Southern California concert debut should fill in any blanks left by the recording.

* Audra McDonald, Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine, 8 p.m. $30 to $40. (949) 854-4646.

8pm Theater

Shall we dance? Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities presents Rodgers and Hammerstein’s romantic classic “The King and I.�

* “The King and I,� Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 2 p.m.; March 19, 26, 7 p.m. Ends March 26. $30 to $45. (310) 372-4477.

Freebie

The Pasadena Symphony’s free “Musical Circus� for ages 4 to 10 includes a “musical petting zoo� at 8:30 a.m. followed by a performance with the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet and the Pasadena Symphony’s final dress rehearsal for its evening concert. At Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena, 8:30 a.m. to noon. (626) 793-7172.