Piano man
Just pray ol’ Mr. White doesn’t go and get all Bad Lieutenant on your sorry asses come April 18 when the man himself, Harvey Keitel, shows up with director James Toback in tow at the Harvard Film Archive for a trip through the way-back machine to revisit their 1978 cult classic Fingers, in which the Oedipally torn Keitel’s dream of becoming a classical concert pianist (like his mother) is thwarted by the goon work he does for his mobbed-up dad (played by Godfather II’s Michael V. Gazzo). The screening is at 7 p.m.; the HFA is in the Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy Street in Harvard Square. Advance tickets, at $12, are available by calling (617) 495-4700.
Bright lights, big city
The Boston Public Library’s big lit-star shindig, the 15th annual Literary Lights Dinner, brings together some of the area’s finest authors, including New Yorker medical correspondent Atul Gawande, Elvis Presley biographer Peter Guralnick, novelists Ha Jin, Andre Dubus III, and Anita Diamant, and Pulitzer-winning columnist Art Buchwald, who delivers the keynote speech. The black-tie gala gets started April 6 at 6 p.m. at the Park Plaza Hotel, 64 Arlington Street. Tickets starting at $250 benefit the BPL; call (617) 536-3886.
Big-top diplomacy
At a time when the United Nations looks more and more like a circus, we can perhaps take solace in a circus that looks a lot like the United Nations. NYC’s internationalist one-ring, the Big Apple Circus, offers up a clown from France singing a garbled tune, some high-speed juggling from Switzerland, and a few Russians and a Chinese individual attempting a high-wire act — sounds like your average Security Council meeting to us, but the Big Apple folks have diplomatically titled their latest production Dreams of a City. With iconic Barry " Grandma " Lubin at the helm and teams of animal trainers, ladder bouncers, and equestrian ballerinas from as far away as Armenia and Denmark, the Big Apple puts up its tent from April 5 through May 11 at Fan Pier, at 28-70 Old Northern Avenue, near the federal courthouse. Tickets are $13 to $51; call (617) 931-2787.
Pushing up daisies
Botanical life imitates art at the MFA’s annual spring fling, " Art in Bloom, " for which some 60 area garden clubs get their pistils in gear and crank out 80 or so Martha Stewart–worthy arrangements by way of interpreting the museum’s most famous works. The three-day festival also offers up a full schedule of lecture and demonstrations from hot-shot garden experts, live jazz, and a variety of guided tours. " Art in Bloom " runs April 27 through 29; the MFA is at 465 Huntington Avenue, and tickets, which include general admission to the museum that day as well as a return visit within 30 days, are $15, $13 for students and seniors. Call (617) 369-3396.
