Greased lightly: fries are the ones Olivia Newton-John wants at Brassaii

Words cannot express how relieved we were to see nary a hint of hockey hair at Brassaii’s party for Score: A Hockey Musical last night. Olivia Newton-John, accompanied by her business mogul husband, John Easterling, mingled with her co-stars Noah Reid and Allie MacDonald for a few hours at the King West restaurant. TIFF co-director Cameron Bailey—already becoming the most ubiquitous presence at TIFF—attended in a show of support for the unlikely opening night gala, which screens tonight.  

Newton-John, dressed down in jeans and knee-high leather boots and carrying a leopard-print bag, munched on fries, while other guests enjoyed executive chef Bruce Wood’s mini-burgers, mini–grilled cheese sandwiches and the Canadian homage to deep-frying: beaver tails.

While the party for 100 cleared out minutes after the bar went cash—surprise, surprise—behind the scenes, staff were bracing for things to come. General manager Vince Antonacci and publicist Gabrielle Totesau exchanged knowing glances as they anticipated the looming TIFF events. “We had to sign some pretty heavy-duty NDAs [non-disclosure agreements],” Totesau confides. The Score crowd may have hit the bench early, but it’s looking like this week, Brassaii’s team will be playing plenty of overtime.