Showing movies outdoors is becoming more popular in Toronto with regular summer showings at Yonge Dundas Square, Harbourfront Centre, Downsview, Riverdale Park, Amsterdam Brewry and David Pecaut Square (aka Metro Square), etc. Large portable film screens show movie classics while the audience sit on lawn and folding chairs, or bring blankets to camp out on the grass.
This year, TIFF is showing classic movie musicals, such as Singing in the Rain, Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, every Wednesday night at the David Pecaut Square.
We went to watch a 1964 French musical called Umbrellas of Cherbourg. A very young Catherine Deneuve plays seventeen year old Geneviève who is in love with Guy. When he leaves for military service and she finds out she is pregnant, she must decide whether to wait for him or accept the offer of marriage from another man. The phrase "a bird in hand ..." comes to mind.
This musical was unique for its times in that all the dialogue was sung. This did not come into vogue in English speaking musicals until later, with Andrew Lloyd Webber leading the charge (Joseph & Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar). The soaring music was written by Michel Legrand, who also wrote one of my favourite songs, "Windmills of your Mind". The song
I will wait for you from the movie was nominated for an Oscar and sounded very familiar, since the English version has been covered by many artists.
Prior to the movie, we had a Summerlicious dinner at Luma, the restaurant in the TIFF Bell Lightbox. My first two courses were a Saigon salad and steak with mash potato, which were really good but not extremely original. My dessert though was quite different - called a chocolate jelly roll, it was like dark chocolate jello covered with sour cherries, crunchy caramel bits, flower petals and a caramel toffee tuile. As always, I like having different tastes and textures in my food. I found the mixture of sweet and sour, chewy and crunchy, as well as the presentation to be very appealing.
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