The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience
Reviewed by Dana Martin
Indefinitely
Recommended
Social season is upon us, people, and every respectable lord and lady is eager to be the talk of the “ton”. Shondaland, Netflix and Fever join forces to present Bridgerton: An Immersive Experience, an epically delightful evening of 19thcentury cosplay appropriately housed at the majestic Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Ballgoers are beckoned into the lavish and luxurious regency era London through a threshold of sweet-smelling wisteria. Handsome footmen in powdered wigs greet the guests and guide them to and fro throughout the grounds, providing an atmosphere of pomp and importance. Guests window shop at Modiste, wander through the gardens, and have their portraits painted while sipping on a whistledown & dirty (a cleverly named libation) or a cucumber gimlet (a less cleverly named yet much appreciated mocktail). Costumes from the series are on display throughout the hall in a fine attempt to please the historians among us, while Lady Whistledown’s society papers offer a scavenger hunt for the adventurous.
The evening is narrated by pre-recorded quips of Lady Whistledown (courtesy of the Great Julie Andrews) and augmented in real time by her strikingly similar sounding “protégé,” who makes her own witty quips and amusing observations about various events and notable people. At last, Her Majesty the Queen arrives to much fanfare, and makes great sport of scowling and frowning as her subjects gleefully bow and scrape before her.
Soon, the Queen grows weary of such a display. Her subjects are whisked into the ballroom where a budding romance is explored through dreamy choreography, the lovers hanging from a chandelier and playing on silks that descend from the sky. The dancers also manage to teach the audience two partnered dances in the course of the evening, in impressively short time. Double duty indeed.
At last, her Majesty re-emerges from her respite and the Diamond of the Ball is named and celebrated with confetti. Just when the ball appears to be over, Queen Bey bellows for “all the single ladies” over the loudspeaker, and never more quickly was a dance floor flooded.
A live 4-piece string quartet is the backbone of the evening’s enjoyment, managing to bridge early 19th century rhythms with our modern style while also bringing down the house. The musicians blend pop music with a classical sound — a direct nod to Vitamin String Quartet’s iconic soundtrack for the Bridgerton series.
Period costume lovers will swoon at the chance to casually don opera gloves and an empire waist as Regency-inspired attire is strongly encouraged. Most guests rise to the occasion. (A word to the wise: one cannot be too dressed up. I myself arrived woefully underdressed; a commoner among the elite. As a theatre artist, an almost unforgivable faux pas.)
In the spirit of immersive theatre, much more could be mined from the evening in terms of audience interaction with the performers. Bridgerton brims with gossip, salacious acts of 19th century scandal and forbidden meetings just aching to be overheard. Despite the spectacle, the evening’s most magical moments involve the audience simply and directly. And what the evening lacks by way of scant storyline is made up for in charm, atmosphere and grand pageantry.
People are wild about Bridgerton and the franchise isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The Queens Ball: A Bridgerton Experience is a grand escape into romantic fantasy, if only for 90 minutes. If you love the Netflix series, bowing before royalty, ball gowns and being seen, then do make haste to the Biltmore. But will you be lucky enough to catch the queen’s eye? More likely, you’ll be subject to her delightful disapproval. But fear not: love will triumph. There’s pageantry aplenty, fabulous costumes and seemingly endless Instagram-worthy locations — so get powdered, poised and ready to party, Bridgerton style.
Millennium Biltmore Hotel, 506 S Grand Ave., downtown; Tues.–Thurs., 6:30 pm & 9 pm, Fri: 4:30pm, 7 pm & 9:30 p.m., Sat.–Sun., 3 pm, 5:30 pm & 8 pm; indef. Running Time: 90 minutes with no intermission. https://bridgertonexperience.com/los-angeles/
