Admit it: you want to wear that Empire waist gown or those hot, calf-revealing breeches. You crave the chance to live in the Bridgerton world, if only for an evening. You’re in luck: Shondaland, Netflix and Fever have set that up for you at The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience.
Starting this month, stuff your reticule with coins of the realm (although entry starts at a reasonable $49) and aim your horse-drawn carriage to Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., or Montréal, the four North American cities where the ball takes place. (Due to the Covid situation in the province of Québec, the Montréal opening has been temporarily delayed as of this writing.) In this immersive 90-minute experience, you’ll engage with actors dressed in Regency garb – and you are encouraged to dress up as well. You’ll watch dance and acrobatic performances and dance yourself, accompanied by a live string quartet, one of the rare opportunities in this era to dance to a violin’s slipper-tapping rhythm. The quartet will also be playing the 'Bridgerton' soundtrack.
Cocktails are offered, so in the US cities you must be 18 to attend and 21 with a valid ID to imbibe. The event is “set” in Mayfair, London, in 1813. But in real life, it’s at a secret ballroom in Chicago, the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in L.A., the Whitfield Entertainment Group Studios in D.C., and the 1878 Windsor Ballrooms in Montréal when the sessions resume (when they do, some of them will be offered in French). You can buy tickets now; the first dates are March 22 in L.A., March 30 in D.C., and April 20 in Chicago.
Start practicing your curtsy or bow; Queen Charlotte will be in attendance. You may be the one to catch her eye and gain her favor.