The sophomore season of “Bridgerton” finally hit Netflix last Friday, much to the delight of its legions of fans, and has been holding strong to the streamer’s number one spot ever since, which comes as no surprise. Based upon bestselling author Julia Quinn’s novels of the same name and backed by producing powerhouse Shonda Rhimes, the period romance, set during London’s Regency era, ranks as the platform’s second most-watched original series of all time, according to Complex, with a reported 82 million households having tuned in to season one!
Along with binge-watching the eight newly-dropped episodes, fans can get in on the “Bridgerton” action in real life, too, thanks to several events inspired by the show that are popping up worldwide. The Lanesborough hotel in London is currently hosting a daily ”Bridgerton” Afternoon Tea, with a menu “paying tribute” to the series’ “key families.” The Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston is offering a High Society package, giving those so inclined the chance to “live life and travel like a wealthy lady or lord . . . at least for one night.” And now, dearest readers, Shondaland, Netflix and Fever are teaming up for The Queen’s Ball: A “Bridgerton” Experience, in which hopeful debutantes and suitors in Chicago, Los Angeles, Montréal and Washington, D.C. can “mingle with other members of the Ton, and partake in an evening of music and dance featuring acrobatic performances, interactive experiences, a stunning dance show, delicious cocktails, and much more, all accompanied by the iconic ‘Bridgerton’ soundtrack.” The 90-minute themed soirées take place several times daily in each city, with tickets starting at $49 a person. Just don’t forget your corset!
As New York Times journalist Debra Kamin recently explored in an article titled “Why TV-Inspired Vacations Are on the Rise,” such immersive events are proving big business. She writes, “With 70 percent of Americans watching more TV in 2021 than they did in 2020, binge-watching has skyrocketed during the pandemic. Now, as borders reopen, restrictions ease and travel restarts, tour advisers are fielding an increasingly popular request: immersive, TV-themed itineraries that allow travelers to live out their favorite shows’ storylines.” And Shondaland is definitely delivering on that front!
The Queen’s Ball experiences will be taking place in venues certainly suited for royalty. Though the Chicago location is being kept secret, Montréal attendees will be stepping into the historic Le Windsor Ballrooms, D.C. patrons will be heading to a decked-out soundstage at Whitfield Entertainment Group Studios, and Angelenos will be checking into the iconic Millennium Biltmore hotel. Located in the heart of downtown at 506 S. Grand Ave., the opulent Beaux Arts-style lodging is not only one of Los Angeles’ landmark structures but a prolific filming location, as well, popping up in everything from “The Sting” to “Beverly Hills Cop” to the latest “A Star Is Born” remake, and a slew of productions in between!
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Image Credit: Millennium Biltmore Hotel The Biltmore’s vast star-studded history could easily fill several large books. The celebrated property was the brainchild of Canadian-born hotelier John McEntee Bowman, who pegged architects Leonard B. Schultze and S. Fullerton Weaver to design the structure. It was the duo’s first major commission, though they would go on to create such famed sites as the Waldorf Astoria in New York, The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach and Miami’s Freedom Tower.
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Image Credit: Millennium Biltmore Hotel Constructed over the course of 18 months at a cost of $10 million (that’s about $170 million today!), the Biltmore opened its doors to much fanfare on October 2, 1923. Boasting 1,600 rooms, 11 stories and over 70,000 square feet of meeting and event space, the hotel was one of the most luxurious of its time – and remains so today! The stomping ground of renowned celebrities, well-heeled business people, wealthy tourists and interested locals alike, just a few of the luminaries who have stepped through its brass doors include Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, Cecil B. DeMille, The Beatles (who stayed there in 1964), Ginger Rogers and numerous U.S. Presidents.
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Image Credit: Lindsay Blake Each of the lodging’s public spaces is more glorious than the last (almost unbelievably so), with even the main-level gallerias (one of which is pictured above) seeming like something out of a movie!
Awash with coffered ceilings, rich wood paneling and travertine detailing, entering the Biltmore is like stepping back in time. So it proved a natural spot to host the “Bridgerton” Experience, which transports attendees to Mayfair, London, circa 1813.
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Image Credit: Lindsay Blake The Queen’s Ball is being held in two of the property’s adjoining venues, the Tiffany Room and the Crystal Ballroom (above). The latter is easily the hotel’s most famed event space, not to mention its most ornate.
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Image Credit: Lindsay Blake The grandiose enclave is a dreamland of arched openings, elaborately carved moldings and columned accents, all capped by a striking domed ceiling that towers two stories above the ground below. Stretching 90 feet in length, the glorious canopy is the work of Italian muralist/designer Giovanni “John” Smeraldi, who, as the Los Angeles Times described in his 1947 obituary, “gained fame in assisting in the decorations of the White House in Washington, Grand Central Station in New York City, and many leading hotels in the East.” The hand-painted Crystal Ballroom ceiling, though, is said to have been his “most satisfying artistic endeavor.”
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Image Credit: Lindsay Blake The spectacular 6,300-square-foot room, which has a capacity of 800 guests, features three towering mirrored archways that stretch to the ceiling, two magnificent 22-foot Austrian crystal chandeliers and a succession of brass-railed balconies overlooking the massive floor below.
It is in the glittering space that the founding banquet for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was held back in 1927. During the event, the iconic Oscar statue is said to have been sketched on a Biltmore napkin, giving the Crystal Ballroom the distinction of being the “birthplace of the Oscar.” The venue has since gone on to become a star of the screen in its own right. In fact, though pretty much every square inch of the Biltmore has appeared on film at one point or another (even the lower-level restrooms!), the Crystal Ballroom is easily the property’s most oft-shot spot.
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Image Credit: MGM/UA Entertainment In the 1982 sports drama “Rocky III,” the venue was transformed into a training space (complete with a boxing ring!) for Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) to prepare for his big fight against Clubber Lang (Mr. T).
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Image Credit: Paramount Pictures Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald), Duckie Dale (Jon Cryer) and friends attend their senior prom – and dance to the immortal strains of OMD’s “If You Leave” – in the Crystal Ballroom in the 1986 classic “Pretty in Pink.”
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Image Credit: 20th Century Studios Susie Diamond (Michelle Pfeiffer) iconically sings “Makin’ Whoopee” there in the 1989 romantic drama “The Fabulous Baker Boys.”
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures The Crystal Ballroom is the site of the Iowa Rapids Rotary Club meeting, where Frank Farmer (Kevin Costner) is shown working at the end of the 1992 romance “The Bodyguard.”
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Image Credit: 20th Century Studios Harry (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Helen Tasker (Jamie Lee Curtis) famously tango in the grand venue in the 1994 action-comedy “True Lies.”
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Image Credit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures The space pops up in a dream sequence in the 1997 comedy “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.”
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Image Credit: Warner Bros. Television The ill-fated Festival of Tolerance is held there in two season four episodes of “True Blood,” “Let’s Get Out of Here” and “Burning Down the House.”
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Image Credit: Asylum/Atlantic And Ed Sheeran makes spectacular use of the venue throughout his 2014 “Thinking Out Loud” music video.
Those hoping for a more permanent “Bridgerton” experience are in luck as a unit in Bath’s historic Royal Crescent complex, the exterior of which stands in for the home of the Featherington family on the show, has just hit the market. Listed for a cool $1.3 million, the flat is the perfect spot to live out all of your Regency Period dreams!