My Night in the World of Bridgerton

Anyone who is a fan of Netflix’s “Bridgerton” series has dreamed of spending time in its fantasy world of Regency-era romance and intrigue. That is just what I got to do last night in Washington, D.C. at “The Queen’s Ball: The Bridgerton Experience.” It was tremendous fun even before we went inside, just looking at the attendees’ costume efforts, from the very elaborate to the “well, it might be from some old-timey era.” There were many heads with tiaras and arms in elegant, long white gloves.

As we spend more of our time looking at screens, it is not surprising that we long for analog interactions with the very worlds we entered through those screens. Also in Washington now is an immersive “Friends” installation, where you can have your picture taken in the iconic locations and see replicas of Rachel’s hairstyles.

But “Friends” takes us back to New York in the 90s. “Bridgerton” is more like a fairy tale with jewels and carriages and balls and people with titles and oodles of money. The immersive experience begins with some time to wander around and get some Instagram-able photos in a variety of settings. My favorite was the one that resulted in an instant portrait of you in a digital version of a classical oil painting. But I also enjoyed the one where I got to sit on the queen’s red velvet sofa, with an attendant in a powered wig and livery who used my camera to take the photo. A couple of the gorgeous dresses from the show were on display, and we each received a copy of Lady Whistledown’s newspaper to read up on the latest scandals.

And then….the queen arrived with her attendants, to music from the show, played live. We were all invited to approach for a bow or curtsey so she could determine who the Diamond of the evening might be.

One of the people in line turned out to be part of the show. He danced for the queen and then taught people from the audience how to do a simple dance number.

And then….we were invited to the ballroom, where we saw exquisite dances, still to music from the show, including baroque versions of songs by Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish.

They taught us more dances, and truly, it did feel like we had gone back in time. When the Queen finally selected her Diamond and sparkles drifted down on her from the ceiling, it was genuinely enchanting, enough to linger past the ride home.