The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience is Netflix's most ambitious real-world event to date

The New York Times

The immersive experience, making its North American debut Thursday in Los Angeles, will give die-hard fans of Bridgerton a chance to bow before an actress doing her best impression of Queen Charlotte, dance to a string quartet version of Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams" and participate in a Lady Whistledown scavenger hunt. "The 90-minute experience — which will open to the public on Thursday and run for at least two months before traveling to Washington, Chicago and Montreal — is Netflix’s most ambitious real-world event to date," says The New York Times' Nicole Sperling. "(A similar version opened in London this month.) The streaming giant hopes it serves as a marketing tool for Bridgerton, the second season of which becomes available on Friday, and appeals to the show’s primarily female fan base, which is often ignored when it comes to fan culture. It is also a bid to amplify the kind of water-cooler buzz that has been elusive for streaming shows. Since their episodes tend to be released in one batch, the week-to-week anticipation familiar to fans of traditional network television can be diluted." As Bridgerton executive producer Shonda Rhimes explains: "This really goes towards my vision of what I’ve always wanted us to be able to do. People who watched Grey’s weren’t just watching Grey’s on Thursday night — they were trying to find other ways to consume it. Scandal was not a show that people watched on Thursday nights and then just didn’t talk about it the rest of the week." ALSO: Nicola Coughlan opens up about her fears of being fired from Bridgerton.