Party Like the Queen of France

Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, and Hugh Hefner, the Playboy legend may seem unlikely bedfellows, but they both share a love of the Masquerade Party. Through two parallel events, centuries apart, Party Like the Queen of France, tells the story of one of the world's most popular and enduring types of party. Party planner Dylan Marer has been given the opportunity to impress his client Hugh Hefner. He will be putting on the annual Playboy Masquerade party at the famous mansion. This year Hef has asked Dylan to create something unique and different. In a stroke of genius Dylan decides to the theme of this year's bash will be based around the provocative French queen, Marie Antoinette. Over the course of the show Dylan's concept is put to the test. Will it go according to plan? Will his host and 1500 demanding Hollywood guests be satisfied. For Dylan and his team, success begins with researching his chosen subject. In the late eighteenth century the young teenage Queen, Marie Antoinette, attended masquerades in Paris as lavish and decadent as any in history. There are many differences between these parties and the Playboy Masquerade. Modern technology, for example, enables today's pleasure seekers to enjoy the very latest in laser light shows, amped up music, chilled cocktails, and VIP transportation. But the similarities to the eighteenth century masked parties are surprisingly evident. For a start, there is great music, provocative dancing, exquisite food and the finest champagnes. There are even VIP areas for those who want to afford more privacy. But most of all, it's the beautiful masks that enable guests, past and present, to adopt a secret identity for the night. Emboldened by the wrong assumption that her identity was hidden, the Queen would rub shoulders with commoners and aristocrats alike; drinking, gambling and enjoying secret encounters. But, such was her beauty and grand style that most there knew who she was. While Marie Antoinette might have been simply enjoying what most teenage girls do today, her partying ways eventually turned people against her and fanned the flames of the French Revolution, resulting in the overthrow of the monarchy, and her execution. But while Revolutionary France remembers her as an immoral spendthrift, people like Dylan Marer look to her for inspiration. Her beauty, fashion sense, and ability to charm have left a lasting effect, none more so than tonight at the Playboy Mansion, where forty semi-naked, Marie Antoinette look-a-likes, celebrate the charismatic queen. The young queen's masquerades were a hot-blooded attempt to escape the frustrations of a loveless marriage. The Playboy Masquerade Party is a return to her world for modern day party lovers - a provocative escape from the shackles of their daily lives. Tonight, everyone here will Party Like the Queen of France.