Downton Abbey: The Exhibition
Nov. 18 through Jan. 31, 2018
218 West 57th Street (in the old Lee Art space)
866-811-4111
The Downton Abbey Exhibition
For Downton Abbey fans, you're in luck! There are three floors of painstakingly re-creations of sets, costumes and life in the Grantham's home, on exhibit in New York City. It previously had a global tour and after New York, it travels around the US in 2018.
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| The dining room. |
Whether it's the elaborate table setting in the dinning room...
...or the bell ringing board notifying servants of some drastically needed help with a button that has popped off a dress...
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| The bell ringing board. |
...or the chaotic preparation of a meal down in the kitchen...
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| Mrs Patmore's kitchen. |
...the exhibit immerses you into Lord Grantham's household and daily life. With the use of CGI: clip-loop footage and holograms of several of the main characters guiding us along the way, as well as scenes from the show, it's a stunning exhibition of detail and depiction of life during post-Edwardian England. Whether downstairs...
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| Mr Carson's pantry. |
...or upstairs...
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| Lady Mary's bedroom. |
...the sets are quite amazing. But it's Anna Robbins costumes that are stunning.
The hard work put into these creations is quite remarkable and authentic looking. The biggest challenge to the exhibit, and I must say they handle it pretty well, are the crowds of people. So you have to make reservations, which are available every half hour from 10:00am to 7:00pm. And as usual with anything popular, especially in New York, be prepared for a lot of people. If you're patient enough, you'll enjoy it all. And there is no rush to get you out. You can spend as short or long a period of time in the exhibit as you like.
PS...there is supposedly a feature film version of Downton Abbey in the works with the original cast.
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| Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess photo credit: Downton Abbey |
“You’ll find there’s never a dull moment in this house.”
-The Dowager Countess, Violet
