A brief history of McKittrick Halloween parties
They weren’t all called “Inferno.”
McKittrick parties started with Halloween 2011. That year there were five parties, each with a different theme and dress code color.
“The Darkest Shadow”
Dress in your blackest attire
“Night of the Apparitions”
Dress in heavenly white.
“The Last Rendez-Vous”
Dress in film-noir formal.
“Aphrodite’s Revenge”
Dress provocatively, wear red.
“La Danse Macabre”
Dress to terrify.
I went to the one on October 30 that was themed red, “Aphrodite’s Revenge.”
My main memory was that after the show ended, it didn’t end. Instead the Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans appeared, with a bunch of the characters, and they took Macbeth down and had a jazz funeral for him, through the crowd in the ballroom. Then there was suddenly alcohol everywhere and we were all dancing. I was awed by the transition and how smooth and well-produced the party was.
There’s a good photo slideshow with informative captions at Vanity Fair, and a blog post recap here. Plus McKittrick galleries for each night: Danse Macabre, Aphrodite’s Revenge, Last Rendezvous, Night of the Apparitions, & Darkest Shadow.
The night actually started with a funeral procession for Macbeth outside on the street while people were queuing, but I somehow managed to miss that. It was only my 4th show - I probably just got there too late.
I do remember Violet giving a toast “to sleep” when we entered, which was adapted from Macbeth’s lines right after he hears the voice cry “sleep no more.”
And here’s Brandon Tyler Harris as “Charlie.” He’s fabulous - wish he was around more!
In 2012, the party was “Carnival des Corbeaux.” It went six nights, each with a different theme, tied together by the concept of a carnival.
Le Charmeur de Serpent - “Let the animal kingdom inspire your dress for the evening. Feathered, furred, or scaled attire required.”
La Contorsionniste - “Throw modesty to the wind and flaunt your flesh. Come in your most glamorous and provocative attire.”
La Femme a Barbe - “Unleash your alter ego of the opposite sex. For this night, dress in your gender-bending finery.”
La Clairvoyante- “Conjure the spirits of the dark side. Dress as sorcerers, witches, fortune-tellers and other bohemian creature of the night.”
Les Sœurs Siamoises - “On this night, bring along your identical twin. And make sure you stay side-by-side. Triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets and beyond are most welcome.”
Le Sorcier - “On All Hallows Eve, the choice is yours. Come dressed as the carnival denizen of your choice.”
Alas, nature itself apparently objected - Hurricane Sandy hit, and the last few shows got moved. I’d had tickets for Halloween night, but ended up at the rescheduled one on December 1.
It featured Gregory Dubin (who often appears at the Follies as the magician “The Great Dubini”) as “Monsieur Gaufridi,” a demonic carnival master.
The party kicked off with a fabulous performance where he was controlling bewitched members of the carnival troupe, which you can watch here.
Each night had carnival-related performances throughout the space - there are a bunch of videos, including Conor Doyle as a clown, Haylee Nichele as an enchanted doll, Ava Lee Scott doing a bullfighting thing, and Mariel Lugosch-Ecker and Emily Terndrup doing the can-can. I don’t think there’s a video but I also vividly remember William Popp doing a dual-gendered Calloway.
This was my 11th visit to the actual show. It was one of the rare nights I got to see Conor Doyle’s Boy Witch, and also the first night I noticed Paul Zivkovich, who was the Porter and left me in awe. I also remember bloodwillhavebloodtheysay, who I didn’t know yet, dressed fabulously as the carnival fat lady.
There’s a McKittrick gallery, and another Vanity Fair slideshow.
2013 was “The Curse of the Mummy.” It’s best known for the fact that they filled the entire ballroom with sand, then took it out and did it again the next night.
It was a crossover, in which Temple Pictures (the fictional demonic film studio from “The Drowned Man”) is making a mummy film, starring Max and Violet. Unsurprisingly, the film is cursed, and mummies attack.
Alas, this party only ran two nights, and I had plans to be at the actual Temple Studios in London, so I missed it. (I’d say I regret it, but Halloween at the Drowned Man was one of the best nights of my life, so… it’s just too bad you can’t be in two places at once!)
The dress code was “harem girls, nomads, serpent charmers, sword swallowers, pharaohs, mummies, traders, treasure hunters, archaeologists, and the bizarre of the bazaar.”
Here’s a video of Max & Violet kicking off the festivities.
There’s another video here, photo galleries at Village Voice & Gothamist, and of course the usual McKittrick gallery.
2014 was the infamous “Inferno.”
It was themed after Dante’s Inferno, mashed up with Elizabeth Bathory (the countess who bathed in the blood of virgins to stay young).
The dress code was “all in black, or in attire inspired by one of the seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride.”
Inferno wasn’t my favorite. It didn’t feel as much like a McKittrick party - it felt like it could be anywhere. The theme had nothing to do with “Sleep No More,” and it wasn’t as whimsical as previous parties. The whole thing felt alienating, like the party was too cool for its own audience.
On the plus side, they opened more spaces than usual, including the Macbeth bedroom, walled garden, and rep bar. They also had drink stations everywhere - the caramel apple shots in the crypt were to die for.
Sam Booth, Fania Grigoriou, and Omar Gordon were over from “Drowned Man,” and appeared at the dinner and auction. It was nice to see them, but they were under-used. Not much happened at the dinner, and then they were in the auction room the rest of the night. (And let’s not get started again about the auction.)
Dinner photo from chadchronicles - you can see Sam, Fania, and Omar with the gold faces, and Virginia Logan in the middle as Elizabeth Bathory.
The first night was a mess, organizationally. They’d handed out fliers that said to go to the fourth floor at midnight, but then they wouldn’t let anyone up, and security kept directing us to different places. It was confusing and wasted a lot of time.
Luckily, the second night ran much more smoothly than the first. The rep bar was open and featured a glass triangle, with Virginia Logan and Leslie Kraus inside, dancing and making drinks that they poured to audience members through a tube.
Photo via rottenwoodandwiltedsunflowers:
In the end, I did like Inferno. It was elaborate and entertaining, and the company was great.
I dressed as Andrea Alden from “The Drowned Man,” in the “Infidelity Ballet” scene. This was fun because the people who knew Drowned Man all got it, and lots of people screamed/hugged me/poured alcohol down my throat. Yay!
My favorite part was Paul Zivkovich sacrificing a virgin (Ashley Robicheaux) inside of a big glass box in the ballroom at midnight.
He’d spent 20 minutes before taping a plastic tarp around the box, and then spent 20 minutes after slowly squee-geeing the walls clean of blood. And then a bunch of other people climbed into the box and they had a writhing near-naked orgy.
Here is a video of the midnight murder.
There is both an official trailer and recap video for Inferno, and a Village Voice photo gallery plus the McKittrick one.
… And now back to the ongoing drama of waiting for tickets to go on sale for the Boy Witch party. :)
