kewl. i want to go watch the Phantom of the Opera now! it's got a great masquerade ball. i'd compare it to whatever everyone else compared it to, but i haven't read it. and i'm too lazy to read something if this is the edited draft, anyway.
It does seem a bit off from the rest of it, but over all this was great. Ironic though, that is the name of a story I'm working on...I liked the idea you had with this...great work.