NEW YORK Holiday wonders in stores' windows

Macy's features a Muppets display, while Lord & amp; Taylor puts a new spin on 'The Nutcracker.'
By EVE ZIBART
WASHINGTON POST
NEW YORK -- It's been a Scrooge of a century so far, but I have two remedies for the humbugs: I keep a CD of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" in the car, and I cruise the shop windows of Manhattan.
Not just any windows, although the glittering jewels of Tiffany's and Van Cleef & amp; Arpels outsparkle any tree, and toy stores like Disney and FAO Schwarz have eye-catching displays (including a live-animation artist working in the Disney window). I head for the great show windows: Macy's, Lord & amp; Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman.
Every year these old and proud department stores turn over their windows to fantasy and fable, with puppets and mannequins in the most ornate costumes and recorded narration looping with each "panel" along the mini-parade routes.
The displays change annually and the themes are closely held secrets. While most of them stick to familiar stories, like "A Christmas Carol," "The Nutcracker" or "The Night Before Christmas," they're mounted in a variety of ways, though never so overtly grown-up as to spoil anyone's fun.
Saks Fifth Avenue
This year, the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue are filled with a miniature version of "Sleeping Beauty" created by the Mariinsky Theatre of St. Petersburg, Russia, home of the Kirov Ballet; the theatrical presentation is reproduced down to the footlights, stage aprons and painted backdrops. (Prince Desire even seems to be riding a horse that's actually a four-legged rig covering his legs.)
The costumes are czarist-romantic, full of brocade and lace and incredible tiny sequined shoes and a fabulous peacock hat pin. When the evil Carabosse disguises herself as the old spinning woman, her "real" witch face is reflected in a mirror. The dragon is a marvel of malice, and at the end, Princess Aurora and her prince pas de deux atop a giant wedding cake.
Macy's
At Macy's, the six windows between 34th and 35th streets cover a lot of sentimental territory as the Muppets -- animated and mischievous -- take Manhattan once again. The displays show Miss Piggy in a chorus line (with Statler and Waldorf in the balcony), Kermit and Piggy taking a romantic carriage ride in Central Park, Gonzo skating at the Rockefeller Center rink (with penguin judges), and various Muppets taking in the sights from the crown of the Statue of Liberty as well as Santa's sleigh in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Following up on another great Macy's holiday tradition, four of the windows on 34th Street are encores from its strikingly authentic 1999 re-creation of the classic movie "Miracle on 34th Street" (the Natalie Wood version, of course).
Lord & amp; Taylor
Lord & amp; Taylor claims to have been the first to present a themed holiday display, back in 1938. This year, it's put a new spin on "The Nutcracker" with a six-window version that takes the edge off of some of E.T.A. Hoffmann's original fairy-scariness. The display even goes with the happily-ever-after ending rather than the oh-it-was-just-a-dream disappointment.
It starts off with animated ice skaters on a pond, children frolicking around a decorated tree, and parents grabbing a quiet moment. The scene in which Uncle Drosselmeyer presents Clara with the magical cracker is a sort of "Upstairs, Downstairs" cutaway, which reveals the Mouse King lounging in a bubble bath, martini in hand, as his minions spy on the festivities. The fierce battle between the forces of the Nutcracker Prince and the Mouse King has been transformed into a kid-friendly food fight, with the rodents slinging eggs from their ceiling perches. And at the end, as the Prince and Clara soar away in their airborne gondola, an animated quill pen writes the story of their escapades. All this and Tchaikovsky, too.
Bergdorf Goodman
The exception to the storytelling rule, and frequently my favorite, is Bergdorf Goodman, whose displays department tends to create its own fairy tales that do double duty as advertising (some of the clothes or accessories are captioned as available on such and such a floor).
This season, the tableaux are brilliant, ranging from Japanese sugarpop-rockers dressed in Miyake and Gaultier and hanging from the ceiling to the personal seraglio of Oscar de la Renta, featuring a languid model in brocade pants, beaded bags, carved chinoiserie, bandboxes, Balinese headdresses and ornate costume dolls. There's even a window that resembles a closet-size tribute to Whistler's Peacock Room.
Cher fans shouldn't miss the bonus display in Barney's windows at 61st and Madison: They feature a chorus line's worth of Cher-faced mannequins attired in Bob Mackie outfits and headdresses to match. Sorry to say, however, those windows have no soundtrack.
XLord & amp; Taylor, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf are on Fifth Avenue -- Lord & amp; Taylor at 38th Street, Saks at 48th just across from Rockefeller Center, and Bergdorf at 58th at the foot of Central Park. Macy's is on Herald Square, just a block from Penn Station.