DALLAS, Jun 10, 2005/ FW/ --- For theater fans, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Phantom of the Opera’ ranks among one of the all time favorites. You’ve seen it come alive on stage and on the big screen. How about a store window!

Last Christmas, Bloomingdale’s in cooperation with Warner Brothers Pictures chose the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ as the theme for its holiday windows.

With the film then set to hit movie houses December 22, the tie-up became a great example of using the store window as a promotional tool other than merchandise.

As the sign said, ‘Each window recreates a pivotal scene and features actual set pieces and costumes used in the film.’

And for those familiar with the ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ the recreation was so realistic that you can even hear the music just looking at the store windows though the soundtrack might not be playing.

The stars of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ in this case are the mannequins, playing the roles of Christine, Raoul and the Phantom.

This gives new meaning to the paraphrased line from Shakespeare, ‘All windows are a stage and mannequins are mere players.’

Obviously, realistic mannequins were used in this presentation. The enchanting part about it is that using wigs and make up, the mannequins were made to look like Emmy Rossum and Patrick Wilson who played Christine and Raoul in the film.

As we already know, mannequins have been used in a lot of Hollywood films as ‘body doubles’ for action scenes, especially when something has to be blown up. Using a stuntman might be too dangerous in terms of life and limb; hence mannequin body doubles are used.

So, it is not surprising to see mannequins that resemble a real person. After all, all realistic mannequins have been sculpted with a real person as a model. Two of the most famous ones are Twiggy and Erin O’Connor mannequins created by Adel Rootstein.

These store windows enter the annals of visual merchandising history as bringing a stage play to life.

'Phantom of The Opera'

'Phantom of The Opera'

'Phantom of The Opera'

'Phantom of The Opera'

'Phantom of The Opera'