War Saga 40-45 sets the tone for a new era in musicals

This war saga full of intense emotions and amazing sets tells the story of a family from Antwerp during the Second World War. The audience divided and seated on 8 different smoothly gliding platforms is moved around a static stage to create new and unseen sightlines. Movements are perfectly synchronized in a gliding and sliding spectacle of different platforms in motion that reinforce story plots and music. Underlying the 8 tribunes is our innovative WIWAGONS motion technology. On top every spectator got a headphone for the most intense theatre experience ever.

You don’t just watch the war, you live it right in the moment. A 360° full immersive experience for every spectator from every seat. And that’s exactly what audiences expect nowadays. One of the main reasons is that people get spoiled by the unlimited potential of augmented reality and 3D effects with the gaming sector geeks as invincible innovators.

A trend that has only been accelerated by the pandemic and subsequent online media behavior. Not only for the digital natives for whom online is just part of their DNA. The baby boomers (born between 1940-1955) and the more traditional audiences have not only massively turned to e-commerce. They also found the online way to their good old favorites such as the Rolling Stones in concert and got completely into these new multi-layered and customer centric experiences. Nothing beats the real thing of course. And everybody prefers live. But it’s clear that an overflow from mesmerizing digital effects and the ‘spectator is part of the game’ attitude into the physical show world is the next big thing for the entertainment business.

Nobody wants static anymore. Static in the sense of boring. An actor just sitting on a chair and telling the story of his life in the right words can be a very vivid experience. But only this is far too minimalistic for the larger stage settings and venues that have the thematic potential to draw spectators right into the happening.  Audiences nowadays want to be amazed and constantly seek new sensations when attending shows, festivals or brand activations. Be it music, a sports manifestation or a the launch of a new perfume, the topic itself is only part of the overall experience. A festival nowadays is much more than only the music. People want to be submerged into new worlds with visual explosions that function as highlights for social media pics and video, especially for instagram.

Not only show bizz, the cultural sector too has discovered new and refreshing ways to connect with physical audiences. The Van Gogh immersive tour (Antwerp Waagnatie 2021) where you literally step into the intriguing world of the haunted genius, could count on international appreciation and massive social media exposure. Holistic is so wonderful and inspiring, be sure it’s here to stay. 

Entertainment engineers, set designers, dynamic content experts, programmers and kinetic motion geeks are challenged to give the best of themselves or more to meet the increasing tech demands for fluid immersive show settings and spectacular visual wizardry. This requires a new mindset, new ways of collaborating and fusing expertise and even a new agile business model. At WICREATIONS from the very beginning we’ve laser focused on tech and creative innovation.  The 40-45 moving audience episode is proves we’re ready for whatever crazy show challenges may cross our paths.