Limelight · Musical theatre

14-18, the musical (2014)

Choreography by Martin Michel

14-18, the musical is a Flemish spectacle musical about a group of friends from a Belgian village caught up in the First World War, staged by Studio 100 with music by Dirk Brossé and direction by Frank Van Laecke. It premiered in April 2014 in a purpose-built hangar (the Nekkerhal, Mechelen) on a 135-tonne mobile platform seating the audience, and was revived in an updated version in 2024 at Studio 100's Puurs pop-up theatre.

What is danced

The source article does not describe any choreography, dance numbers, or movement vocabulary. It documents the production's scale — the moving 55-by-22-metre platform, laser-guided scenery, horse riders, ensemble and extras — and its cast of principal actors, but gives no synopsis broken into danced numbers and no indication of what, if anything, the ensemble or extras physically perform beyond the described staging mechanics. Our record credits Martin Michel as choreographer, but the article does not mention him or any choreographic contribution at all, so nothing here can be attributed to specific movement vocabulary.

Context

The article situates the show within Studio 100's run of large-scale Flemish 'spectacle' musicals, explicitly naming the creative team of Daens (an earlier Studio 100 historical musical) as the origin of this project's development from 2011. This places 14-18 in a lineage of commercially produced, scenically driven Belgian musical theatre built around historical subject matter and audience-immersive staging technology rather than around a distinct dance idiom.

Staging history

The original production opened in April 2014 at the Nekkerhal in Mechelen and closed on 11 November 2014, having sold over 320,000 tickets; an English-language version with an alternate cast was also announced. It was revived in an updated version on 2 June 2024 at a purpose-built Studio 100 pop-up theatre in Puurs — a venue the article notes was built specifically for the company's separate musical about the Second World War, 40-45. Multiple cast changes occurred within both the 2014 and 2024 runs, including replacements in the roles of Albert, Céline, and the General.

How to watch it

There is no basis in the source for guidance on danced vocabulary; a viewer would instead attend to the scenic engineering — the audience-carrying platform and the laser-guided set pieces — which the article treats as the production's defining spectacle rather than any specific dance sequence.

Questions

Is there dance in 14-18, the musical?
The article that documents this production does not describe any dance numbers or choreography; it focuses on the story, cast, and the large moving-platform staging technology. Our record lists Martin Michel as choreographer, but the source gives no detail on what was choreographed.
Where did 14-18 premiere?
It opened in April 2014 at the Nekkerhal in Mechelen, Belgium, staged on a purpose-built 55-by-22-metre mobile platform that carried the audience through the set.
Has the show been revived?
Yes. An updated version reopened on 2 June 2024 at a Studio 100 pop-up theatre in Puurs, a venue originally built for the company's separate WWII musical, 40-45.
This entry was written from “14-18, the musical” on English Wikipedia (revision 1360921350), used under CC BY-SA 4.0. The link points at the exact revision this text was written from, so it shows the words we actually used rather than whatever the article says today. Credits and premiere data come from Wikidata (CC0), cited per field.