A short, stout man �in his best years�, Karlsson first flew into Lillebror�s and all readers� hearts in 1955, when the first book about him was published. Thanks to a propeller attached to his back, Karlsson has been in the air pretty much ever since, and now he�s flown unto the stage of the Malm� Opera, in the shape of a new musical composed by Thomas Lindahl.

�What�s most important is to feel completely free in relation to all the hierarchies of adult life,� says Lindahl when asked how one composes music for children. The musical �Karlsson p� taket� has little dialogue, most things are said in songs, and Lindahl uses two instruments typical for the 1950�s � the vibraphone and the jazz guitar � to give the show a feel of the times in which the plot unfolds.
Karlsson is played by Samuel Jarrick, and he�s not the usual rotund Karlsson with suspenders you remember. Instead he sports pink nail polish, cowboy boots, and a jacket of burgundy velvet.

�Karlsson has his own rules, which I think could be inspiring to many,� Jarrick says. �Lillebror develops and learns how to set limits for Karlsson.� Lillebror is played by tenor Leif Aruhn-Sol�n. �It�s music that�s easy to sing along to, but it also has lots of parts to it,� he explains. �It�s like a puzzle, or a mathematical formula. Simple, yet very difficult.� And the message? That adults often are boring and rational.
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Karlsson p� taket