Rasmus meets Benjamin. It's Stockholm in the 1980s and a group of young homosexuals can finally find themselves and their family, but at the same time they are struck by a new deadly disease.
Everything that happens here is actually true, all the characters have existed and we have a responsibility for them, we have been very careful about that, says Jonas Gardell, who is happy that the musical will premiere at Göta Lejon in Stockholm.
This is exactly where it all happened.
Funeral party
Ola Salo will play the bitchy Paul who eventually even turns his own funeral into a party. He is also the one who manages to bring Rasmus and Benjamin together at his Christmas Eve party.
In the novel trilogy, Gardell describes how the young Rasmus from Koppom in Värmland becomes infected with AIDS “out of stupid politeness” shortly after arriving in the capital.
With Benjamin, who in turn has left Jehovah's Witnesses, he experiences great love.
When Jonas Gardell had written the script for the television series in 2012, he received praise from television executives.
But someone wanted to stop it and said, "Who wants to see gays die of AIDS?"
Quite a few turned out. Once the TV series was broadcast, nursing homes moved up the bedtimes because the elderly wanted to watch, Gardell remembers.
Not to mention all those who said: "Listen, can we tell you where our children are buried, because now we are no longer ashamed".
Fredrik Kempe had written a song for the TV series and already knew then that he wanted to make a musical out of "Sweden's finest love story".
There are very few stories that burst with musicality and I felt that this one did, he says, explaining that he persisted until he got a yes.
Wink
The work has taken six years, they have jokingly called the musical "the best thing we've done," and their eyes sparkle when they talk about it.
The duo has taken the novels as their starting point and chosen a slightly different focus than the TV series, including on mothers' love for their sons but also on youthful defiance.
There is a constant pandemic, it feels like, whether it's called Putin, corona or AIDS, it's unfortunately something that all young people have to live through, says Fredrik Kempe, who wants to instill courage in people.
Jonas Gardell allows himself to be "very bigoted":
I hope that some of the songs will become part of a Swedish song treasure that will be sung long after Fredrik and I are gone.
Newly written musical by Jonas Gardell and Fredrik Kempe, based on Jonas Gardell's novel trilogy from 2012 and 2013. The duo previously wrote the musical "Life is a hit" together. Kempe has also written music and lyrics for the musicals "Så som i himmelen" and "Änglagård".
Premiere: September 24, 2026 at Göta Lejon in Stockholm.
Starring: Ola Salo, Valdemar Wahlbeck, Martin Stokke Mathiesen, Vanna Rosenberg, Sara Jangfeldt, Lucas Krüger and others.
Director: Carl Johan Karlson, who has directed, among other things, the acclaimed production of Matthew Lopez's mammoth play "Inheritance" at the Dramaten, about the history and present of homosexual men.
