KJ: The Wonderful Adventures of... (Patreon)

... Nils Holgersson.

Two years ago I created an opera stage for an opera/musical production.
This year the commissioner had a new job for me and it is one I truly enjoyed.
I created the stage for "The Wonderful Adventures Of Nils Holgersson".

It is a very famous story and anime in Europe and Japan from the 1980s. It is still aired in Germany nowadays, because the story never gets old.

If you don't know Nils' story, I'll shortly tell you more.
Nils is an evil boy who lives together with his parents on a farm in Sweden.
He teases animals and bullies the neighbours' children. One day an elf curses him for his bad behaviour. He shrinks Nils to elf size. Now the boy can talk to animals, but the ones on the farm want revenge and Nils parents are not at home, not to mention that he does not dare to face them as a tiny elf size boy.
So Nils escapes together with ganter Martin to join the wild geese.
Together they travel Sweden and meet all kinds of different animals and humans.
Slowly but steadily Nils does good deeds to help people and animals.
On his journey he also meets a witch, he visits a cursed city and a haunted mansion.
He also watches the battle between the Sun and the King of Winter.
After many adventures the elf offers Nils a deal to lift the curse and to return home as a normal boy. But Nils refuses...
Well, I won't spoiler the final, because even as an adult the anime is nice to watch.

I watched the anime as a boy and creating an opera/musical stage for this play felt great. At this point I should mention, that the anime is based on a Swedish novel, which I have never read. I just watched a lot of TV in my childhood.

For the stage I had to create different elements. I will add them here one after another. Let's go:

A Squirrel

A hedgehog

A mouse

A mushroom (with a face)

Strawberries and bees

Blackberries

An acorn oven (with red lights inside on stage)

A pine cone

A hazelnut

Dandelion and butterfly

Grasses and dragonflies

A fence for the farm

A bigger second version of the fence for elf size Nils

A "photo wall" where the actors/actresses can put their faces through the holes, while the wings are able to move up and down for the flying scenes.

A big forest background, including an evergreen with a moustache, snowy birks and mountains and golden leaves. The center will have a screen with lights and animations.

At last I can say, that I love this project. The story of Nils Holgersson is famous and I hope, that many people will watch the musical/opera version.

Speaking of people: The story of this interpretation is a bit different compared to the original plot. Actually Nils only travels Sweden and does short trips to Germany and Finland.
In the musical he will travel Europe: Sweden, Germany, France, Italy and Scotland.
Nils will meet a boar, a rat, a bunny and a squirrel and he will meet the monster of Loch Ness.
The message will be, that no matter where you live or what language you speak (or what species you are) you can befriend with others and appreciate differences.

Considering the current situation in Europe this message is important.
This is also the moment, where I want to say, that I will remain neutral as an artist considering all real life events as long as possible.
For many patrons and fans my art is a possibility of distraction and joy.
And that's fine for me.

Back to the journal.
Well, that's actually all about the opera stage. To be honest it was very, very challenging to work on this commission while also delivering Artpacks within time.
At last the release date of Artpacks delayed slowly month by month. But thanks to my current pause I was able to finish the opera stage and I can reset my Artpack release circle.

I almost forgot to mention that the premiere of the muscial/opera "Nils Holgersson" will be in February 2023. Once I have photos of the built stage elements I gonna show them in another journal.

Thank you for you reading.
Do you know "The Wonderful Adventures Of Nils Holgersson"?
You could tell me in the comments.