Children’s bestseller as theater with lots of music

DasSince 2019, NEINhorn by Marc-Uwe Kling and Astrid Henn has been delighting not only children, but also their parents and readers of all ages. It ranks at the top of all children’s book bestseller lists. “It’s going to be a classic”, wrote DER SPIEGEL enthusiastically shortly after publication. After its great success in 2023, the theater production of the same name is coming back to Munich from the Junges Theater Bonn.

From the author of the “Kangaroo Chronicles”

Marc-Uwe Kling, who has enjoyed cult status as an author since the ‘Kangaroo Chronicles’ at the latest, has written a funny, cheeky children’s book about a unicorn that breaks out of its cotton candy world and from then on only does what it wants. A small, cute unicorn is born in the heart forest. But although everyone is very sweet to him and constantly feeds him sugared clover, the little animal doesn’t behave like a unicorn at all. He always says no, so that his family soon just calls him NEINhorn. One day, the NEINhorn breaks out of its cotton candy world. He meets the WASBear, a raccoon who won’t listen, the NaHUND, who really doesn’t give a damn about anything, and then the KingDOCHter, a princess who always talks back. The four of them make a pretty good team. Because even being stubborn is much more fun together!

With music by Marc Schubring

The Junges Theater Bonn (JTB) was given the right to adapt Das NEINHorn for the stage and perform it as a play with lots of music. The music was written by Marc Schubring, composer of many successful musicals such as “Vom Fischer und seiner Frau”, which has already caused a sensation here in Bonn. Bernard Niemeyer directs the play on a stage designed by Katha Kastner.

About the author

The author, singer-songwriter and cabaret artist Marc-Uwe Kling (* 1982) is best known for his “Kangaroo Chronicles”, the first book of which was published in 2009 and continued with “The Kangaroo Manifesto” (2011), “The Kangaroo Revelation” (2014) and “The Kangaroo Apocrypha” (2018). Marc-Uwe Kling has received several awards, including the German Audiobook Award for his audiobooks, which he narrates himself. He has also been writing children’s books since 2015. “Das NEINhorn” was published in 2019 and has already had a follow-up volume since the end of 2021: “Das NEINhorn und die SchLANGEWEILE”. In 2021, Kling won the Jonathan Swift Prize for Satire and Humor with “Das NEINhorn”.

Fotos © Thomas Kölsch