The Story of the Laughing Tramp, a new Finnish musical drama written by Sami Keski-Vähälä and adapted and directed by Paavo Westerberg, is a story about how Vesa-Matti Loiri became an artist loved by the entire Finnish people.

The Story of the Laughing Tramp is a touching, funny and poetic song of praise to art and entertainment, told through the story of Vesa-Matti Loiri and with the timeless music he performs.

What was behind the songs loved by the audience and the comic and tragic roles that have gone down in history? What kind of passion and mental struggle did Loiri’s art emerge from? And what was the life that Vesku missed?

On the big stage, Vesku’s most famous characters will be seen, from Uncle Piglet to Turhapuro. We will hear pieces of music that are important to Loiri and performed and interpreted by him himself, and we will meet people who are important to Vesku. Art is born, but in civilian life, something is constantly falling apart.

The viewer gets to experience where Loiri’s art was born from, and what was the price that the beloved artist of the whole nation paid for his honesty, unconditionality and passion.

The play is a tribute to Vesa-Matti Loiri’s art, and to the people without whom that art would not have been born. At the same time, the work is a kind of image of the Finland of a unified culture that no longer exists.