Death Notehas a troubled history with adaptations. Some, such as the classic anime and live-action movies from the early ‘00s, are faithful to the original manga and remain the best ways to consume the epic story of two young men butting heads over the eponymous book that allows the holder to kill anyone they like. Other adaptations, naming no names (cough, Netflix, cough), are less successful. So, when I learned that the Death Note musical even existed, let alone was about to enter a limited run at the Lyric Theatre in London, I knew I had to go. Editor, insert that gif of RuPaul saying, “I can’t wait to see how this turns out” here.
When I arrived at the theatre, I couldn’t help but notice the staggeringly diverse audience that had gathered. There were cosplayers in full getups, die-hard fans with Death Note tees on, even small children who were definitely dragged there by their parents. The atmosphere was electric - it felt like queuing up for a gig, not a Sunday matinee.
RELATED:What Simpsons Episodes Should You Watch Before The Death Note Parody
I went into the theatre not having checked out any reviews or glimpses of the show online - I wanted to go in completely fresh. I’m part of that obnoxious crowd that believes a bad musical can be just as fun as a good one, and was fully prepared to witness a Death Note (2017)-style car crash. To my surprise, Death Note: The Musical In Concert is quite the opposite. In fact, it’s damn good fun.
Condensing 12 volumes of manga into a two-hour musical is a herculean task, and Death Note: The Musical does it only fairly well. The first half covers events up to Misa Amane finding her own homicidal tome, and the pacing is spot-on until then. It’s roughly an hour long and hits all the same important notes that the first live-action movie does, so it feels familiar and works well as an act. The second half, however, is a rushed mess. It hits the right notes, but there’s simply too much to cover without massive cuts for time and the plot moves a mile a minute to compensate. The finale smashes two completely different story beats into one scene in a thrilling alternate ending, but this doesn’t save the musical from its bad pacing.
This is mostly because we lose a ton of character depth as a result. While Light is kept mostly unharmed by the adaptation, L’s descent into obsession and riskier strategies happen at the click of a finger, making his choices indecipherable to anyone who isn’t already familiar with Death Note. Truly, it’s a musical for the fans, to the detriment of new eyes.
Despite the pitfalls that come with such an adaptation, the production makes the most of what it has to work with. Tonally, we get far more moments of levity, with Ryuk (George Maguire) serving up some hilarious moments and L (Dean John-Wilson) exhibiting a far more chaotic personality than usual, addressing and lampshading his quirkier habits. These moments are weaved carefully between the serious and more sinister sections of the affair, providing classic tension and release.
Musically, Death Note: The Musical is a little on the inconsistent side. Some of the songs feel emblematic of ‘musical theatre’ as a genre, with Where Is The Justice being a by-the-numbers introductory song and Secrets and Lies being a wonderful ensemble effort. These feel quite Menken-esque, and some of them have made it to my musical playlist. Others, like Hurricane and I’m Ready, are too poppy and sound like they’re ripped out of a jukebox musical.
While there are no real flops in the running order, two songs stand out as being head and shoulders above the rest. They’re Only Human is a wonderful, slightly haunting duet between Ryuk and Rem (Aimie Atkinson) that shows off the shinigamis’ contrasting personalities really well, and any excuse to hear Atkinson nail a key change is a good excuse. Similarly, Playing His Game is another duet, this time from L and Light (Joaquin Pedro Valdes), that gets some stunning choreography. The song covers the iconic tennis match between the two leads and is staged as a match, with an announcer tracking their scores as they sing through emphatic tennis actions. The leads had wonderful chemistry, both thoroughly committed to their roles as foes.
Despite the chaotic pacing and cobbled-together ending, Death Note: The Musical In Concert was an enjoyable romp. It’s certainly one for the fans - going into this without knowing Death Note beforehand is a surefire way to spend two hours confused as to why there’s a big man with white face paint who all the actors ignore most of the time. If you are a fan, though, it’s a damn fun time and worth looking out for.
