Originally, Death Note: The Musical was only supposed to be on in London for two nights, but the original Palladium run sold out so quickly that they added four more days at the Lyric Theatre. Could I resist?

No. No, obviously I couldn't. I went to see Death Note: The Musical with Tem at the Lyric matinée yesterday, and I had an absolute blast.

I found myself oddly nervous as I waited for the musical to begin, as if Light Yagami was going to walk on stage, look straight at me and expect me to hold a conversation. (This did not happen.)

Technically, this was Death Note: The Musical in Concert; it wasn't quite a full production. But it felt like a pretty full experience; it definitely wasn't just singing! The set design and costuming was cool; the shinigami costumes in particular were fantastic. The lighting was great. The choreography was fairly light for most numbers, but it was still very much present. To be honest, going too heavy on the choreography might have been dangerous; the cool multi-level set design allowed a single set to represent multiple locations, but it would have made it difficult for actors to move around too fast.

The dialogue was the aspect that made it clearest that this wasn't the full final musical; it clearly aimed to move from song to song as quickly as possible. But the show still told a complete story and, even if I can envision a version with more fleshed-out segments between songs, the dialogue we did get still clearly paid attention to character.

Below the cut, I talk in unnecessary detail about the musical, going through more or less song-by-song. Here's the official English album, in case you want to listen along.

I've put an asterisk next to my favourite songs. My favourite songs make up most of the soundtrack; there are a lot of great songs! I've specifically asterisked the songs I like the most on the basis of their sound, so, although I thought e.g. 'I'm Ready' was a great experience in performance, it doesn't have an asterisk. (I notice I've asterisked every single song Light has a part in, though, so it's possible my character bias also has an influence here.)



*'Where Is the Justice?': Light is absolutely the sort of kid who would lead a rebellion in the classroom. He has the passion, persuasiveness and charisma to pick a fight with a teacher and get the entire class on his side. I loved the little moment where he advanced on the teacher, with the other students behind him, and the teacher backed away; it became clear in that moment that the balance of power had shifted.

'Only Human': In performance, it's clearer that this is a conversation between Rem and Ryuk, and that they hold different views of humanity. Ryuk finds humans entertaining and contemptible; Rem finds them intriguing and deserving of pity.

Both shinigami were great throughout the musical, incidentally, especially Ryuk! The way he moved felt so inhuman.

*'Hurricane': During this song, as Light gained confidence and killed more people, I found myself smiling enormously and thinking, I'm so proud of him. Entirely the wrong response to Light. I'm so pleased.

'Kira!': This was the only song on the soundtrack I outright disliked, but I actually enjoyed it in performance! It's a lot more fun when you can see Ryuk harassing Light throughout. He pulls Light towards him by his tie; he puts his arms around Light from behind. He ruffles Light's hair at one point, and Light is so put out. It's incredible.

On the original album, this song includes the line 'The masses cheering Kira don't know he's Light Yagami playing a dangerous game.' The staged version changed the line to 'don't know he's just a schoolboy playing a dangerous game', which I thought was a great change. I bet it annoyed Light immensely.

Ryuk continues to be a mildly annoying presence in Light's life throughout the musical, providing obnoxious commentary and patronising little touches, and it's an absolute treat.

'I'm Ready': I didn't find this one of the most memorable songs on the soundtrack, but I loved it in performance. So high-energy! I really liked the choice to change Misa from a model to an idol for the musical; it felt very fitting.

It's also extremely cute that Light took his sister to a concert he didn't expect to be particularly interested in himself.

'We All Need a Hero': Not one of my favourite songs, but it's cute, and I do love that there's a song about the relationship between the Yagami siblings. I'm glad the musical really gets across the fact that, even though Light isn't exactly swimming in redeeming features, he does genuinely love his family. He fondly touched Sayu's hair at one point during this song, and it was devastating.

*'The Game Begins': As Tem commented, L didn't quite feel weird enough. But, oh, wow, he could sing. And he could sing while squatting on a chair at points, which strikes me as absolutely extraordinary.

'The Game Begins' kicks off a recurring theme in the songs of this musical: the struggle between Light and L is a game to them. The stakes are real, and they're deadly. But, on some level, they're enjoying themselves.

The line 'I sift a thousand pixels until I chase you down at last' is extremely funny. L, a thousand pixels is a tenth of an LJ icon. I'm not sure how much information you're going to get from that.

*'There Are Lines':

Soichiro: murder is bad
Light: yep yep obviously I knew that

I wouldn't generally recommend reading YouTube comments, but I did see a great observation by YouTube user kkok9666 on this song: while Soichiro is singing that you should never cross these lines, Light is singing between his lines.

*'Secrets and Lies': The first of many duets between Light and L, every one of which is a banger! I absolutely love that they both sing the line 'I don't care who gets hurt now, as long as I get one more shot.' The musical really understands that there's no unambiguous hero in the struggle between Kira and L; Kira's actions are ultimately worse, but they're both as ruthless as each other.

There were occasional sound issues throughout the performance, and unfortunately much of Soichiro's verse in this song was lost as a result of his microphone not kicking in fast enough, which was a bit of a shame.

It is important to note that, during this song, Light took a potato chip and ate it.

*'Mortals and Fools': This is a lovely duet between Rem and Misa, in which Rem struggles to understand how much Misa is willing to give up in her search for Kira. While the musical didn't have much time to develop their relationship, it definitely managed to convey how intense Rem's feelings about her are.

*'Stalemate': Listening to this song, I always envision Light and L prowling around each other in a slow circle while singing, focused completely on each other. The stage layout didn't really allow for that, alas, but you can bet you'll be getting it when I am inevitably given the job of Death Note: The Musical choreographer. (It's going to be the only bit of choreography in the performance, because I cannot choreograph, but I can promise that that bit is going to be great.)

I liked the detail that, while Light's obviously trying to seem unshaken by the guy who's just introduced himself to him as L, he keeps casting small glances over at him.

'I'll Only Love You More': This song didn't really strike me on the original soundtrack, and for the first verse I thought I wasn't going to be particularly into it in the staged version either. But then Sayu ran into Light's room and went 'Have you heard Misa's new song?' and shared her earbuds with him, which was adorable, and now it's the most important song in the show.

The song is Misa's way to communicate to Kira that she's the second Kira, and Light's reactions throughout it were great fun.

Sayu and Ryuk: (happily bopping along to the song)
Light, internally: Well, this isn't my thing, but my sister's excited about it, so I'll put up with it for her.
Misa, singing: I'll read your name and see your face.
Light, internally, going completely still: you'll WHAT

As lokifan commented, it's a shame Light didn't start listening earlier, so we could see his reaction to the line 'I'll gladly give you half my years'!

At the end of the song, Sayu leans affectionately on Light's shoulder, and Ryuk mockingly mimics the affectionate lean on Light's other shoulder, while Light is just struggling to process the fact that his unasked-for partner in crime is his sister's favourite singer. I was delighted to find a photograph of this moment posted by deathnote-dramanmusical. (Here's the original post, which also includes some other shots of the Lyric performance!)

*'The Way Things Are': The performance included a few songs that weren't on the original English concept album! Most of these were reprises; one was a song where the police weighed up whether they were still willing to go after Kira at risk to themselves, which I didn't find especially memorable. But L had a great song called 'The Way Things Are' after he learnt shinigami were real, and, because it's not on the album, I don't have an official English recording to listen to endlessly! Outrageous, frankly.

Dear official Death Note musical team, because of course you all read this journal: you should definitely put out a cast recording with the London cast. (While you're at it, bring on a full production!)

'Honor Bound': Poor Soichiro! I don't find this song all that memorable in either sound or performance, but it's a little heartbreaking to see him grappling with the fear that his son might actually be the killer he's suspected of being.

*'Playing His Game': The noise of hitting the tennis ball was a bit overpowering, but I loved the concept of staging Light and L's tennis match during this song. There was also a cool bit where, having been playing back and forth for a bit while singing about how they needed to put themselves in their opponent's shoes, they started synchronising their moves to each other.

There was a great little moment for Light and L's dynamic after their intense, furious tennis duet. L held Light's racquet out to him and said, 'I enjoy our time together.' Light stared at him for a long moment before accepting the racquet and saying, grudgingly, '...yeah, me too.'

*'Borrowed Time': Misa sings this song while tied up and unable to move, so it wasn't really possible to do much of note with the staging, but I don't think that detracted from it at all. It didn't need anything fancy; it's a gorgeous song and it stands on its own.

'When Love Comes': This feels like it's intended to be an emotional climax, but it's perhaps a little drowned out by the fact that almost every song in this show is incredibly dramatic; it's hard for any one song to stand out! I do love Rem collapsing to the floor and caressing Misa's bound legs while singing about how she's fallen in love with her, though.

*'The Way It Ends': The staged version omits L's first verse, and I can see why - it doesn't fit the events of the story at all - but I'm a little sad about it, because this is one of my absolute favourite songs on the soundtrack and I don't want it made any shorter! It's still great, though. I love Light's grudging acknowledgement of L's skill in 'I've always stayed a step ahead, but you were with me all the way.' I love the slight wistfulness in Light's last 'a minute more'. He's won the game, but he's lost a friend.


The musical ends with L's death - Light dies immediately afterwards when Ryuk decides he's bored and writes Light's name in his Death Note - which I think is a good decision. There are a couple of tweaks I think could be made to make it a better ending, though.

Firstly, I think it could have felt like Light had more agency in L's death. In the performance, Misa was captured and tortured by L under suspicion of being the second Kira, and Light went 'hey, Rem, I've got a cool way to kill L, you should totally go along with it to save Misa.' But Light is just taking advantage of a situation that happens to exist; Light isn't the person who drove Rem to desperation by putting Misa in danger. If Light intentionally drew suspicion to Misa and got her arrested, thus forcing Rem to save her, L's death would feel more like Light's achievement. At the moment, it seems like L could have died even if Light didn't take any active steps towards it.

Secondly, after L dies, Ryuk just goes, 'I'm getting bored of this; it's the same thing day after day, just more criminals in the Death Note,' and writes Light's name down. I think it'd work better if he went, 'Well, now that your opponent's gone, it's not interesting any more.' Make it clear that Light's victory over L is what actively caused Light's death; Ryuk didn't just happen to decide he'd had enough. Basically, on top of increasing Light's agency in L's death, increase his agency in his own.

Alternatively, as Tem suggested, have them both defeat each other! Maybe L could have set up some way to ensure Light's downfall even after his death.

Even if there are perhaps ways the ending could have been improved, I did love Light's terrified breakdown as he realised he was about to die, desperately emptying the gun into a being he couldn't hurt. I also thought it was cool when L seemed to break the Death Note's control, he shot Light, and then it turned out that Light had written that into the Death Note as well!


Although the dialogue was fairly minimal, on account of this being a concert performance rather than a fully staged performance, there were some fun lines! Here are a few bits I enjoyed:

Light: I'm going to send L to hell if it's the last thing I do.
Ryuk: Pfft, there's no heaven or hell.
(Light considers this for a moment.)
Light: Well, that's going to disappoint a lot of people.

(And I've only just realised, writing this all down, that it is in fact the last thing he does!)

Misa: (spotting Light and realising she can't see his lifespan) I've found him! It's Kira! Ooh, he's cute.

Light: Catch you later.
L, very pointedly: Not if I catch you first.

When L answered Misa's phone, having stolen it so Light couldn't call her to ask for his name, he put on a high-pitched voice and answered in-character as Misa, which was sort of delightful.

There was also one really striking scene without a song to go with it: Light killing the FBI agent sent to track Kira down. They obviously had to simplify the original sequence a lot for time and comprehensibility reasons, but they manage to convey the scene in a way that's very vivid and slightly harrowing.


Tem and I met up with fellow attendee lokifan after the show and promptly discovered we all have identical responses to Death Note. There were so many times one of us mentioned a detail that had struck us and the others immediately went 'YES.' We all smiled fondly and inappropriately during 'Hurricane', when Light was spreading his murderous little wings; we all loved Light touching Sayu's hair and sharing earbuds with her; we all loved Light's helpless, furious desperation when he realised he was about to die.

'I liked that L had a throne to sit on,' lokifan commented, 'particularly because it would make Light really jealous.'



Even if there was some room for improvement, I loved every moment of the Death Note musical, and I'd absolutely come back if they ever brought a full-scale production to London!

Describing the experience to our other housemates afterwards, Tem commented, 'The moment Light came on stage and started singing, I looked over at Riona, and she was smiling so fondly. It was like we were watching a school play and her child had just come on.'