Wow! This show is sensational.
When I arrived at The London Palladium, I was shocked to see
so many excited Manga fans waiting in the long queue outside, and so I spoke to many of these enthusiastic
fans who knew the Manga Death Note story inside and out. It started
life as a book series written by Tsugumi Ohba with the drawn artwork by Takeshi
Obata and then adapted into an animated series. Having sold over 30 million copies worldwide it has a huge international
following and naturally there was an excited anticipation amongst fans for its
arrival in London. We all wondered how it could be condensed into a two hour
show. Two girls had travelled all the way from Belgium, especially to see 'Death
Note' which is only at The Palladium for two nights. But don’t fret you might be
lucky enough to catch it just down the road at The Lyric Theatre for a short
run.
I must admit that I did not know much about the story
beforehand apart from some quick research. But this didn’t matter too much, as
the show made complete sense. This is the first time it has been performed in
London and in the English language, previously being staged in Japan, Korea and
Moscow. This creative performance by all
the characters is phenomenal, confirmed by a very loud standing ovation. The
outstanding music score has been composed by Frank Wildhorn with lyrics by Jack
Murphy. I loved every single song, and I loved the voices who had been cast so
perfectly. 'Death Note' has a large cast who were all fantastic but I’m sure that
we are going to see a lot more of the main characters. Joaquin Pedro Valdes
plays the character Light – our hero/anti-hero. Valdes hails from the
Philippines where he was originally in the boyband 17:28, with his charm, good
looks and amazing voice it is easy to see why he was a success and will no
doubt have a larger following in the UK after this performance. Dean John
Wilson as L/ Detective L and plays his character just as the image in the book. He
has a swagger and confidence to match his antithesis Light, and an equally
outstanding voice. He already has an excellent back catalogue of shows. Frances
Mayli McCann already has many West End credits to her name and today wowed the
audience with her Manga looking portrayal of Misa. Her voice was powerful, fun
and really apt for the part of the cute pop star that falls in love with Light.
The two Shinigami Characters on the stage are mesmerising both for their
costumes, stage presence and vocal range. These Shinigami are the reason that
Death Note falls into the hands of Light and Misa. Ryuk is portrayed by Adam
Pascal in a raven-like way; the way he turns his head and his stance with the
black feathers of his costume really make him appear bird-like and his actions
meant that I couldn’t keep my eyes off him. Aimie Atkinson is almost
unrecognisable in her costume, and playing Rem the other Shinigami is in
complete opposition to her previous West End roles. She has an incredible voice
and it’s easy to understand how she has already been a winner of the BBC Radio
2 Voice Of Musical Theatre. With such a
talented cast this show can be nothing more than successful.
The set was static, but the different levels allowed
movement and context, the lighting was more concert based than your typical
stage lighting and the stage direction was excellent. My only criticism was
that on a few occasions the mics weren’t always audible, but this is a
technical issue that the crew can sort out for the next performance. After the
show, Manga fans told me that the ending had been altered for this musical in
comparison to the original book series but that had not made much difference to
the appeal.
This is such a whirlwind of a show that I would recommend
this to anyone with a love of musicals. A lot of the music is pop and would
appeal to most ages, although some of the themes of 'Death Note' are not
appropriate to a younger audience as it obviously touches on death, murder, and
suicide. Also, be aware if you are likely to be offended or upset by these
topics. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would really like to see it again. I hope
it gets a longer run somewhere after The Lyric as audiences across the country
will flock to it. There will also be a change to some of the cast at the Lyric,
but I am sure that this will not detract from the amazing show that it is.
Reviewer - Penny Curran
on - 21.8.23
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