Death Note: The Musical/2022 South Korea

A Korean-language production run of Death Note: The Musical (뮤지컬 데스노트) opened on April 1, 2022, in South Korea at the Chungmu Art Center. It was initially scheduled to run until June 26, 2022, which was its last date at the Chungmu Art Center. After selling out every performance, the production was extended through August 14 and relocated to the opera theater of the Seoul Arts Center beginning July 1, 2022. The production was first announced on November 22, 2021, and rehearsals began on January 26, 2022.

On February 5, 2023, an encore performance was announced with the cast returning. The production will open on April 1, 2023 at the Charlotte Theatre in Seoul, and it will run through June 18, 2023.

It is the third Korean-language production of the musical, after the 2015 and the 2017 South Korea productions, and the sixth production overall. It is the first production of the musical by OD Company, rather than by CJeS Culture which produced the previous South Korean performances.

This run of Death Note: The Musical is "a Non Replica version, meaning that the performances and costumes have been redesigned and redirected instead of reusing sets and props from previous productions."

Cast
The main cast were announced on January 24, 2022. Most of the cast are new for this production; returning cast includes Hong Kwang-Ho as Light, Kim Junsu as L, and Kang Hong-Seok as Ryuk. The ensemble and swing cast were announced on February 6, 2022.

This run of the musical has double-cast the five main characters, which is the first production of the musical to do so.

Awards
The 2022 production of Death Note: The Musical was nominated in 12 categories for the 7th Korea Musical Awards held on January 16, 2023. It won four awards: Death Note won Best Production over 400 seats, Kang Hong-Seok won Best Supporting Actor for his role as Ryuk, Kim Dong-yeon won Best Directing for the production, and Oh Pil-young won Best Stage Art for the production.

First character poster set
The first character poster set was released on January 24, 2022, when the main cast were first announced.

Second character poster set
The second character poster set was released on February 6, 2022.

Cast countdown images
Ten days before the open on April 1, 2022, promotional images began to be released daily. These images feature a message and signature from a main cast member, and a countdown to how many days left.

Korea Musical Awards images
OD Company released several images in celebration of their wins for the 7th Korea Musical Awards.

Video interviews
The main cast did short video interviews that were released on February 15, 2022.

Additional interviews with other cast were release later:

Character motion posters
A series of "motion poster" videos were released for the main characters. These are essentially poster-styled videos of just a few seconds each.

Trivia

 * Minor plot elements and changes added to this production:
 * KMusical 2015 vs 2022.jpgg We All Need a Hero, Light uses a handkerchief to cover Sayu's seat when the two of them sit on a bench. Interestingly, the same handkerchief is used to dress his gunshot wound after L shoots him following The Way It Ends.
 * Several scenes are extended, primarily to add comic relief, such as an extended scene of Ryuk first appearing to Light during a thunderstorm (as a nod to Ryuk's introduction in the anime) and Light accidently sitting on Ryuk or Light scaring L after L shoots him.
 * Following the first reprise of Death Note, Light initially reacts in horror and screams after he kills Haley Belle and the other FBI agents (as opposed to laughing manically in the 2015 version), demonstrating a rare moment of internal conflict before reclaiming his resolve as he sings the reprise of Where is the Justice.
 * When Soichiro finds Light's body after Ryuk kills him, Soichiro finds a pen nearby, but because he does not know about the Death Note in this continuity, he is left confused as to why the pen is there.