Death Note: The Musical

Death Note: The Musical is a stage production based on the Death Note manga series.

The musical was originally written in English and translated into Japanese and Korean for their respective productions performed in 2015.

In 2014, there was an English-language workshop in New York for the musical, and in early 2015, some of the English versions of the songs were released online, leading to rumors of an English performance. However, no English performance is currently planned.

Development and pre-production
HoriPro is the Japanese production company behind the musical, who were previously part of the Death Note live action films. Their production team notably included Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn, who composed the music; Jack Murphy, who wrote the lyrics; and Ivan Menchell, who wrote the script. Wildhorn was unfamiliar with Death Note when HoriPro approached him, and he took on the project when his son told him to do it because "it would be the coolest thing [he'd] ever done." The musical was written in English and later translated into Japanese and Korean.

On April 14 2014, a closed English-language workshop was held in New York as a presentation for the Japanese and Korean producers.

Beginning in January 2015, some of the English-language demo songs were released online, likely to generate buzz leading up to the Tokyo production opening. In total, eight songs were released: Playing His Game, Only Human, When Love Comes, Only Love You More, The Name Is Kira, Stalemate, Honor Bound, and Where is the Justice. The songs were recorded by a New York demo cast different from the workshop cast, with the exception of Adrienne Warren who played Misa for both.

Act 1
In class, high school student Light Yagami expresses his frustration with the justice system. Meanwhile, in the Shinigami realm, Ryuk is telling Rem how bored he is, and he drops his Death Note into the human world. Light finds the Death Note and jokingly writes the name of a criminal, singing to the Death Note to grant him the power of justice. When the criminal dies, Light is initially horrified but resolves to use the Death Note for justice. As criminals continue to die, Soichiro Yagami hears about the deaths and the investigation begins. He decides they'll need to bring on L.

Ryuk meets up with Light. Light's sister Sayu Yagami asks Light to come to a Misa Amane concert with her, and the two of them plus Ryuk go. Misa begins her concert by thanking her beloved hero Kira. After the concert, Sayu says she didn't like that part and says Kira should be more like her brother.

Back home, Light sees a broadcast from Lind L. Tailor who challenges Kira. Light kills him with the Death Note, but L reveals that he's gained valuable information about Kira. Later, Soichiro and Light talk about what L did, and Soichiro feels that L went too far by sacrificing a man's life.

The arrival of the FBI agents is broadcast on television, and Light's able to find information on one online. He confronts FBI agent Haley Belle at Shinjuku Station. As written in the Death Note, Belle writes the names of the other FBI agents and commits suicide by jumping in front of a train. Later, the task force members are given the option to resign, and one does so.

Light and ensemble begin singing "Where is the Justice reprise," in which it becomes clear that the public believes Kira is justice. L expresses his disagreement, proclaiming that Kira is just a "crazy mass-murderer" and that he himself is justice instead. The song and Act 1 end with Misa running out onto the stage, looking behind her as though she had been chased, and finding another Death Note.

There is an intermission between acts 1 and 2.

Music
The music was composed by Frank Wildhorn with lyrics by Jack Murphy.

Table key:
 * Titles marked with a single asterisk * are from the original English demo titles.
 * Titles marked with double asterisk ** are translated from Japanese titles.
 * The track numbers and the Japanese titles are from the official Japanese soundtracks. Not all of the songs (notably the multiple reprises) were released on the soundtracks, so some do not have track numbers.

For the English-to-Japanese translation, several of the titles were not translated literally. Many of the lyrics were changed as well. For instance, the Japanese version Yatsu no Naka he (ヤツの中へ, Inside of Him) has very different lyrics from the original Playing His Game.

Japan
The musical ran at the Nissay Theatre in Tokyo, Japan from April 6, 2015 to April 29, 2015. It was directed by Tamiya Kuriyama, who also directed the Korean production.


 * Light Yagami - Kenji Urai (浦井健治) and Hayato Kakizawa (柿澤勇人) (double-cast)
 * L - Teppei Koike (小池徹平)
 * Misa Amane - Fuka Yuzuki (唯月ふうか)
 * Soichiro Yagami - Takeshi Kaga (鹿賀丈史)
 * Ryuk - Kohtaloh Yoshida (吉田鋼太郎)
 * Rem - Megumi Hamada (濱田めぐみ)
 * Sayu Yagami - Ami Maeshima (前島亜美) (SUPER☆GiRLS)

Two CDs of the songs performed, one featuring Kenji Urai performing as Light and the other featuring Hayato Kakizawa performing as Light, were released July 2015.

Two of the live performances were recorded to air on TV in Japan. The first, with Kenji Urai as Light, aired on October 17th, 2015. The second, with Hayato Kakizawa as Light, aired on November 7th, 2015.

Clips:
 * Digest Video - clips of various parts of the performance
 * Rehearsal clips with a related news article
 * Production Announcement - Kenji Urai and Hayato Kakizawa, early preview of the song "Death Note"
 * Misa (1) - Interview with Fuka Yuzuki (Misa) and performance clip (1)
 * Misa (2) - Interview with Fuka Yuzuki (Misa) and performance clip (2)
 * Cast Photoshoot
 * Commercial released Nov 12, 2014
 * Commercial released Apr 6, 2015

South Korea
The Korean-language musical ran in Seoul, South Korea from June 11, 2015, to August 11, 2015. The Korean version was translated from the Japanese version, rather than from the original English version, and includes the lyric changes to songs made in the Japanese translation. The Korean production was directed by Tamiya Kuriyama, who also directed the Japanese production.


 * Light Yagami - Hong Kwang-ho (홍광호)
 * L - Kim Junsu (김준수)
 * Misa Amane - Jeong Sun-Ah (정선아)
 * Ryuk - Kang Hong-Suk
 * Rem - Park Hye-Na
 * Sayu - Lee Su-bin

Clips:
 * Performance Highlights
 * Death Note performed by Hong Kwang-ho (Light)
 * The Game Begins performed by Kim Junsu (L)
 * I'll Only Love You More performed by Jeong Sun-Ah (Misa)
 * Showcase numbers highlight
 * Preview - set to the English-language version of "Where is the Justice"

America
The songs were originally composed in English, and they were demoed by a New York cast in December 2014: Eight of the demo songs were released online in 2015. There have been rumors since 2014 of a Broadway production, but no production has been announced.
 * Light Yagami - Jeremy Jordan
 * L - Jarrod Spector
 * Misa Amane - Adrienne Warren
 * Soichiro Yagami - Michael Lanning
 * Ryuk - Eric Anderson
 * Rem - Carrie Manolakos

Possible future productions
According to HoriPro CEO Yoshitaka Hori, Death Note: The Musical could have future productions in other countries, as HoriPro is interested in licensing production rights. France was one of the countries mentioned that was interested in putting on a production. It could take 5-10 years for another production to get going due to preparation time.