London’s West End goes otaku with the European premiere of this new manga-based musical. Guillermo Nazara shares his views on the show, to let us know if its killer storyline actually took his breath away.
What would you do if you could decide upon who lives and who dies? It may sound crazy, but we’ve all been there some way or another. How many times have you wished for someone to disappear? Or how many times you think someone’s wished that on you? I should know – I write reviews for a living… The dark glitz of poetic justice has landed in the West End this week – and it’s not that some nasty producer is finally getting what they had coming… yet. Worldwide manga sensation Death Note has made its European debut under the spotlight, in a newly staged concert featuring a reduced version of the piece and a few familiar faces in the wings.
The choice is no surprise, though. The slashing pages of the graphic novel are splattered with passion, obsession, romance and, ultimately, an ongoing battle between good and evil. Elements that, all in all, constitute the perfect ground for a nice plot – and subsequently, a nice musical. With a score penned by composer Frank Wildhorn, the show features a lengthy list of highly hummable tunes, with a style drawing inspiration from 80s American songwriting icons such as Jim Steinman or even Heart.
A much enjoyable repertoire from start to finish, the fact that the piece has been cut down poses, however, a significant problem for its narrative – as the absence of more elaborate dialogues makes the scenes seem too rushed and sometimes even underdeveloped. There’s a point in saying that the focus of this gig was just the songs, but even in those cases there needs to be attention to pacing – especially, when there is a story to be told. On the other hand, the linear take that the plot is given makes you wonder if there could have been another way of structuring the whole thing – as lead character Misa’s first solo looks more like the right option to open the musical and establishing the relationship (yet to come) of the two protagonists.
Bringing out the bleak allure of its vignettes through Justin Williams’s sketchy-looking design and Ben Cracknell’s impressively atmospheric lighting, the highest points of the evening are nonetheless provided by Adam Pascal and Aimie Atkinson’s most fulfilling performances – both flaunting wonderful vocals and exuding infectious stamina (in particular, Pascal) in their acting. Unfortunately, this is not matched by the entire cast, as some of the renditions are still in need of more polishing before being ready for the stage – one, notably, sounding too out of tune.
Now on its way to a second limited West End run next month, Death Note still needs to jot down a few corrections before it’s finally fit to kill. With all of the rough ingredients already at its disposal, it’s just a matter of editing until the show finds the right pitch to explore its full potential. It’s powerful enough to become the new Tanz Der Vampire, but it still needs to add the final pieces to the castle so it can grow into blood and thunder. That’s the way its things are, but there’s a chance to change its world.
All pictures credit to Marc Senior.
Death Note will play at London’s Lyric Theatre from 7 to 10 September. Tickets are available on the following link.