Go into rehearsals for the Death Note musical

WhatsOnStage had exclusive access to rehearsals for the European premiere of the Death Note musical.

The winner of Best Musical at the Korea Musical Awards, Death Note features a score by Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll and Hyde, Dracula and Bonnie and Clyde) with lyrics by Jack Murphy and a book by Ivan Menchell.

Nick Winston directs and choreographs the piece, which is produced by Carter Dixon McGill Productions, Indie Theatrical and HoriPro., with Pinnacle Productions, Greg A DeLuca and Wild Yak Productions as associate producers.

Based on the best-selling Japanese manga series of the same name by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata / Shueisha, Death Note follows the story of Light Yagami, a dissatisfied high school student in Tokyo who discovers a discarded notebook owned by Ryuk, a god of death. Light realises that he can kill anyone by writing their names in the notebook, leading him to take justice into his own hands by targeting wanted criminals. However, his actions catch the attention of the enigmatic detective known only as ‘L,’ who starts tracking him down.

The cast for the Palladium run includes Frances Mayli McCann (Bonnie and Clyde) as Misa, Joaquin Pedro Valdes (The Lion King) as Light, Dean John-Wilson (The King and I) as L, Tony Award nominee Adam Pascal (RENT) as Ryuk, Aimie Atkinson (Pretty Woman) as Rem, Rachel Clare Chan (a recent graduate from the Royal Academy of Music) as Sayu and Christian Ray Marbella (Miss Saigon) as Soichiro. Further cast members are to be announced for the Lyric performances.

The Death Note ensemble includes Felipe Bejarano, Charlotte Coggin, Jade Copas, Eu Jin Hwang, Yojiro Ichikawa, Deena Kapadia, David Kar-Hing Lee, Nick Len, Jasmine Leung, Jojo Meredith, Marcel Li-Ping, and Janine Somcio.

The creative team includes associate director and choreographer Alexzandra Sarmiento, costume designer Kimie Nakano, musical supervisor Katy Richardson, musical director Chris Ma, orchestrator Jason Howland, designer Justin Williams, lighting designer Ben Cracknell, sound designer Ben Harrison, and casting director Harry Blumenau. The artwork for the production is created by Rebecca Pitt Creative.

Death Note The Musical in Concert will be staged at the London Palladium on 21 and 22 August, before transferring to the Lyric Theatre from 7 to 10 September.

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