By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN? Saturday 1 August, opens 11 August and runs through 12 September 2026.

It feels like musical theatre has never been more popular and yet we can’t help but also think that not everything’s ripe to see its characters burst into song.

• Read on for reasons including how this should have stuck to its Post-Its rather than its musical notes

Death Note is a popular Japanese manga series which tells the story of brilliant student Light Yagami who discovers a notebook with the power over life and death, allowing him to target villains he believes should die, prompting the interest of detective L keen to solve the case.

We’re big fans of TV series Dexter which saw its serial killer anti-hero deploy a similar logic and yet we never felt it needed to be in musical form to be realised fully.

There’s so much plot here that we don’t feel we should get into too much of it but there is a pop star which is perhaps how the idea for a J-Pop spin-off took flight in the wake of the success of brilliant Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters which has far catchier songs and a simpler central idea.

Xander Pang is likeable as Light but we felt he deserved more from the songs of Frank Wildhorn who was also behind the better Your Lie In April which closed early at the Harold Pinter Theatre in 2024.

A glance at the song titles may perhaps give you a clue that this is material that is taking itself perhaps more seriously than it deserves – Where Is The Justice?, There Are Lines, Mortals and Fools.

There’s clearly a market for this show which describes itself as ‘the legendary manga phenomenon reimagined for the London stage’ as is clear from the almost reverential preview audience which appears very happy with what’s been produced.

While we enjoy the Japanese setting, we’re not especially manga fans but any truly successful musical remake needs to extend beyond its origins – we’re thinking the recent musical version of film Pride – so its 1st incarnation is less influential or problematic.

The Barbican’s been the home of some great musicals in recent years – we’re thinking High Society already this summer and the almost unbeatable Anything Goes – and Death Note The Musical feels like a calculated risk which doesn’t quite work.

Wildhorn (who also penned Jekyll & Hyde) has produced better work and while we feel there’s an appetite for this it’s not a dish we’ll be returning to.

Unfortunately, Death Note didn’t convince us as a musical and perhaps should have stuck to its Post-Its rather than overreach for its musical notes.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Barbican and Death Note The Musical Tickets
• Have you seen Death Note The Musical before and what did you think of it? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
• Enjoyed this preview? Follow monstagigz on Twitter @NeilDurham, email neildurham3@gmail.com and check us out on Instagram and Facebook