Few Japanese stage productions have built the international following of “Death Note: The Musical.” Adapted from the blockbuster manga, which has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, the show is now preparing for its biggest overseas test yet with a six-month run at London’s Barbican Theatre.
Produced by HoriPro and with music by Frank Wildhorn, “Death Note: The Musical” premiered at Tokyo’s Nissay Theatre in 2015. The show sold out its initial run before expanding overseas, where it has proved especially popular in South Korea. Compared to the typically-shorter Japanese performance schedules, its most recent Seoul production ran continuously for nearly eight months.
Opening July 30, a new production of “Death Note: The Musical” is part of a broader push by Japanese theater producers to localize and expand beyond Asia and earn the kind of global recognition long enjoyed by British and American musicals.