The day after we saw Death Note: The Musical at the Barbican, my housemate Tem turned to me and asked, 'Do you want to go back and see it from the front row?'
And I did. I really, really did.
We went to the 20 August matinée and had a great time. Going from 'far enough to see all the choreography' to 'close enough to see all the expressions' was such an interesting contrast!
I'd heard that the stage was on the tall side, and I was a little worried that it would obscure what was going on, but it was absolutely fine! We couldn't always see everything that was happening in the shinigami realm, which was on a higher level above the main stage, but, to balance that, having the gods physically high up above us was pretty cool.
A couple of fun lines have been added since I last saw the show! The first comes when Soichiro comments to Light that trying to find Kira is taking up a lot of his time. Ryuk gestures to Light: 'He's right here.'
The second addition comes when L suggests that Kira is Soichiro's son. The task force accuse L of having a sick sense of humour. L's response is 'I don't have a sense of humour.'
I found myself liking Gelus a lot this time around! There's something endearing about their fascination with humans. At one point Gelus looked in my and Tem's direction and smiled. We are the best humans and you are correct to enjoy us.
I love Ryuk casually resting his feet in Light's lap. He has zero respect for Light's personal space, and it's incredible.
Very cool to be close enough to see Light's expressions when he falls for the Lind L Tailor trick! Sayu is in Light's room at the time, and she's horrified when Kira kills Tailor on live television. 'Light, I'm scared,' she says, and Light quickly assures her 'It's going to be okay' while remaining focused on the broadcast; the almost automatic way he says it makes me feel he's often reassured Sayu over the years. And then, when he realises he's been outsmarted, Light hits his desk, scaring poor Sayu more.
Colin Ryan remains incredible in the role of L. One thing that struck me, watching from the front row, is that he barely blinks at all; he keeps up that wide-eyed stare at all times. Impressive dedication, but I was worried about him! Sir, don't your eyes hurt?
Light trying to hide amongst the hooded ensemble dancers while L sings 'The Game Begins' is such a fun touch.
The choreography in 'Hurricane' is absolutely rad up close. The FBI agents caught up in the storm, terrified and helpless; Light calm, smug, enjoying his power as he takes them down almost effortlessly. My favourite performance of the show. Light is the worst and I love him.
Soichiro trying to comfort Sayu by hugging her at the end of the first act is very cute.
In the interval, I had a brief conversation with a fellow audience member in perhaps her sixties; she was curious about the musical's origins. 'It's such an incredible production,' she commented. I'm glad to see this musical winning over newcomers to the story!
There's so much intense staring between Light and L during 'Stalemate', and it is great. Surrounded by all these people, but focused solely on each other.
Being so close to the stage really meant we could see Rem having a feelings crisis during 'I'll Only Love You More'! Misa clasps Rem's arm at one point; you can see Rem's internal 'oh no oh no', and the way she keeps looking at her own arm after Misa lets go of it.
It's still outrageous that Misa never kills anyone. How does L reach the conclusion 'the second Kira doesn't need a name to kill' if there isn't someone out there killing people whose names haven't been reported? Why take the 'hey, I'm the second Kira' social media post seriously at all if there haven't been additional murders that don't fit the original Kira's MO?
Maybe Light would suspect there's something real to the 'second Kira' message on account of the shinigami mention, but to L, without any concrete reason to believe that a second Kira exists, I'd expect it to just look like attention-seeking. And, even if Light takes the message seriously, he's not going to reveal anything about himself to Misa if she hasn't been acting in support of Kira. You can't make Misa the perfect innocent; it creates multiple plot holes and is, moreover, less fun.
I love L pulling a gun on Soichiro when he tries to release Misa. The moment you realise that, for all L's detachment, he's still human and still terrified to die. Soichiro's response is great, too: just walking towards L until the gun is pressed against his chest, leading L to lower the gun and avert his gaze in shame.
There's something so haunting about seeing L walking amongst the dead during 'When Love Comes'. He's still alive. And yet he's already dead. Everything has been put in place for his death to happen; it's only a matter of time.
Light is absolutely buzzing during the warehouse scene. He's won. He can reveal himself, get right up close to L, taunt him, press himself against his back, ruffle his hair. There's nothing L can do to him any more; Light is just here to gloat.
(And also to get shot. I love Light going 'shit, my leg hurts' after L's death. Getting shot seemed like such a good idea at the time!)
There's actually an interesting similarity to the way Ryuk treats Light throughout and the way Light treats L once he knows he's won: touching and taunting, ignoring personal space, radiating amusement. Light's become a god in that final scene, or so he thinks, and L is nothing but entertainment to him now.
Being so close to the stage, you could really see L's silent horror in the final scene after he realised it was already over. And the contrast with Light, when he has his own realisation he's about to die a few minutes later. L is quietly terrified, knowing there's nothing he can do; Light begs and pleads and screams, empties the gun into Ryuk, tries to demonstrate his immortality by singing about his power, unable to truly believe he's about to die right up until it ends.
Death Note feels so well suited to the stage. At its heart, it's almost a Greek or Shakespearean tragedy, particularly with the musical's revised ending. I really hope it has a future in London beyond this short run.
On a final note, Ryuk's first appearance in the human world is impressively done: the lights in Light's room start to flicker, then go out for just an instant, and when they come back on Ryuk is standing on Light's bed. The first time I watched the show, I couldn't imagine how this was done! Light's bed was too far from the wings for Ryuk's actor to have run in during that brief blackout; how had Ryuk appeared?
Coming back to watch from the front row, one of my main thoughts was that perhaps I'd be able to solve this mystery at last. How does Ryuk appear on Light's bed during that second or two of darkness?
The answer is perhaps the best thing I could have hoped for: turns out Ryuk was already in Light's bed, hiding under the covers. I just caught a glimpse of him starting to emerge as the lights went out.
It's an impressive bit of stage trickery, but I like to believe that 'Ryuk was hiding in Light's bed to screw with him' is also canon. If the blackout hadn't happened, Light would have been very startled to discover Ryuk when he pulled back the covers to go to bed.