DEATH NOTE: THE MUSICAL today announces the full company for its much-anticipated reimagined London production, opening at the Barbican Theatre for a strictly limited six-week season this July. Tickets are on sale now at DeathNoteTheMusical.com
Death Note: The Musical
Joining the previously announced Xander Pang and Colin Ryan, is a spectacular company of exceptionally talented performers including Stephanie Zaharis as Misa Amane, Telly Leung as Ryuk, Grace Mouat as Rem, Paolo Montalban as Soichiro Yagami, Chloe Saracco as Jerasu, and Elsie Buckley as Sayu.
The ensemble is made up of CJ Benoiton, Louise Liluna Browning, Aoife Haakenson, Samantha Ho, Katie Ka Lay Ho, Olivia Hazel Jones, Matthew Koon, Abel Law, Luchia Moss, Patrick Munday, Richie Paisley, Regine Phua, Nicky Wong Rush and Ernest Stroud. The company is completed by Nicole Carlisle, Renz Cardenas and David Ouch who are Swings and Sian Yeo as Swing / Dance Captain.
Mr Hori – Chairman of HoriPro Group said: “When we first brought Death Note to the stage ten years ago, we could only dream of the incredible international performers who would one day take on these roles. I am absolutely thrilled by the exceptional company we have assembled for this new London production. Combined with our visionary creative team, they are ready to create something truly unforgettable.”
Sir Howard Panter – Joint CEO and Creative Director of Trafalgar Entertainment said: “With this announcement, we complete a truly outstanding company for DEATH NOTE: THE MUSICAL. We have assembled a spectacular group of performers whose talent, energy and passion will bring this thrilling new production to life. Their brilliance and imagination will make this reimagined production something very special indeed, and we look forward to welcoming audiences to the Barbican this summer.”
The worldwide phenomenon DEATH NOTE: THE MUSICAL, based on the globally bestselling manga created by writer Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata, comes to the Barbican Theatre this summer in a newly reimagined musical production, featuring a revised script and newly written songs alongside the original acclaimed score by Frank Wildhorn, with lyrics by Jack Murphy and a book by Ivan Menchell. Following ten years of acclaimed sold-out productions across Asia and record-breaking concerts at the London Palladium, this much-anticipated reimagined production will open on 30 July for a limited six-week season.
Barbican Centre
DEATH NOTE: THE MUSICAL tells the story of Light Yagami, played by Xander Pang, an exceptionally gifted high school student who one day discovers a mysterious notebook bearing a chilling rule: “Any human whose name is written in this notebook will die in 40 seconds.” The notebook, known as the Death Note, has been dropped into the human world out of boredom by the Shinigami Ryuk. Disillusioned by a justice system he believes fails to punish criminals, Light tests the notebook’s power triggering the sudden death of a criminal live on television.
Convinced he has been chosen to become the “god of a new world,” Light begins using the Death Note to eliminate criminals across the globe. As unexplained deaths mount, the public coins the name “Kira” for the unseen killer, with supporters praising his actions as crime rates plummet. With no physical evidence to follow, the authorities turn to the enigmatic master detective L, played by Colin Ryan, setting the stage for a gripping psychological battle between two brilliant minds.
One of the world’s most successful manga titles, Death Note, first published in Japan in 2003, has sold over 30 million copies worldwide and grown into a global cultural phenomenon spanning feature animation, video games, novels, films, television adaptations, and an acclaimed Netflix series, including a blockbuster two-part live-action film adaptation released in 2006. Originally produced by HoriPro in 2015 with the authorization of the original creators, the musical adaptation has since enjoyed acclaimed productions across Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan over the past decade. Death Note was last seen in London at the Palladium in 2023 for a series of sold-out record-breaking concerts. Now the evolution of this internationally celebrated story continues on the London stage. Rooted in the acclaimed original, this reimagining for the West End (and a planned Broadway run) is the definitive theatrical incarnation of this unique story.
Based on the internationally best-selling Japanese manga of the same name by Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata and Shueisha, this award-winning musical (Best Musical, Korea Musical Awards) features a score by Tony and Grammy Award winning composer Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, Bonnie & Clyde and the Whitney Houston hit “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”) and lyrics by Tony-Award nominated Jack Murphy, additional lyrics by Morgan Reilly and book by Emmy-nominated Ivan Menchell.
Alongside Wildhorn, this new production brings together an acclaimed creative team behind some of the West End’s biggest hits, including director Stephen Whitson (Hamilton UK and Moulin Rouge! UK), Emmy-nominated designer Jon Bausor (Spirited Away, Bat Out of Hell) and choreography by Olivier Award nominated Fabian Aloise (Evita at the London Palladium and Sunset Boulevard at The Savoy) alongside Jason Howland as orchestration and arranger. Together, this creative team will bring scale, theatrical power, and contemporary energy to the world of Death Note.
Death Note delivers a thrilling exploration of justice, power, and the price of playing God. The storytelling is clear, the stakes are human, and the drama is universal. Audiences are invited to witness the clash of minds and morals, where every choice is fatal, and nothing is written in stone. If you already know it, this is the definitive way to experience it. If you don’t… you should.
Creative Team
Stephen Whitson – Director
Fabian Aloise – Choreographer
Jon Bausor – Set Designer
Jason Howland – Musical Supervisor, Orchestrator and Arranger.
Morgan Reilly – Additional Lyrics
Katy Richardson – Musical Director
Billy Jay Stein / Strange Cranium – Music Producer
Casting Director – Natalie Gallacher CDG for Pippa Ailion and Natalie Gallacher Casting
US Casting – The Telsey Office, Craig Burns CSA
Sachiko Nakahara – Costume Designer
Jen Schriever – Lighting Designer
Peter Hylenski – Sound Designer
Akhila Krishnan – Video Designer
Paul Kieve – Illusions
Campbell Young Associates – Wigs, Hair and Make-Up Designer
Death Note: the Musical is produced in London by HoriPro and Trafalgar Theatre Productions, co-produced by Pinnacle Productions, in association with the Barbican.
Website: DeathNoteTheMusical.com
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About HoriPro
Founded in Tokyo in 1960, HoriPro Inc. is one of Japan’s leading entertainment companies, working across talent management, music, film and television production, and live theatrical entertainment. Led by the founder’s son, Chairman Yoshitaka Hori OBE, HoriPro has played a central role in Japan’s entertainment industry for more than six decades.
The company operates a broad range of businesses throughout the entertainment world, including a full-service talent agency, music production across all major genres, film and television production activities, and the production and presentation of high-quality musical and theatrical productions, ranging from internationally acclaimed titles to original works.
HoriPro’s Live Entertainment Division collaborates with internationally renowned directors and creatives including Jonathan Kent, Gregory Doran, Maria Friedman and the late Yukio Ninagawa, alongside leading producers of globally successful plays and musicals. Its productions range from classic repertoire to new works, and include major Broadway and West End titles such as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Billy Elliot, Come From Away, Mary Poppins, Love Never Dies and School of Rock.
In the UK, HoriPro and Thelma Holt have enjoyed a decades-long partnership, collaborating with the Royal Shakespeare Company on numerous acclaimed Shakespeare productions at venues including the Barbican and the National Theatre. Over the past 20 years, HoriPro has also presented Matthew Bourne and New Adventures’ productions throughout Japan.
HoriPro continues to produce and present globally recognised theatrical works in Japan and internationally. Recent productions include the acclaimed stage adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s internationally bestselling novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, scheduled to tour Singapore, London, Paris and Seoul in 2026–2027, as well as Death Note: The Musical, originally produced by HoriPro in 2015 with the authorization of the original creators and since performed across Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, alongside sold-out record-breaking concerts at the London Palladium in 2023.
About Trafalgar Theatre Productions
Founded by Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire in 2017, Trafalgar Entertainment is an award-winning global live-entertainment business focussed on new productions, venue operations, live music and comedy, events and hospitality, Performing Arts education, ticketing, the distribution and filming of event cinema and TV live-streaming innovative content (from David Tennant in Macbeth to Taylor Swift) and the provision of great spaces where people can come together to share in the experience of live entertainment. Trafalgar Entertainment is home to Trafalgar Theatres (with 21 venues in London, Sydney, and across the UK), Trafalgar Theatre Productions, Trafalgar Releasing (distributors of specialised content to over 13,000 cinemas, television and other broadcast platforms in more than 132 countries worldwide, with content ranging from Beyoncé to the Royal Opera House), Stagecoach Performing Arts, Drama Kids, Trafalgar Tickets, London Theatre Direct (one of the UK’s leading ticket retailers and distributors), Stagedoor, Jonathan Church Theatre Productions and Imagine Theatre (one of the UK’s biggest pantomime and family entertainment producers with 21 pantomimes in 2024/25).
The production arm of TE, Trafalgar Theatre Productions, produces new shows and classic musicals in London and internationally. In 2026, Trafalgar Productions’ summer season at London’s Barbican Theatre will kick-off with a lavish and much-anticipated new production of Cole Porter’s musical masterpiece High Society starring national treasures Helen George and Felicity Kendal, followed by a major UK Tour. Other major productions in 2026 include a gripping pre-West End adaptation of one of the greatest crime novels of the 20th Century, Double Indemnity, starring Hollywood icon, Mischa Barton, and the acclaimed hit new musical The Ballad of Johnny & June which makes its dazzling debut this side of the Atlantic in 2026 with a major UK Tour.
At the Barbican Centre, Trafalgar also produced the sold-out transfer of the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s Fiddler on the Roof (followed by a major UK Tour), the acclaimed Tony Award-winning production of Good Night, Oscar starring the Emmy and Tony Award-winner Sean Hayes, one of the all-time classic musical comedies, Kiss Me Kate, starring the multi-award-winning Adrian Dunbar and Broadway Tony Award winner Stephanie J. Block, The National Theatre’s co-production of Michael R. Jackson’s critically acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize and multi award-winning A Strange Loop, and major revivals of the award-winning classic musical Anything Goes in the summers of 2021 and 2022, starring Sutton Foster, Robert Lindsay, Felicity Kendal and Gary Wilmot.
Trafalgar produced The Lincoln Center’s award-winning production of The King and I in London and worldwide, The Merchant of Venice 1936 starring Tracy-Ann Oberman in partnership with the RSC (London and UK Tour), The Duchess (Of Malfi) starring Jodie Whittaker in London, the new musical comedy Clueless based on the Paramount Pictures classic film, the Tony and Olivier award-winning smash hit musical Jersey Boys, which opened the renovated Trafalgar Theatre in London alongside UK-wide Tours, and the tenth anniversary UK & Ireland tour of the acclaimed National Theatre production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. World Tours of The Rocky Horror Show continue to delight audiences with numerous engagements in Australia, the UK, and Europe, and in 2026, the show opens on Broadway.
Trafalgar also co-produced Broadway’s favourite multi award-winning musical, Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill which opened at Trafalgar’s Theatre Royal Sydney in December 2021, and became the first major international production of it to open in Australia straight from Broadway without a West End season, War Horse with The National Theatre in Australia and Asia-Pacific and The Lehman Trilogy in London and Sydney.
In the West End, previous productions have included On Blueberry Hill, The National Theatre’s A Taste of Honey starring Jodie Prenger, Peter Nichols’ A Day in the Death of Joe Egg starring Toby Stephens, Claire Skinner and Patricia Hodge, Equus by Peter Shaffer, the hit comedy Education, Education, Education, the acclaimed award-winning play Admissions starring Alex Kingston, new British musical Tom Morris’ The Grinning Man, Apologia starring Stockard Channing and Killer Joe starring Orlando Bloom. Other co-productions have included the two sell-out ground-breaking productions: the Bush Theatre’s Misty and National Theatre’s Nine Night.
Co-productions include Good starring David Tennant, Death of a Salesman, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Starry Messenger starring Matthew Broderick and Elizabeth McGovern at Wyndham’s Theatre, Mary Stuart starring Juliet Stevenson and Lia Williams at the Duke of York’s, and London season of The Messiah starring Hugh Dennis and The Height of The Storm at Wyndham’s Theatre starring Jonathan Pryce and Dame Eileen Atkins.
About the Barbican
The Barbican is a catalyst for creativity, sparking possibilities for artists, audiences, and communities. We showcase the most exciting art from around the world, pushing traditional artistic boundaries to entertain and inspire millions of people, create connections, provoke debate, and reflect the world we live in.
We are an international arts and events centre rooted firmly in our own neighbourhood, collaborating with local communities and putting the City of London on the map as a destination for everybody. Central to our purpose is supporting emerging talent and shaping opportunities that will accelerate the next generation of creatives.
As a not-for-profit, we rely on the generosity of individuals and organisations, including our principal funder the City of London Corporation. Every ticket purchased, donation made, and pound earned supports our arts and learning programme and enables the widest possible range of people to experience the joy of the arts.
Opened in 1982, the Barbican is a unique and audacious building, recognised globally as an architectural icon. As well as our theatres, galleries, concert halls and cinemas, we have a large conservatory with over 1,500 species of plants and trees, a library, conference facilities, public and community spaces, restaurants, bars, and a picturesque lakeside oasis.
We’re proud to be the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, our Resident Orchestra, and a London base for the Royal Shakespeare Company. We regularly co-commission, produce and showcase the work of our Artistic Associates the Academy of Ancient Music, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Boy Blue, Darbar Arts, Culture and Heritage Trust, and Serious, who produce the EFG London Jazz Festival, alongside other associates and partners including Doc’n Roll Film Festival, London Palestine Film Festival, and Trafalgar Theatre Productions.
