Thoughts on Death Note: The Musical
The Autistic Sleuth is going to be released in just over two weeks! In anticipation, I’m going to provide some more reflections on some of these productions that go beyond their depictions of the detectives’ mental processes.
Most of the productions discussed in my book are original mysteries, but there are several adaptations of existing works. Of the various adaptations covered in The Autistic Sleuth, one adaptation is perhaps the most high-risk, and the least likely to work. The adaptation in question is Death Note: The Musical.
Despite the popularity of the manga and anime versions of Death Note, I had never heard of it until I saw The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror parody of it a few years ago. A few acquaintances of mine mentioned how much they liked the anime, so I watched it and was quickly hooked. The anime is brilliant (especially the first two-thirds), the trilogy of live-action movies is pretty good, the live-action television miniseries makes some significant changes and isn’t quite at the level of the aforementioned versions, but for the most part it’s entertaining. The less said about the live-action Netflix movie, the better.
But the stage musical adaptation is far and away the most hazardous undertaking of the franchise. How could the Death Note story be condensed into a couple of hours? What sort of music would fit the story? How could the narrative be brought to the stage without turning into a burlesque of the source material? Is there any way that a Death Note musical could be anything other than a very bad idea?
I listened to the English-language demo recording soundtrack and was surprised. Not only was the music pretty good, but given the pacing and details in the lyrics, I realized that it could actually work. Then I saw the Japanese-language filmed stage version with English subtitles… and was stunned. The creative team actually achieved the seemingly impossible and turned Death Note into a really good musical.
Looking over it, I’d say that the adaptation is 95% really strong. With successful productions in Asia, and a staged concert recently debuting in London, it seems like an English-language adaptation could be coming soon to America. I have tremendous respect for what the creative team has done. It’s a terrific show right now, but if a few issues were addressed, the result could be a masterpiece.
(MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW)
To summarize the narrative as quickly as possible, a teenager named Light Yagami obtains a magical book called the Death Note that can kill if someone writes someone’s name in it while thinking of that person’s face. The book is provided by Ryuk, a Shinigami– a supernatural being that survives off the deaths of humans. Light begins killing off criminals under the persona “Kira,” and soon gains the attention of L, a reclusive genius detective. Light and L soon begin a game of wits, Light trying to learn L’s true name and kill him, L trying to prove Light is a killer and bring him to justice.
The original anime, which closely follows the manga, runs for thirty-seven episodes, each just under half an hour. Wisely, the musical cuts out the last third of the original story, save for the climactic scene. The greatest part of Death Note is the interplay between Light and L, and the musical wisely focuses on their dynamic. Amazingly, after pruning away dozens of subplots or condensing into a single line of dialogue, the result is a fast-moving narrative that keeps almost everything necessary and creates a cohesive story. It’s terrific work, but there’s one problem for me. It’s the ending. The denouement doesn’t quite work. The creative team came so close to sticking the landing. And here’s how I think it could be fixed.
A primary problem is how at the end, the musical tries to push a nihilistic message.
Ryuk comments that in the end, no one won. But is that the true moral of Death Note? I don’t think so. One of the reason why Death Note has such resonance is that fans can debate the production. Who was right? Who was wrong? Are the actions certain characters, like L, take justified? It’s the debate that makes the moral questions of Death Note more interesting. The question “What is justice?” has to be asked with no answer directly provided.
Another problem is that so much potential character development is lost. My favorite characters in Death Note are L, Light’s father Sochiro, and Naomi Misora. I totally understand why Naomi has been cut from the production. However, I feel like a massive opportunity is missing for Sochiro Yagami. Sochiro has a couple of songs where he sings about his moral uprightness, and explains why one cannot compromise one’s principles. I’ll get back to this point shortly. Also, Light’s sister Sayu has a small role, and even gets a song, but her role in the plot is tangential. At best, she’s the personification of innocence and forgiveness, and stands in contrast with her increasingly corrupt brother. But she could do so much more to advance the characterization of her family members.
Next, the ending scene, which reworks the manga/anime’s ending to have Light, L, and Ryuk alone in a warehouse, is largely a defeat for L. L falls under the spell of the Death Note’s inescapable magic, and though he keeps his dignity (while a few minutes later, Light doesn’t), the battle between Light and L really ends with Light’s triumph. But wouldn’t it mean more if L was able to go out fighting, even though he was being controlled by the power of the Death Note?
Finally, in the musical, no one ever finds out that Light was Kira, and Ryuk kills Light simply because he’s bored. But does that work? The show makes it clear that a shinigami who uses a Death Note to save humans will die. And Light plans to kill thousands of additional people. By killing Light, Ryuk is saving all those people, so Ryuk should be crumbling to sand at the end, unless I’m missing something about the shinigami having to care about the people being saved. In the other adaptations, Ryuk isn’t saving anybody by killing Light because Light has been exposed, and he won’t be able to kill anyone else. It’s a different matter entirely.
Here are my ideas for fixing these issues. L’s assistant and mentor, Watari, has been cut from the musical. Bring him back, but he doesn’t need lines for most of the show. Just have him come in and silently bring L sweets from time to time. Watari will be important in the climax. Second, for some reason, Sayu is about to walk into the warehouse right before the final confrontation between L and Light. Just like in the anime, Light shows that he’s become irredeemable because he’s prepared to kill his sister to prevent her from interrupting his plans. Fortunately, she leaves in the nick of time, and Light doesn’t harm her. This shows how Light has lost his soul. Let the final confrontation play out just as it currently exists, but right before L is magically forced to shoot himself, he calls out, “Watari, did you get that?” L has wired himself to record the conversation, and he has captured Light’s confession on tape. Light didn’t think to prevent L from doing anything like set up a recording. Watari confirms this from a safe distance over some sort of electronic device. L dies with his dignity intact, and Light is exposed, and he can’t kill Watari because he doesn’t know Watari’s real name. Ryuk knows that Light’s going to be revealed to the world as a killer, and the shinigami kills him because of this, and the contradiction thatt Ryuk ought to die after saving human lives is gone.
After both L and Light die, Watari has a brief scene with Sochiro. Watari explains that Light was Kira, and gives Sochiro the recording with Light’s confession. Watari says that Sochiro can use his own best judgment on what to do with the recording. Now the upright Sochiro is in a moral quandry. Does he reveal the truth to the world, potentially destroying his own career and devastating his only surviving child? Or does he keep the truth quiet, and become a hypocrite to his loudly sung beliefs, mostly out of his love for his daughter? I would raise these questions, but I wouldn’t answer them. Leave the audience wondering what Sochiro does. This would not only deepen Sochiro’s character arc and justify Sayu’s presence in the narrative further, but it would also leave the audience asking more questions.
Just by changing Ryuk’s line to, “Did anybody win at the end? I don’t know. I don’t understand humans,” or something like that, added with some changed lyrics in the final song to raise the questions that permeate the manga’s ending, asking whether the world is better with or without the Death Note, and just what is justice anyway, would leave audiences arguing the points amongst themselves, and that’s the sort of complexity that makes creative work stick in people’s minds. Because Death Note shouldn’t argue that nothing matters. It should get people asking ethical questions. Indeed, a quick hint that L has a trained successor out there prepared to keep solving crimes, would change the ending tone to something more than a funeral dirge. It wouldn’t just be an ending where there’s no point to anything. It’d be a new beginning.
Those are my thoughts on Death Note: The Musical. I’d be interested to hear what others think.
–Chris Chan
Chris Chan’s book The Autistic Sleuth, written with the professional guidance of his mother Dr. Patricia Meyer Chan, will be released on September 19th! He is the author of the Funderburke and Kaiming novels Ghosting My Friend and She Ruined Our Lives, released by Level Best Books. He is also the author of the comedic novels Sherlock’s Secretaryand Nessie’s Nemesis, published by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2. His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books. His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there). It is also available in a Kindle edition.
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