History Theatre / DeathNoteTheMusical

* FakeMixedRace: Although obviously for budget reasons, L is portrayed by Asian actors in the Japanese and Korean versions even though Obata (the creator of Death Note) has said that L is a quarter British, a quarter Japanese, a quarter Russian and maybe a quarter French or Italian.

!!''Death Note: The Musical'' provided exampled of:

* GratuitousEnglish: In the Japanese and Korean versions, the lines "I'm ready, yes I'm ready" in "Ready for Love" are sung in English.

* AdaptedOut: Several characters that appear in the first arc, namely Watari, Touta Matsuda, and Naomi Misora, are not present in the show.

* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Rem doesn't understand what love is, or why humans are so willing to do stupid, self-destructive things in the name of it. Misa helps her understand.

** "If I Could (Reprise)", sung by Soichiro's team of investigators. As more and more people die at Kira's hands, the men contemplate whether they should risk their own lives for the sake of the case, or if they should give up for the sake of their families. At the end, only one of them ends up throwing in the towel.

* {{Cliffhanger}}: At the end of Act 1, a second Death Note falls from the sky, and who's the first person to find it? ''Misa''.

* WhamShot: At the end, Misa appears and mournfully pours a handful of sand onto the stage. [[spoiler:It's Rem's remains]].

* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler:Misa and Soichiro]] do not die this time around.

** Soichiro [[spoiler:[[OutlivingOnesOffspring is still kicking]] when Light dies at the end, a la the live action movies.]] In the original Tokyo production, he's played by Takeshi Kaga, the same actor who played him in the original films.

* MythologyGag: When the investigators first encounter L, he asks them, "What are you looking at? Is it because I'm the only one with sweets?"

** In the Korean production, Light has black hair, while L becomes a brunette. Misa also sports red hair instead of blonde.

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: L is killed this way, though he [[FaceDeathWithDignity keeps a straight face during it all]] and simply tells Light that he hasn't won.]]

* LargeHam: Light can get pretty over-the-top during his more manic moments, but ''Ryuk'' is the one that takes the cake. '''"I'M BOOOOOOOOOOOOOORED!!!"'''

* TheSongBeforeTheStorm: "Where is the Justice? (Reprise)", which closes the first act. As Kira rises to power as his followers grow in numbers, L vows to hunt him down and bring him to justice once and for all. Meanwhile, Misa stumbles upon another Death Note...

* {{Cliffhanger}}: At the end of Act 1, a second Death Note falls from the sky, and who's the first person to find it? Misa.

** L also fares better here, and in the Korean production, he's played by K-pop star Kim Junsu.

In 2015, a stage musical based on the popular shōnen manga ''Manga/DeathNote'' opened exlusively in Japan and South Korea. The show is an adaptation of the manga's first arc, and the story remains more or the less the same. Tired of living in an "unjust" world where criminals continue to run rampant, high school student Light Yagami stumbles upon a black notebook, dropped into the human world by a {{Shinigami}} named Ryuk, that holds the ability to kill a person just by writing their name within its pages. Hoping to use this newfound power to purge the world of evil, Light goes on a massive killing spree under the alias "Kira", while the mysterious detective L sets off to stop the bloodshed and take Kira down once and for all.