This summer, the Barbican is offering fans of Anime (a style of Japanese animation) and musical theatre a treat with the musical version of Death Note . With music by Frank Wildhorn, and lyrics by Jack Murphy the show has been in development since 2013 with it’s premier in Tokyo in 2015. It’s regularly played Seoul over the past ten years.

Being a musical theatre fan, with no experience of Anime I was surprised at the excitement in the theatre. As we enter the auditorium the Barbican’s impressive Iron/fire-curtain is down. A suitable indication, maybe, of the dangerous world we are about to enter where “Shinigami” or "gods of death" can strike down humans just by writing their name in the death book.

The designers have made great use of the Barbican space. They include a revolve, huge suspended walkways which allow the Gods to look down on the earth, and jauntily angled trucks which must have tested the skills and patience of the joinery team to the limits!

This is a big production: big sets, large cast, big philosophical ideas. For example, what if you could bring justice in the world by wiping out those who committed evil acts? It’s packed with songs from the mighty pen of Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll and Hyde, Bonnie and Clyde). To be honest, there are probably too many songs as each number seems to fight for the award of “this is the big number” without any of them quite reaching those dizzy, memorable, heights and a couple of them not having the quality of singer to sing them.

For detective aficionados there are some interesting comparisons between Detective L and Sherlock Holmes. Although it might be easier to describe L as more of a cross between Beetlejuice and the great detective of Baker Street! But for me the elements of “the death gods” an angry schoolboy, detectives, and pop star just don’t seem to make sense. I know this is theatre but still!

The big challenges of the show are the characters and the story. None of the characters are particularly likeable. For example, Light – the young man given the power to write a death note and rid the world of injustice soon turns from an angry young man, trying to right the world to a vindictive man trying to protect himself. There is some humour added by Telly Leung playing Ryuk with his (never fully explained) passion for apples, but it’s hard to like a god of death! The plot too never really feels like it lifts off the page. And despite the fast pace, the complex sets and smooth scene changes, the production never quite captures the imagination, and I struggle to care about what is coming next. Indeed, for all the grandeur of the set, my companion felt like she could have been watching a school show.

All in all, it feels like a long two and a half hours with a lot of songs thrown at it! I loved the choreography, struggled with some of the sound mixes and some of the accents being used and left thinking “not everything needs to be a musical”. But, I’m not sure that I am in the minority here – the audience appear to have had a great night.