#and i'm hoping dntm on west end gets a long run

[normalaboutdntm]

I've been suspecting the reason we haven't had any updates on the album and/or full West End production is because so much of the DNtMiC creative team has been wrapped up in the Your Lie in April concert. Remember, the producers didn't anticipate DNtMiC to have anywhere near the reception it did or they would have scheduled more than two shows from the beginning; I'm sure the YLIA concert was something they already had lined up and therefore needed to focus on before they could respond to the DNtM hype.

So how many people from DNtMiC are involved in YLIA? Let's look at the cast:

[ID: a promotional pic for Your Lie In April the Musical in Concert performing April 8-9 2024 that features headshots and names of the eighteen cast members.]

Just in the cast, we have Rachel Clare Chan (Sayu), Dean John-Wilson (L), and Jojo Meredith (listed in my programme as Haley Belle/Ensemble/Cover L, more specifically he played one of the cops and did not end up going on for L). Since it sounds like work on DNtM will start pretty quickly once the YLIA concert is over, that bodes well for these actors returning to the cast. I assume they'll push to get Joaquin Pedro Valdes (Light) back but Misa's actor is a toss-up; Francis Mayli McCann originated the role (in London anyway) and is included in the upcoming cast album, while Jessica Lee, who took over the role for the Lyric performances, was the one to perform On Borrowed Time at the Whats on Stage awards. That could be due to director preference or schedule availability or really any number of things so I won't speculate. Ryuk was also recast for the Lyric but Rem wasn't, and I imagine they'll do everything they can to keep Aimee Atkinson for that role since Rem is arguably the most important character to cast right.

Among YLIA's backstage team, we also find DNtM's director/choreographer Nick Winston, set designer Justin Williams, musical supervisor Katy Richardson, costume designer Kimie Nakano, casting director Harry Blumenau, and cultural consultant Yojiro Ichikawa, as well as production companies Carter Dixon McGill Productions, Indie Theatrical, and Pinnacle Productions. Of course Frank Wildhorn wrote the music and Jason Howland wrote the arrangements/orchestrations, but I'm not sure how much either of them will be involved in the full DNtM West End production since the show's music has been completed for almost ten years now.

There's probably even more overlap - what I've noted here is just the names from the article that I can find in my DNtMiC programme.

Here's the video interview for easy access. It features some rehearsal footage from YLIA, and it's amusing to see DJW act like such a bro.

4/5/24 WE HAVE NEWS

[ID: a screenshot from the linked article that says, "Questioned about the chances of a full-scale production of Death Note in London, Wildhorn boldly stated that he was “100 per cent” sure that we would be welcoming one “very soon” and that a full staging of Your Lie in April would follow “very closely” after that. Furthermore, he also claimed that Death Note is New York-bound."]

The above quote is slightly misleading in that it makes him sound a little less sure about NY DNtM - in the first five seconds of the interview video linked in the article, Wildhorn says he would "bet the house" that all three of these productions are happening!