First a quick apology. I had every intention of completing all Death Note actor biographies when they were announced. I blinked and somehow it's two months later with two Death Note actresses still not featured here.
I didn't forget either of them. Time just conspired against us. But let me make good that deficiency with the first of the two right here - Death Note Rem actress Megumi Hamada!
I didn't forget either of them. Time just conspired against us. But let me make good that deficiency with the first of the two right here - Death Note Rem actress Megumi Hamada!
Shinigami Rem actress Megumi Hamada
No-one in her native country would need any introduction to Megumi Hamada. She's one of Japan's leading musical actresses!
Set to bring a death goddess to life, our shinigami actress was born in the human world on August 2nd 1972. She hails from Kitakyushu, on the Fukuoka Perfecture, in Japan.
Megumi Hamada attended Kyushu International University High School. After graduation, she worked for a time in a local book-store, before saving up enough funds to move to Tokyo. There she enrolled in the Performing Arts Academy, based in the capital's Toshima district, determined to realize her dream of becoming an actress. Just like her idol Yuko Doi.
That seems to be working out well.
Set to bring a death goddess to life, our shinigami actress was born in the human world on August 2nd 1972. She hails from Kitakyushu, on the Fukuoka Perfecture, in Japan.
Megumi Hamada attended Kyushu International University High School. After graduation, she worked for a time in a local book-store, before saving up enough funds to move to Tokyo. There she enrolled in the Performing Arts Academy, based in the capital's Toshima district, determined to realize her dream of becoming an actress. Just like her idol Yuko Doi.
That seems to be working out well.
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More images of Megumi Hamada as Rem in Death Note the Musical.
Obviously the biggest item now on Megumi's professional resume is her upcoming portrayal of Rem in Death Note the Musical. Previously it was Wicked that everyone was talking about.
| Megumi Hamada was the first actress to play Elphaba in Japan. She took that high-profile leading role - heading the original Tokyo cast of Wicked - back in 2007. (Nevertheless, she'll be the first actress in the world to play Rem!) Evidently a good place to begin, if we want to see our new shinigami actress in action. Can you envisage how she will perform as Rem from this? It's an opening cast trailer for Wicked starring Megumi as Elphaba. For the culturally inept, she's the green one. Megumi brought Elphaba to life for Japanese theatrical audiences from 17 June, 2007 – 6 September, 2009. Whereupon she handed over to Masae Ebata, who's carried it around the country ever since. However, as the originating Elphaba, Megumi was the one recorded for the official album release from the show: Wicked: Gekidan Shiki Version (Japanese Cast Album). Here she is again, in another YouTube clip, performing one of Wicked's most famous songs, Defying Gravity. |  |
 | Despite the fact that most commentaries focus upon Wicked, Megumi Hamada has been in many other musicals in Japan. More often than not, she's cast as the female lead. Roles like Christine (pictured left) in Love Never Dies - Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical sequel to The Phantom of the Opera - which opened in March 2014, at the Nissay Theatre in Tokyo. We get to see Megumi Hamada in white here, a colour that she will most certainly be rocking whilst playing Death Note's pale shinigami Rem! |
Versatile in both her singing and acting, Megumi Hamada never appears typecast, judging from the parts offered to her. In addition to her performance as Christine Daae, Rem's actress has recently played Alice (another source says The Mad Hatter) in Wonderland'; Bonnie in Bonnie and Clyde; and led an operatic showing of Bizet's Carmen. Naturally as Carmen.
Anyone else get the feeling that, if Light Yagami had been female, then Megumi Hamada would be Kira?
As it is, Fuka Yuduki must be quite wide-eyed at the fact that she's landed Misa Amane, when Megumi is also on board as a Death Note Musical original cast member!
Anyone else get the feeling that, if Light Yagami had been female, then Megumi Hamada would be Kira?
As it is, Fuka Yuduki must be quite wide-eyed at the fact that she's landed Misa Amane, when Megumi is also on board as a Death Note Musical original cast member!
Shiki Theatre Company: Megumi Hamada - Four Seasons Lead Actress in Western Musicals
| It's hardly a coincidence that the actress poised to play Rem has already acted in a plethora of shows well known in the West. From 1995-2010, Megumi Hamada was contracted to the Shiki Theatre Company, and that's what they do. In house Shiki writers take musicals and plays that are huge in the West, then adapt them to suit Japanese audiences. Generally they'll retain the same names as the shows that inspired them, rendered in English - or whichever other language the play was originally penned - rather than also translating all titles into Japanese. Whether for this reason, or as an in-crowd thing, the company is often referenced as the Four Seasons by theatrical critics, reviewers and fans alike. Especially Western ones. Four Seasons being a literal translation of Shiki into English. Then again, this might not even be a thing. It might just be a glitch in all the translation programs that I'm using to research this biography! |  Megumi Hamada as Nala in The Lion King |
It was through Shiki that Megumi starred in Wicked, as well as lead roles in:
- Beauty and the Beast (Belle);
- Cats (Jellylorum);
- Crazy for You (Polly Baker);
- The Lion King (Nala);
- Exotic Hill (RiHanaRen);
- Aspects of Love (Giulietta Trapani);
- Aida (Aida - one scrambled translation implies that Megumi performed this part over 1000 times during its three year run; but another reading suggests that the Aida role itself has been subject to the 1000 performances by many different actresses, spanning decades, world-wide);
- Rokumeikan (Akiko Daitokuji);
- Black Comedy (Carol Meruketto);
- Mamma Mia (first the mother, then Donna).
Megumi Hamada Meets Frank Wildhorn
 Attitude: Shinigami actress Megumi Hamada sings Frank Wildhorn's songs. | It was around now that Megumi made the contact which has brought her into our Death Note orbit. Transferring to Shiki Theatre Company's Taidan group, she was cast as Bonnie in Bonnie & Clyde - a show written by Frank Wildhorn, the man now tasked with creating music for Death Note the Musical. It seems that the Broadway composer was quite taken with his Japanese star actress, because he invited her to 'do a CD together'. The result was Megumi Hamada's 2012 album Attitude, wherein her tracks were all composed by Frank Wildhorn. There also seems to be a second album floating about called Wildhorn Melodies, which again features Megumi Hamada singing Frank Wildhorn's tunes. He 'fell in love with her voice'. Very much in love apparently, because she's now Rem. |
In addition to which, Megumi Hamada recently switched theatrical agents. She's now being represented by HoriPro, which is the company promoting Death Note the Musical. As this occurred just ahead of casting, the move doesn't feel all that coincidental.
Moreover, Shiki Theatre Company have repeatedly staged plays with music by Frank Wildhorn, during the three years since Bonnie and Clyde. Megumi Hamada is usually the actress leading those shows, thus performing his songs.
It makes me wonder if her role in the musical Death Note occurred at the request of its composer. Not to mention the fact that, if he knows her so well, then Rem's music is probably being written with Megumi in mind.
Plus her Japanese Wiki page lists the Death Note Musical as being staged BY Shiki, though this is the first time I've heard the company mentioned in connection with the project.
If that is correct, then may we speculate that it was the prospect of working with Megumi Hamada again which brought Frank Wildhorn on board in the first place. There definitely appears to be a pattern of collaboration going on here! In which case, we can all fully embrace Megumi in the role of Rem, as that casting is what made Death Note the Musical a reality.
Moreover, Shiki Theatre Company have repeatedly staged plays with music by Frank Wildhorn, during the three years since Bonnie and Clyde. Megumi Hamada is usually the actress leading those shows, thus performing his songs.
It makes me wonder if her role in the musical Death Note occurred at the request of its composer. Not to mention the fact that, if he knows her so well, then Rem's music is probably being written with Megumi in mind.
Plus her Japanese Wiki page lists the Death Note Musical as being staged BY Shiki, though this is the first time I've heard the company mentioned in connection with the project.
If that is correct, then may we speculate that it was the prospect of working with Megumi Hamada again which brought Frank Wildhorn on board in the first place. There definitely appears to be a pattern of collaboration going on here! In which case, we can all fully embrace Megumi in the role of Rem, as that casting is what made Death Note the Musical a reality.
Megumi Hamada's Shiki Theatre Company Taidan roles:
- Jekyll & Hyde (Lucy)
- Wonderland (Mad Hatter)
- Cyrano (Roxanne)
- A Tale of Two Cities (Madame Dofaruju)
- The Count of Monte Cristo (Louisa)
- Love Never Dies (Christine Daae)
- Carmen (Carmen)
- Memphis
- Death Note (Rem)
- Sunset Boulevard (Norma Desmond)
Rem Actress Megumi Hamada Live in Concert
In addition to her theatrical work, Megumi Hamada has embarked upon a career as a singer, packing out concert halls and producing more albums. She released a DVD last year from one of her live performances. Most of its tunes are sung in English, including her take on the old Carpenters' classic (They Long to Be) Close to You.
| Megumi Hamada's Cozy DVD Tracks
|  Buy Death Note actress Megumi Hamada Live 2013 Cozy DVD |
So what do you all think? The living personification of Rem, as we know and love the shinigami? Or are you not yet as convinced as Frank Wildhorn?
Over to you.
Over to you.
