85-year-old George Takei, famed for his role of Mr Sulu in Star Trek, makes his London stage debut in Allegiance, a musical based on his memories of a shameful episode in America’s history over eighty years ago.
On the 7th of December, 1941, Pearl Harbour was bombed by the Japanese. The USA declared war on Japan and officially entered World War II. The US government, under Roosevelt, interned 20,000 American-Japanese citizens, 5-year-old George Taki and his family ended up in Heart Mountain, a barbed wire concentration camp, in Wyoming.
George Takei’s Allegiance, which premiered in the USA in 2012, offers historical facts, family divisions, and two love stories. The book is by Marc Acito, Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione. The music and lyrics are by Jay Kuo.
The major role is Sammy, well-acted and well-sung by Telly Leung, who played Sammy on Broadway. Sammy thinks of himself first and foremost as an American patriot and shows his allegiance by joining the army. He also falls in love with a nice US nurse (Megan Gardiner). His family disapproves. His sister (Aynrand Ferrer) marries an activist (Patrick Munday) who refuses to join up. All four actors make an impact.
George Takei plays two roles: Sammy’s grandfather in 1941 and Sammy in old age in modern times, bookending the musical and giving the production ballast and poignancy by his mere presence
Tara Overfield Wilkinson directs and choreographs the production on a traverse stage with verve and skill. My problem with Allegiance is that there are too many songs and too many dance numbers. It wants to be a big popular Broadway musical too much and it tries too hard to be one. The belting out of songs and dance numbers feels incongruous. Too often they feel they have been added to appease audiences who might otherwise find the basic subject matter too serious.
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