‘Allegiance’: Japanese Americans in WWII USA

‘ALLEGIANCE’: George Takei & Lea Salonga. Photo: Matthew Murphy

ALLEGIANCE
Book by Marc Acito, Jay Kuo & Lorenzo Thione
Music & lyrics by Jay Kuo
Directed by Stafford Arima
Choreographed by Andrew Palermo
Longacre Theatre
220 West 48th Street
(212-239-6200), www.AllegianceMusical.com

By Scott Harrah

There are so many powerful, interesting, dynamic, heroic tales in Allegiance that it is a shame the musical score bogs them all down. The theatrical axiom states that a musical score should propel the story forward. Sadly, in the case of Allegiance, it brings it to a halt. That’s a shame because otherwise, this is truly an epic drama about a World War II aspect we rarely hear about: The cruel treatment of an estimated 120,000 Japanese Americans in “internment” camps, and Japanese-American soldiers, unsung heroes who proved their loyalty to the stars and stripes by joining the fight against the enemy.

The story is so intense that one is genuinely invested in these characters and their plight and outcome. The uninteresting and banal score could have many songs trimmed and instead used the words as dialogue. The authors should have kept six or seven essential songs and eliminated the rest, because they start sounding the same after awhile and none rises to the occasion of the dialogue. The show, based on real-life events, is so epic that it would make either a fine film or stage drama. Was Allegiance done as a musical to give it more commercial appeal? Perhaps, but by doing so, the creators squandered an opportunity to create a straightforward historical saga about a chapter of American history and World War II that needs to be told. There is enough somber, fascinating substance here to make the material stand on its own, so why all the songs? Other than the moving anthem “Gaman” (meaning “patience” in Japanese), most of the musical numbers just seem distracting. In addition, Andrew Palermo’s choreography is downright pedestrian at times, adding zero to songs that already go nowhere.

Inspired by the true experiences of the show’s star George Takei (Sulu of “Star Trek” fame), the story spans 60 years of the Kimura family, starting out in San Francisco in 2001 and then Salinas, California in 1941 to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming during World War II, with scenes in Italy and France and stops in Washington, DC before and after the war. In 2001, Sam Kimura (Mr. Takei) is an elderly man and is visited by a woman bringing a mysterious envelope from his sister Kei (Tony Award winner Lea Salonga), whom he hasn’t seen in decades. Allegiance is ambitious indeed in its sheer scale and timeline. We see the rural farm areas of California in which Japanese Americans thrived, but had their homes sold for next to nothing and their livelihoods and possessions taken from them as they were placed in internment camps. Japanese Americans were held as prisoners by the U.S. military, with their freedom taken away, not given proper medical care, and forced to claim loyalty to the U.S. on questionnaires.

In the camp, young Sam Kimura (played by Telly Leung) wants to prove his family’s loyalty to the USA by joining the war. Sam befriends and falls in love with nurse Hannah Campbell (Katie Rose Clarke). Hannah understands the unjust ways the military treats the Japanese Americans in the camp, such as denying them badly needed medication, but there is little she can do.

Sam’s loyalty, however, isn’t shared by everyone in the camp. Sister Kei supports and loves Frankie Suzuki (Michael K. Lee), a man who is against Japanese Americans being drafted and is vociferous about the way the U.S. military treats his people. Kei also worries about their ailing grandfather Ojii-chan (played by Mr. Takei in a dual role), a man that loves working in his garden.

However, most of the performances are top notch. One has to marvel at 78-year-old George Takei. Here, he is at his best playing Ojii-chan, a charming old man who brings badly needed levity to the folks in the internment camp. It is his final scene as Sam the war hero—a man who earned a purple heart but lost nearly everything important in his life—that really shows us what a consummate actor Mr. Takei truly is as he breaks down emotionally in the most heartbreaking moment of Allegiance.

Lea Salonga brings multiple layers to the character of Kei and is consistently superb and in fine voice, so it is a pity she is given such mediocre material to sing.

Some of the best performances come from supporting cast members. As Hannah, the bighearted blonde nurse from Nebraska, Katie Rose Clarke is outstanding, giving a naturalistic portrayal of a woman who risks everything to stand up for what is right. Equally evocative is Michael K. Lee as Frankie Suzuki.

Director Stafford Arima gets effective performances from everyone else, but as a whole, he had a tall order indeed, overseeing a project with the best of intentions but, because it was made into a musical, was misguided from the get-go. The timing was more than right for Allegiance with all the current talk about immigration and what it means to be an American. Many stories about World War II and the plight of Japanese Americans remain untold. With some heavy script doctoring, Allegiance could have been a modern classic but as is, it is one big missed opportunity.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 15, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on November 14, 2015

‘ALLEGIANCE’: (left to right) Michael K. Lee, George Takei & Lea Salonga. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ALLEGIANCE’: Telly Leung & Katie Rose Clarke. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ALLEGIANCE’: Telly Leung (center) & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ALLEGIANCE’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ALLEGIANCE’: Lea Salonga. Photo: Matthew Murphy