By Karen Wada September 16, 2012
The
ensemble of "Allegiance" rehearses at the Old Globe Theater rehearsal
hall in San Diego. Together in the middle are the three lead actors: Telly
Leung, left, Lea Salonga and George Takei. (Don Bartletti, Los Angeles Times /
August 23, 2012)
SAN
DIEGO — When he was 5, George Takei, his parents and his little brother and
sister were rousted from their home in Los Angeles, housed in a stable and then
shipped to a World War II internment camp in Arkansas.
Seventy years later, the actor best known
as "Star Trek's" Sulu has not forgotten his family's ordeal. Which is
why his latest role is so close to his heart: He is starring in a musical about
the internment of Japanese Americans, part of what he calls "my life's
mission to bring this story to a wider audience."
In "Allegiance — A New American
Musical" at the Old Globe, Takei portrays Sam Kimura, an elderly U.S. Army vet who looks back at the internment and how it changed his
life and those of his father, grandfather and sister, Kei.
The show, which also stars Tony winner Lea
Salonga and Telly Leung, follows the Kimuras as they leave their Salinas farm
for the barracks and barbed wire of Heart Mountain in Wyoming. Young Sammy
(Leung) fights in Europe with the celebrated Japanese American 442nd Regimental
Combat Team. Kei (Salonga) falls in love and sides with internees who resist
being drafted. When Sammy returns home and finds out about his sister, he feels
he must choose between his devotion to his family and to his country.
"This gets to a central question 'Allegiance' asks," says Jay Kuo,
who wrote the score for the musical, which opens its world premiere run
Wednesday. "What are the things that matter most?"
"Allegiance's" characters
struggle to find answers and to survive in a harsh new world. Through them,
director Stafford Arima and co-book writers Kuo, Marc Acito and Lorenzo Thione
try to tell the big story — the federal government's removal of about 120,000
people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast — in human terms. Real people
were affected, they say. The community was fractured.
The musical incorporates several issues
that divided the community. "Some of it is controversial," says
Takei, "because passions are strong and because of the perspective we've
taken."
"Allegiance" is not based on
Takei's life, but its creators were inspired by his experiences. Kuo and Thione
first learned about those experiences four years ago. Kuo, a self-described
"melodic composer" whose works mainly have appeared in the Bay Area,
went to New York with his friend, Thione, an entrepreneur who had just sold the
search engine he co-founded to Microsoft. They met Takei and his husband, Brad
Takei, themselves visiting from L.A., at a play and sat near them the next
night at the Broadway musical "In the Heights."
A
father's poignant song about his desire to help his daughter made Takei cry.
"They asked why I was weeping," he says. "I told them about the
internment, my father and his anguish over the loyalty questionnaire."
In 1943, the government required internees
to complete a questionnaire intended as a test of loyalty. Its wording and that
it asked if people would swear allegiance to the country that forced them into
camps prompted anger and confusion.
While many answered "yes,"
Takei's parents were among those who answered "no" on principle to
two key questions. "My father later said, 'They took my business, our
home, our freedom. I'm not giving them my dignity,'" Takei recalls. His
family was sent from Rohwer, Ark., to the Tule Lake, Calif., segregation center
for those deemed to be disloyal.
Internment's impact extended beyond the
war years. In camp, Takei says, he was too young to fully understand what was
going on. As a teenager in L.A. he learned more about the injustices involved
and wondered why his parents' generation hadn't done more to protest.
"One night, I said, 'Daddy, you led
us like sheep to slaughter when we went into the camp.' He was silent. Then he
said, 'Maybe you're right' and went into his bedroom and closed the door. I
realized I hurt him. I felt like I should apologize, but it felt awkward and I
didn't. It's one of those regrets I'll always have."
Intrigued by such stories, Kuo and Thione
persuaded Takei to join them in developing "Allegiance." Besides
playing Sam, he portrays the Kimuras' grandfather and is helping to promote the
musical, aided by his broad fan base and social media stardom (his Facebook
page has more than 2.6 million fans).
Thione says the Globe is producing the
world premiere, but he and Kuo own a production company that would be the
producer of any commercial production. They are hoping an aggressive
Internet-based awareness campaign, along with the popularity of Takei, Salonga
and Leung ("Godspell," "Glee"), will attract attention the
show might not get otherwise because of its subject and relatively unknown
creative team.
"Allegiance" features a cast
mainly comprising Asian-ancestry actors, some of whom have personal connections
to the internment. Salonga, who won a 1991 Tony for "Miss Saigon,"
signed on for the first reading in 2009. "I felt a need to be a part of
this," the Philippine singer-actress says, "since my husband is half
Japanese American and one of his relatives served with the 442nd."
Arima, a 2004 Olivier Award nominee for
"Ragtime," says "Allegiance" interested him both because
his father was among thousands of Japanese Canadian internees and because he
likes tackling challenging works.
Creating an internment camp musical has
presented many challenges, so the show has undergone many changes. (Acito, a
novelist-journalist-playwright, arrived this year to help strengthen the
script.)
"The first draft I read was too
History Channel-ish," Arima says, "but now, the characters and not
the events are fueling the story." As the characters have emerged so have
themes of family and forgiveness that he thinks will resonate with a broader
audience.
"Allegiance's" first reading was
at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. Videotapes of later
incarnations were screened for potential investors, including former internees.
"People had tears in their eyes," says Takei, chairman emeritus of
the museum's board of trustees. "This is something that happened 70 years
ago, and yet the feelings are still intense."
Some who viewed earlier versions were
upset with certain aspects, including the depiction of Mike Masaoka, wartime
national secretary of the Japanese American Citizens League.
"I've told people this is a fictional
story, seen through one character's eyes," says Takei. "And it's a
work in progress."
"'Allegiance' delves into some
historical controversies and internal conflicts within the community,"
says Greg Kimura, the museum's president, who has seen several versions of the
show. "This at a time when everyone is revisiting the history of the
camps."
Masaoka, who died in 1991, is a
controversial figure, says Kimura. "He is seen as a savior of the
community and also as having cooperated too much with the government.
"Also
woven into the play are the people who signed up for the 442nd and the 'no-no
boys' and others who resisted the draft because they thought their country was
being unjust. Some families sent kids to fight for America and suffered
tremendous losses.
Other families resisted and were
ostracized or went to jail. There has always been huge pride about the Nisei
vets. We're coming to understand the courage of people who said no."
After its San Diego engagement ends Oct.
21, "Allegiance" will be aiming for Broadway. "We know the
challenges," says Kuo. "We also know how important it would be"
to see a musical about the internment on the nation's most prominent stage.
"This is my legacy project,"
says Takei. "I'm known now for 'Star Trek,' but I also hope to be known
for spreading the word about this dark chapter in American history."
Source: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-allegiance-old-globe-20120916,0,4044722.story
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