See Star Trek legend George Takei in Allegiance, a semi-autobiographical musical exploring the consequences of Japanese-American internment in World War Two.
Pearl Harbor rocked the United States. Shortly after, Executive Order 9066 authorised the evacuation of all people deemed a national security to relocation centres — this included Japanese Americans. George Takei was one of 120,000 sent to these internment camps: Camp Rohwer in Arkansas, and then Camp Tule in northern California. Allegiance explores how families were forced to live in situations against their will, and how human spirits were tested in trying times.
The Allegiance musical follows the fictional Kimura family as they’re interned. Sam Kimura believes enlisting is the way to prove himself, so he joins the American army to fight against the enemy. Sam’s sister Kei goes against him, and joins the resistance movement. Pretty quickly, the global political conflict boils down to a family level. Can the family look out for each other, or will their allegiances change everything?
Watch history come to life.
Access Performances Tuesday 14th March - Captioned Performance Monday 20th March - Post Show Q&A
Approx 2 hours 20 minutes, including interval
10+
7th January, 2023
8th April, 2023
By: Marc Acito, Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione
Music: Jay Kuo
Director: Tara Overfield Wilkinson
Cast list: George Takei, Telly Leung, Aynrand Ferrer, Iroy Abesamis, Mark Anderson, Masashi Fujimoto, Megan Gardiner, Raiko Gohara, Eu Jin Hwang, Hana Ichijo, Misa Koide, Patrick Munday, Rachel Jayne Picar, Sario Solomon, Joy Tan, Iverson Yabut
Choreography: Tara Overfield Wilkinson
Set: Mayou Trikerioti
Costume: Mayou Trikerioti
Lighting: Nic Farman
Sound: Chris Whybrow
Location: West End
Railway station: Charing Cross
Bus numbers: (Trafalgar Square / Charing Cross Station Stop K) 11, 87, 91
At a performance of In the Heights on Broadway, George Takei found himself sitting next to Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione. Kuo and Thione spotted Takei reacting to “Useless,” a song about repeating your father’s mistakes. In the interval, the trio chatted about Takei’s reaction, and Takei shared his childhood memories in camps. Collectively, they decided to transform this story into a musical, and Allegiance was born.
After concert performances in 2009, the California-based story premiered at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre in 2012, and later transferred to Broadway. Takei has starred in every iteration of the musical, and continues with Allegiance in London.
Unfortunately, tickets for this event are no longer available.
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