Allegiance tells the story of an often neglected injustice in history, based on the real life experiences of George Takei, his family, and 120,000 other Japanese Americans confinement in concentration camps during WWII. It is a tragic story that needs to be told, and whilst the intimate setting of the Charing Cross Theatre may provide a better space for a show that flopped on Broadway, it pains me to say that something about it is still sadly missing the mark.
Before the US were dragged into WWII by the bombing of Pearl Harbour, the Kimura family lived a happy life on their farm in California. When war came to American shores, their lives were overturned as the family are forced to relocate inside an imprisonment camp in Heart Mountain. In the midst of political and racist hysteria, Japanese-Americans lost their homes and livelihoods and were branded as the enemy. As time goes on, we see the family become bitterly divided over what ‘allegiance’ truly means to them.
The cast, led by Teddy Leung who is reprising his role from Broadway, are all gorgeously talented. It was such a joy to see 85 year old George Takei in his element too. You can tell he really loves this show and how much it means to him that this story is being told about injustices he and many others went through in 1940s America.
It is, therefore, quite unfortunate that the score is mostly something unremarkable. There are some powerful moments, and a couple of stand out songs, but sadly nothing super memorable. Aynrand Ferrer as Kei has such beautifully powerful vocals that she really shone during her big solo ‘Higher’ which was definitely a better moment from the score.
The book also shied away from exploring the true horrors of the camps, and moments like Hiroshima felt really rushed and the audience isn’t given a moment to process how utterly devastating this bleak moment of the war was. But there’s no denying how much this means for Takei to not only have this story being told, but being involved with the process and there is so much power in that.