The New York Times: Some of the team behind the new Broadway musical “Allegiance” seems a little nervous — worried that people will assume the show is a downer when they hear it’s set in one of the internment camps where Japanese-American citizens were imprisoned by the federal government during World War II.
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This show actually sounds really fascinating to me. The Japanese internment camps are one of the darkest and least examined period of civil liberties in the United States. I hope this play will help to bring to light more about this period and force us to have conversations about it. At the same time, I think the play brings with it a unique worldview as a result of the playwright’s personal experiences. I would be interested to see how the production uses the children as foils for the parents by comparison of their reactions to the camp, their circumstances, and the treatment in general. I think there is a lot of potential for this musical to be a deeply moving but not dreary piece. I look forward to hearing more about it and hopefully seeing it on the stage sometime soon.
I hope the team behind Allegiance does not end up down playing the internment camps and treating them as a background for the show. It’s a part of our history that we need to know more about. The first time I heard about this show was from my uncle whose family was also sent to the Japanese American internment camps. When he was describing the show the part of it that made him most enthusiastic (and was certainly most interesting to hear about) was that it was about the internment camps. It might be a darker topic than what some other musicals are about but there’s no rule that musicals have to be happy and there are darker ones that have done incredibly well. For example, there’s Fun Home, which is not a light show by any means and yet it got a Tony for best musical. Allegiance shines a light on a period of our history that many would rather not talk about, we need that more than we need another light, happy musical.
I love the idea of this musical. It brings a part of recent American history that we like to ignore to the forefront. We imprisoned our own citizens out of racially based fear. I wish the team was not so concerned about the sadness of the show. Like in the previous article I commented on, we have to be able and willing to experience the bad parts of life and our history. My mom is a firm believer that all musicals should be musical comedies, but I don’t agree. Music is such a powerful tool for communicating emotions. When experiencing a large amount of emotions we, as humans, take comfort in music. What better way to work through the feelings of betrayal and humiliation of the interned people than through song? I know that Broadways shows are concerned about making back their money and a new musical is a gamble. I just think they’re trying to cover their asses with this concern.
The fact that people are trying to minimize the effect of this part of American history is egregious. It is one of darkest and most embarrassing moments of our nation's history-- when we turned against our own citizens in a move akin to the very enemies we were trying to fight.
I have not seen this show, although I'd like to, but from the article, the sense I get from it is that the show has a tone akin to that of The Diary of Anne Frank. There is terror, fear, human beings being put in terrible situations, but there is also family and the small pockets of joy that can be found even in trying times. I like the brief mention of love, fun and romance within the play, because human kind will do anything they can to make life a little less bearable, and theatrically, the brief moments of normalcy only make the jolt back to reality all the more sickeningly heart breaking.
I hadn’t ever heard about George Takei spirit and passion for civil justice before, its really moving. I want to hear more about his daily life in the camps, I love those little stories about his mother sneaking in a sewing machine so she could try to make their lives a little more beautiful. Of course George Takei would grow up and want to tell this story to the world, its so unbelievably beautiful and inspiring and I think a lot of people will be strongly moved by it. Every year in directing we go through the Sunday Times release of all the broadway shows that will be happening that year and we came across Allegiance. I think everyone in the class was really excited to see something about the interment camps. We all couldn’t believe how little that subject was discussed in day to day life and politics, and I really hope George Takei’s work will change that in a big way.
I have been beyond excited for this musical ever since I heard about it's existence. When I was a 10, I wrote a letter to American Girl, asking them why they didn't have an Asian American character and doll, and suggested that they have a Japanese character who lives in internment in the 1940's (since, it can't get much more tragic than their slave American Girl Doll). And they responded, that they didn't need an Asian American doll. Not only did that turn me off of a company i loved, but it also made me realize that not enough people know the story of Japanese internment- because America is ashamed. And this musical, which the always delightful Takei created, will bring it to light in an interesting, and probably not too bleak way.
Other musicals are set in dark times, and are about dark topics. What about Little Women, set in the Civil War- but is still about family. I have a feeling this will be similar. I want to see this so badly, and I want it to survive, but something tells me that the usual audience of Broadway will not buy tickets to this show, even if it is good, and carries an important story. Hopefully it's star power of Takei, for an older generation, and my personal life hero and star, Lea Salonga will bring in audiences.
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