Allegiance (2015)

Allegiance hasn’t even opened yet, but back when I first heard about it, I was all over it.  Lea Salonga back on Broadway, in a show featuring Michael K. Lee and Telly Leung, with bonus George Takei?  No contest – it constituted the third must-see show for my recent trip, and it also has the distinction for being the first preview performance I’ve seen.

Like 120,000 other Japanese Americans, the Kimura family’s lives are turned upside-down on December 7, 1941.  With the U.S. thrown into war with Japan, immigrants and American citizens alike are suddenly regarded as potential traitors, and despite the Kimuras’ efforts to prove their legitimacy as loyal Americans, they’re interned at a “relocation center” in Wyoming.  Adult siblings Sammy and Kei have always relied on each other, but in the camp, they find their paths diverging:  Sammy is convinced that joining the army will help his family earn their way back into the American fold, while Kei is increasingly disillusioned with the government that treats her and her people like criminals due to extreme xenophobia and othering.

Confession first – of the three shows I saw in New York, this was my least favorite.  However, since Fun Home was this year’s big Tony winner and Hamilton all but has next year’s in the bag, edging out either would be a tall order.  Additionally, while all three have drool-worthy casts, Fun Home and Hamilton also have creators to die for (Caroline, or Change’s Jeanine Tesori and the inimitable Lin-Manuel Miranda, respectively.)  I’m not familiar with Jay Kuo, who wrote the score for Allegiance, but it appears to be his first Broadway writing credit; his others are for producing.  Furthermore, I went into the show “cold,” since the cast recording isn’t available yet.  So, the deck isn’t as stacked in its favor, plus, with the show still in previews, it may change some before opening night.  That said, the score feels kind of generic to me.  The songs are mostly pretty and a bit bland, and many of the lyrics strike me as utilitarian, getting the point across without much spark or poetry.  Only a few songs really stood out to me (and much of this is down to the across-the-board excellent performances – the exception is the darkly-satirical “Paradise,” which would be great even without Michael K. Lee’s dynamite execution.)

However, it’s no write-off.  There are some compelling characters, particularly Kei, who finds herself in atrociously adverse conditions.  I also like the tricky, messy conflicts within the camp, differing opinions on how to fix an appalling situation that has no fix; doubling down on loyalty to the U.S. after the injustice of internment can be seen as an insult to one’s culture, but open protest furthers mainstream views of Japanese Americans as traitorous or unpatriotic.  It’s an impossible dilemma – one in which even the Japanese American Citizen League, the organization supposed to be protecting the community, is complicit – and I like that the show allows it to be difficult.  And the cast – I mean, goodness gracious.  Two-time Disney princess (the singing voice of Jasmine and Mulan, respect) Lea Salonga is sublime as Kei, Pacific Overtures alumni Telly Leung and Michael K. Lee both deliver as two sides of the same coin, the desperately patriotic Sammy and the fiercely defiant Frankie.  And George Takei, playing the Kimura grandfather as well as an older Sammy, brings humor and warmth in equal measure.

Warnings

Strong thematic elements, violence, language (including ethnic slurs,) and sexual references.