Review Roundup: ALLEGIANCE at East West Players Starring George Takei

The reviews are in for East West Player's production of ALLEGIANCE, starring original Broadway cast member, George Takei! ALLEGIANCE opened on February 21st and will continue to run through April 1st.

Let's hear what the critics had to say!

Bill Raden, LA Weekly: It's ultimately a lot of history to pack into a 150-minute evening. But Kuo's lively, 26-tune songbook (with flawless musical direction by Marc Macalintal), which mixes contemporary ballads, period swing-dance numbers (courtesy of choreographer Rumi Oyama) and even accents of traditional Japanese music, manages to hit all of its dramatic marks. It also provides a powerful showcase for Elena Wang, whose soaring vocals turn her solos on aspirational anthems like "Higher" or wistful numbers like "Wishes on the Wind" into certifiable show-stoppers. Director Snehal Desai's taut and surprisingly compact production rarely flags (his staging of the 442nd's bloody battle scenes are particularly compelling), but if the sheer velocity of the narrative can occasionally seem dizzying, Allegiance manages to deliver its share of sobering historical eye-openers. One is the role played in the incarceration by the show's other heavy, Mike Masoaka (Greg Watanabe in an effectively ambiguous performance), the controversial head of the Japanese American Citizens League, whose policy of collaboration with the War Relocation Agency has left deep scars in the Japanese-American community to this day. Whether or not a show tune-heavy, conventional book musical is the right vehicle to heal those scars, the lesson it delivers is one that all Americans would do well to heed.

Daryl H. Miller, Los Angeles Times: The plotting tends toward melodrama and, perhaps because so much history is compressed into a short time, the characterizations are rendered mostly in broad strokes, but director Snehal Desai and his performers effectively flesh things out. The singing is quite good too, especially Le Phong's powerful, clarinet-like high baritone and Wang's ringing soprano. Marc Macalintal conducts a pit orchestra of 11. The production flows smoothly and artfully.

Don Grigware, BroadwayWorld: Allegiance has some nice tunes that move the story forward, but you will not leave the theatre humming any of them. Allegiance does have its good and powerful moments, especially in act two, but lacks the calibre of a great musical... The entire 15 member cast do splendid work with their acting, singing and dancing. As a chorus, they sound terrific. Choreographer Rumi Oyama does nice work putting the cast through some fast and furious moves. Se Hyun Oh's scenic design is adequate, as are Halei Parker's costumes. Nice projection work from Adam Flemming, who puts his projections in several places across the stage.

Ellen Dostal, Musicals in LA: Energetic Ethan Le Phong plays the younger version of Takei's character, an all American boy full of youthful verve and idealistic optimism. Elena Wang is his sister Kei, sounding like a Disney princess about to get her warrior wings, and Scott Watanabe is their gruff and unwavering father, Tatsuo. Greg Watanabe takes on the controversial role of real-life Japanese Citizens League representative Mike Masaoka who was used by the government to secure cooperation among the camps. Kuo's score is full of power ballads and galvanizing anthems that the characters deliver with stirring authority, despite the fact that some of the lyrics are set rather awkwardly to music. The occasional boogie-woogie dance number or delicate Japanese folk melody is interspersed among the more typical musical theatre-sounding songs.

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