Casting is complete for George Takei‘s musical Allegiance, inspired by his experience as a Los Angeles-born boy whose family was imprisoned, along with 120,000 other Japanese-Americans, in internment camps after the U.S. entered World War II in December 1941. After three years, first in Arkansas and later in Northern California, they were able to return home, where they struggled to rebuild their lives. The musical follows a brother and sister whose political and romantic journeys take them on different paths during the war. The show was first produced in 2012 at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.
Allegiance will begin Broadway previews on October 6 at the Shubert-owned Longacre Theatre, with opening night on November 8. The Star Trek icon (Mr. Sulu) will co-star with Lea Salonga (a Tony Award winner for Miss Saigon) and Telly Leung in the show, which has a book by Marc Acito, Jay Kuo and lead producer Lorenzo Thione, and score by Kuo. Olivier Award nominee Stafford Arima (London’s Ragtime, off-Broadway’s Bare, Carrie, Altar Boyz) is directing. The sets are by Donyale Werle, a 2012 Tony winner for the sets for Peter And The Starcatcher.
The cast will include Takei as Sam Kimura/Ojii San; Salonga as Kei Kimura; Leung as Sammy Kimura; Katie Rose Clarke as Hannah Campbell, Michael K. Lee as Frankie Suzuki, Christopheren Nomura as Tatsuo Kimura; and Greg Watanabe as Mike Masaoka. The ensemble will feature Aaron J. Albano, Belinda Allyn, Marcus Choi, Janelle Dote, Dan Horn, Owen Johnston, Darren Lee, Manna Nichols, Autumn Ogawa, Rumi Oyama, Momoko Sugai, Cary Tedder, Elena Wang, Scott Watanabe and Scott Wise.
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