Co-written with Anthony Tarrosa Ong
Tony Award winner Lea Salonga and television and film actor George Takei starred in the by invitation only NYC staged reading of new American musical ALLEGIANCE (produced by Lorenzo Thione and Sing Out, Louise! Productions) held Monday, February 22, 2010 at Playwrights Horizon.
Performed to a full house in the 216-seater Mainstage Theatre, the event was filled with bursting emotions of laughter and tears from the audience.
On stage with Salonga and Takei were Telly Leung, Kevin Gray, Allie Trimm, Michael K. Lee, Paolo Montalban, Tamlyn Tomita, Philip Hoffman, Sally Wilfert and Louis Hobson, with Adam Fleming, Gaelen Gilliland, Mary Ann Hu, Austin Ku, Daniel Levine, Kasey Marino, Doan MacKenzie and Ann Sanders.
ALLEGIANCE (music and lyrics by Jay Kuo and book by Kuo and Thione) depicts the story of a Japanese-American family's love, loss and heroism during the internment years of World War II.
Salonga plays Gloria Suzuki, whose written memoir shares the stories of her and the Omura family's experiences living in the Heart Mountain Internment Camp. Takei takes on the role of Sam who is reliving the past events, as it is revealed all around him while he reads Gloria's memoir.
Thione says that meeting Takei and hearing his personal stories of growing up in an internment camp was the inspiration for the development of ALLEGIANCE. "It's an emotional part of American history that needs to be told."
"I'm always excited when an Asian story is brought to light, and ALLEGIANCE's story is an exciting one to tell. I've also never been part of a show's development before, so to see how this grows will be nothing short of interesting," says Salonga
"The biggest challenge of the show is hoo boy... singing the music! It hits both ends of my range. It's challenging, but fun to tackle," she adds.
ALLEGIANCE aims to open on Broadway in 2012, which Thione says would be the "best time" as it falls on the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
"The biggest challenge right now for the creative team is finding the complete nature of the show," according to Thione, "as there are still changes being made in order to find the clearest depiction of the characters and story that would make the show moving and universal to a broader audience."
Another staged reading in NYC is expected in Fall 2010, followed by a hopeful out-of-town engagement. "We are reaching out to many regional theatres that might want to put up ALLEGIANCE," he adds.
ALLEGIANCE's NYC staged reading was directed by Stafford Arima, with music direction and arrangements by Lynne Shankel.
Photos by Noel Y. Calingasan
NYC staged reading cast of new musical ALLEGIANCE
NYC staged reading cast of new musical ALLEGIANCE
