ALLEGIANCE with Lea Salonga and George Takei

The new Broadway musical ALLEGIANCE is an overly ambitious play about our shameful, immoral treatment of Japanese Americans following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of WWII.  The disgraceful treatment of more than 100,000 American citizens of Japanese heritage has not received adequate acknowledgement nor have the families received appropriate compensation.  To criticize this production for being melodramatic or for its unforgettable musical numbers does not do justice to the historic signifigance of these events.  ALLEGIANCE does have a first rate cast starring Lea Salonga, Telley Leung and George Takei (yes, Mr. Sulu.)  Yes, Takei and his family were disgracefully interned during WWII.  His personal accounts inspired the collaborative writers and comoposer who have created a palatable platform for recounting an ugly segment of history that has been suppressed.  Broadway is becoming the medium for educating the public of its history.  ALLEGIANCE serves as historical storytelling of importance and to subjugate the play to theatrical shortcomings is disloyal.