entertainment

Review: George Takei's musical 'Allegiance' is heavy-handed missed chance

21 Comments
By MARK KENNEDY

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George Takei is a flowery idiot.

-15 ( +7 / -22 )

George Takei is one of the most influential men, web-wise. His LGBT activism, his talks about the war internment camps in the US for Americans of Japanese heritage. The man is a class act, and this play is very close to his heart.

"missed a ground-breaking opportunity"? I don't see people rushing to promote this topic - a shameful one for the US govt., so what Mr Takei has in fact done is precisely that - break the ground.

0 ( +10 / -10 )

As Maria said the man himself had to pull a lot of strings to even make this happen. It's a Broadway play- not exactly downtown community center/high school drama club here. Moreover, most people don't even know about Japanese internment camps in the states- it's something that may have been mentioned quickly in High School, but it's not exactly something the Gov't or US in general is proud of. George did the right thing by bringing the issue to the attention of many people in a way that's the most likely to reach as many people as possible.

For it to be successful it has to be entertaining, right? Broadway is hardly the place for heavy handed soap-boxing.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Also, some inaccurate information in paragraph 3. It should read:

The production was inspired by the childhood of “Star Trek” icon George Takei, who was among the 120,000 Japanese-Americans incarcerated

He was in the camps as a child, between the ages of five and eight.

http://io9.com/george-takei-describes-his-experience-in-a-japanese-int-1533358984

5 ( +8 / -3 )

I have been reading Uncle George's facebook page for years now and thus followed every step of the development of the musical. Before that I didn't know anything about the internment camps! Call it heavy-handed, cheesy or whatever, I am grateful for the show and its promotion. Living too far away I'm really sad I will not have a chance to watch 'Allegiance'. :(

0 ( +4 / -4 )

George Takei is a highly intelligent, thoughtful man who manages to take on controversial issues with flair and humor. I applaud virtually anything he puts his mind too. I can't imagine I'd feel any different if I were able to see this show either.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

My girlfriend and I saw Allegiance on November 3rd. Her family was interred during the war and she feels that the history of the internment is an important event that doesn't receive enough attention when events of World War II are discussed.

Someone once said “They're only a few stories in the world, the rest is episode.” The way this episode of the story of the Kimura family was told entertained us. We cared about the characters and how their lives were effected by the war.

Critics may look for ground breaking theater but we were looking to be entertained, Allegiance entertained us.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

George Takei is one of the most influential men, web-wise.

i like takei but this is sheer hyperbole. influential? the man posts and reposts funny stories/anecdotes on FB. i would hardly consider that influential.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

The "review" by Mark Kennedy was unduly harsh. Wait until you read reviews by Asian American journalists and drama critics. Will be a different story.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

George Takei is a flowery idiot.

Oh my!

9 ( +9 / -1 )

We were briefly informed as school children back in the early 70's about the "internment camps". Now that I'm older the euphemism is laughable. They were no different than the POW concentration camps with the exception that the families were allowed to take from their homes whatever they could carry in their hands. Yes it was shameful how we treated fellow Americans - most of whom didn't even speak Japanese nor had ever been to Japan.

In the late 80's and early 90's, the U.S. Congress decided all survivors of the internment camps deserved an apology as well as compensation. They settled on a figure of $20,000 for every person who had been "relocated". President George H.W. Bush was quoted as saying on the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl harbor,

"In remembering, it is important to come to grips with the past. No nation can fully understand itself or find its place in the world if it does not look with clear eyes at all the glories and disgraces of its past. We in the United States acknowledge such an injustice in our history. The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry was a great injustice, and it will never be repeated."

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Maria seems to not understand that not only do most Americans know of these war time camps, an apology and compensation was offered years back by the US government. And to the person who questioned Takei's influence, he has it, lots of it. He doesn't simply repost nonsense on FB. There is a good documentary about him on Netflix.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Thousands of German Americans were interned in camps in the US during world war 2. Looking forward to that musical.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

MariaNov. 10, 2015 - 08:08AM JST George Takei is one of the most influential men, web-wise. His LGBT activism, his talks about the war internment camps in the US for Americans of Japanese heritage. The man is a class act, and this play is very close to his heart.

If you call being mostly known for sharing funny cat videos on facebook and bickering with William Shatner influential, I suppose. I find him tedious.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

If you call being mostly known for sharing funny cat videos on facebook and bickering with William Shatner

Actually, he's more known for insightful and humorous social commentary and taking on bigots in all shapes and sizes in a witty, decidedely calm and humorous (and yes, sometimes scathing) way than he even remotely is for, err... cat videos.

Yeah, can't argue with the William Shatner point, but that you've gone out of your way to dismissively discount a near-lifetime of activism for Takei by distilling it to the sole two points above indicates pretty strongly how little you actually know about the man to be able to reach any real definition of tedium.

The guy has 1.7 million Twitter followers and 9 million Facebook fans. Yeah, he's influential.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Bickering with Captain Kirk? He should be busted down to buck private!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Why do these reviewers have go be so judgmental. Does that feed their egos because they cannot actually do anything like write a musical? They should tell us what is there and who would enjoy watching. Don't make mere reviewing such an ego trip.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

But isn't it interesting - the endless cycle of self-flagellating and recriminations about the internment of Japanese Americans in world war 2. And NOBODY knows, cares, or mentions the German-American internment camps.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Fadamor:

They were no different than the POW concentration camps with the exception that the families were allowed to take from their homes whatever they could carry in their hands.

Yes, this was a shameful part of history and these people were Americans, first and foremost, and loyal ones too. But are you suggesting that many of them came out looking like skin and bones and endured torture and beatings, and that's if they survived? The Japanese POW concentration camps were in a league of their own.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

But are you suggesting that many of them came out looking like skin and bones and endured torture and beatings, and that's if they survived?

American citizens were shot dead for attempting to leave the camps. One was shot dead for simply arguing with a guard. One camp's "skin and bones" is another camp's "bullet to the head".

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I'm sure the Dec 7, 1941 Niihau Incident had some influence on the later U.S. decision to intern many persons of Japanese ancestry after the unannounced attack on Pearl Harbor. On that day, an Imperial Japanese pilot crash landed his zero on the Hawaiian island of Niihau. Three civilian residents of the island chose to assist the downed enemy pilot. One was Japanese born and the other two were 1st generation Hawaiian. A fact that is not mentioned in “Allegiance”.

The actions of Shintani and the Haradas, all Niihauans of Japanese ancestry, were noted in a January 1942 Navy report as indications of the ‘likelihood that Japanese residents previously believed loyal to the United States may aid Japan.’ With the nation in an uproar over the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, there can be no doubt that the Niihau event influenced the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to summarily remove more than 100,000 persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast and intern them in the U.S. interior.

http://www.historynet.com/the-niihau-incident.htm

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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