By Ellis Nassour
Allegiance is a new Broadway musical inspired by stories of Japanese-Americans uprooted from their homes after the Pearl Harbor attack and sent to internment camps. It’s a project close to the heart of George Takei, memorably-known for his role over three years as Hikaru Sulu on Gene Roddenberry’s TV series Star Trek, who lived through what he calls “one of America’s most shameful periods.”
The show, by Marc Acitom with music and lyrics by Jay Kuo, marks Takei’s Broadway debut at age 78. “It’s amazing what life has in store if you are able to wait long enough!”
The musical covers six decades of the trials and tribulations of a West Coast Japanese family after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Takei says, “It’s a story of the redemptive power of love, interracial romance, memory, loyalty, and identity that can motivate and inspire all.”
Takei was only five when his life dramatically changed. “Soldiers with bayonets mounted on rifles stormed our home. I realized something momentous was happening. Overnight we were seen as the enemy, simply because we looked like the people that bombed Pearl Harbor. It was scary and puzzling. We were loyal Americans. There were no charges, no trial. We were rounded up and incarcerated in internment camps behind barbed wire fences. We lost everything—our home, our freedom.”
When the 442 division of the Army was created for Japanese-Americans, thousands of young men volunteered to prove their loyalty. Takei points out the 442 saw fierce fighting and some of the highest casualties of the war.
“Immigrant issues are relevant in today’s politics,” he notes. “When Donald Trump says Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminal, he denigrates all Mexicans. After 9/11, we had attacks on Arab-Americans. Then, Japanese-Americans were the enemy. We’ve got to learn from history. This chapter of American history is little known or has been forgotten.”
Being a youngster, Takei found a childhood with other interned children. “Dad told us we were going on a long vacation. It was far from that, but there were some good memories.” Later in life when he was able to comprehend what happened, he lashed out at his father for not protesting what the government did. “I hurt him deeply, and never apologized. It’s one of my biggest regrets. Being in Allegiance and telling this story is one way of saying I’m sorry.”
In spite of the degradation of the internment, Takei says his father “believed in the fundamental ideals of the United States. He defined democracy as being only as great as the people are, but also as fallible. He said it’s dependent on people who cherish it and actively engage in the process of government.”
Takei credits his father for shaping his ideals. After the war, in an ironic twist, he learned to speak Japanese in Japan. His first film work was in the mid-50s doing English dubbing for Japanese actors in Godzilla and Rodan monster movies. He went on to a storied career in TV and film. For almost three decades, Takei has been a political advocate for gay rights and marriage equality.
His family began to put their lives back together at war’s end.
“When the gates of the camp opened, we were given a one-way ticket to anywhere in the U.S. and $25. How could we rebuild our lives with $25? My parents returned to Los Angeles, where hostility toward Japanese Americans was strong. I learned about prejudice after I came out from the camp. Our first home on reentering society was a room on skid row. It was horrible, frightening. My father’s first job was as a dishwasher in Chinatown, but with strength that I was in awe of, he was able to give us a new life and become a great success.”
New title: Hate America First. Nice George, you no talent jerk.