THEATRE REVIEW: George Takei's Allegiance - The Charing Cross Theatre, London.

A little piece of Broadway has landed in London and won’t be here long. It’s brought with it some songs that will have you tapping your toes in the theatre but unfortunately not long after that. If you love a show tune and a Broadway hit, you’ll love every minute of George Takei’s Allegiance. It’s got the flair of a Broadway show but captured in a small space. But if show tunes are not your cup of tea, then you might be left looking for more.

The story starts with an elderly Sam Kimura (George Takei) on Pearl Harbour Remembrance Day standing in uniform and being informed of his sister’s death. What then follows is the recollection of his youth and the story of just a few individuals from the 120,000 Japanese Americans locked in internment camps.

During a summer celebration, the Kimura family are rounded up, their homes and valuables stripped, and sent to Heart Mountain - a charming name for a not-so-charming place. Dust storms, no medication, and lack of basic rights make life impossible but young Sammy Kimura (Telly Leung) enlists at the first chance he gets with the belief that proving his allegiance to the American people will change their perspective on the Japanese Americans. And while Sammy believes fighting in a war is the only way to change things, his sister Kei (Aynrand Ferrer) and father Tatsuo (Masashi Fujimoto) believe in staying true to family and their heritage.

Despite the subject matter, the show feels light and quick, with comedy masking the darker undertones. This is not a gritty war story, this is a story of regret and love. The company as a whole are good together but I was left wishing for more personality and fewer characters that felt stereotypical and incomplete. Ferrer as Kei, however, brings a voice that stands out among the rest, and her ballads fill a room with tangible emotion. While Patrick Munday as Frankie Suzuki ends the first act as a one to watch.

Overall, Allegiance is a profoundly sentimental passion project by Takei with emotional notes scattered throughout. It doesn’t spend enough time fleshing out the reasons for its choices but by the end of the show you’d have to be made of stone to not feel the urge to reach for the tissues. It’s not a perfect war story, but instead a gentle tale of love and regret in a time of struggle. You may not remember the songs at the end of the run, but you’ll come out feeling a little more emotional than when you went it.

George Takei’s Allegiance runs from now until April 8th at the Charing Cross Theatre.

Reviewer - Aidan Bungey
on - 17.1.23