Allegiance Previews- Page 3

[MNC77]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 12:39am

Thoroughly enjoyed the show all around. Whizzer has a point about the characters and lyrics being a little generic at times, fitting into definite cliches, but the design elements, cast and score were enough to make everything seem very real for me, and the material itself is very meaty. Telly Leung was quite strong, Lea has still got it and I believe should definitely be in the Tony race, and I was surprised at many of the supporting names. Takei's role was small but he played it so well that I loved him, and Michael K. Lee would have a great shot at featured actor if Hamilton wasn't so dominant.

Possibly my favorite element of the show was the scenic and lighting design. You could tell they used a lot of very Japanese sensibilities mixed with American design elements, and the projections were fantastic.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 12:42am

Would you compare it to Rags in the sense that none of the characters are people - just symbols? As Rags showed, a good score and a topic worth exploring are not enough to create a full, multi-faceted story. I know the team and cast feels strongly about the issues, but you cannot create a compelling story by beating the audience on the head with the moral.

[JaglinSays]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 12:50am

Gone by January 1, or much---MUCH--sooner?!

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 12:54am

Why can't you be gone by January 1st or much sooner?

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 12:55am

Sally, I think Rags is a good comparison, although I think that score is much stronger and catchier. I don't think there was anything in Allegiance to rival "Blame It On the Summer Night" "Rags" or "Children of the Wind."

 

Hushpuppy, I think Telly and Lea were both compelling, but because of their acting and singing, not what was on the page. Neither character had any backstory to speak off- where is their mother? When did the family (grandfather and father) emigrate from Japan? Telly's character didn't want to go to law school, but what did he want to do? What were his passions? His dreams? Likewise with Lea's character- what did she want in life before being sent to the camps? The book really left me hanging.

 

 

[Phan2]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 2:36am

Thanks for the reviews, everyone.   AasronSallan, I have several Japanese-American friends who had family interned, and so this is deeply personal to them.  I am hoping that the musical will be well-received.  It doesn't sound perfect, but it sounds like there are many positives.  I'm not surprised that people were impressed with Lea and George.  Lea sings like an angel, and I find George quite charming.   I'm happy to hear that many felt Telly and Michael K. Lee did well, and that there are positive comments about the sets, lighting, costumes, and score.  

Updated On: 10/7/15 at 02:36 AM

[AlfieByrne]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 3:49am

I attended the first preview in San Diego, and gave a rather critical review on a thread on BWW. That was over three years ago and I was hoping quite a bit of changes would be made for the better.

 

Unfortunately, as Whizzer points out, the show still doesn't deliver. His criticism on Arima's direction is spot-on. He does nothing to bring out anything genuine from the actors or the script. From my somewhat hazy memory, it does feel as if the show went through some changes in the three years. But my overall impression is that it's still "meh", which I feel guilty for stating, given the subject matter.

 

Unlike Whizzer, I can't eloquently wrap up my thoughts in a cohesive manner so you'll have to excuse my bullet-point format:

 

--Lea's acting hasn't improved,  Lea's "Higher" still managed to give me chills with her soaring voice (the song is still sorta clunky, imo), but that was the only Broadway-caliber moment displayed by her. She seems to do A LOT better in sung-through musicals; but oh boy, once she has to recite a spoken line, I completely stop believing her motivations.

--Telly Leung is miscast. His "What Makes a Man" shows some potential midway in the first act, but he never reaches the maturity needed in his portrayal. Like Lea, his delivery of lines leaves a lot to be desired. His scenes in the military is cringe-worthy. I wondered if I should come back in an attempt to see his understudy, but Aaron J. Albano is still not someone I'd imagine as Sam.

--Michael K. Lee was the only performer who left a lasting impression. I think his impassioned understanding of the stakes involved overshadowed Telly's one-note performance. I'd be curious to see him in the role of Sam instead, frankly.

--Katie Rose Clark's role (previously played by Allie Trimm) hasn't gotten any better. Wasted talent. I couldn't care any less for her scene with Telly. The blame goes to Arima, Leung, and the bookwriters.

--The scenery still looks cheap. All wood planks/projections. I'm aware that the barracks are supposed to look barren, but there's something counter-intuitive when the rest of the show looks like a staged concert.

--I could tell Howell Binkley lit the stage with his strong colors and sharp edges. His lighting design definitely shines in big ensemble numbers/musical comedies, but not sure if it was appropriate for Allegiance. I wanted something a bit more subtle and subdued.

--The orchestra sounded quite flat/tinny, but that's been the trend on Broadway it seems.

--I think the New York audiences are ready to see something more politically provocative than the mediocre family drama that was presented tonight.

 

Updated On: 10/7/15 at 03:49 AM

[Jabere]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 4:38am

I saw a youtube clip you can tell this production is bad.  I know I am going to get hate mail but I think lea is over the hill,  I personally think why are they doing this show it looks and sounds like a really good community production nothing more.  

[haterobics]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 5:15am

Jabere said: "I saw a youtube clip you can tell this production is bad."

 

I'd rather defer to the people going to see the version on Broadway in person, hehe.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 5:29am

Hey, Jabere!!

Will you stop talking out your butt?  On page one be you said you saw this on the West Coast and already secured tix.

 

Then you loved the first positive review, and were getting ready to book tickets based on it.

 

Now when more folks are more negative, you jump on that bandwagon. 

 

You need to pick one lie to tell and stick to it.

[augustine73]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 7:16am

JaglinSays said: "Gone by January 1, or much---MUCH--sooner?!

Wow! Hope you're gone before Thanksgiving! Lol.

Can't wait to see this show with friends and family. I find the lyrics a bit tacky but I think the cast is amazing. Would love to see George in stage and Lea Salonga originating a role is a breath of fresh air. Saw her singing Higher and yes she still have it!

"

[hushpuppy]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 7:46am

Sammy explained that his mother died while giving birth to him, and that he believes his father blames him for his mother's death.

 

His father, Tatsuo, mentioned that he survived the San Francisco earthquake, which would've put him in California no later than 1906. We can deduce that the grandfather (and possibly his wife) emigrated to San Francisco, where their Tatsuo was born, (or possibly the three of them came over from Japan). Once in California, Tatsuo married Sammy and Kei's mother.

 

We know Sammy doesn't want to go to law school. He's a boy of 20, maybe 21, with poor grades. (I had no clue what I wanted to do when I was in college either). It wasn't until the war started that he felt he had a purpose, i.e to enlist in the army and fight for his country. I'll wager there were hundreds of thousands of aimless young men and women, of all races and creeds, who in 1941, felt the same way after Pearl Harbor.(My father being one of them).

 

Kei says that she raised Sammy from birth, So we can surmise that she subjugated her own needs for that of her baby brother. She refers to herself as 'an old woman;. someone who feels life has passed her by. It isn't until Frankie awakens a passion in her, and confronts her after the dance by pointing out that Sammy is a grown man now, that she realizes she needs to live life for herself now.

 

I think the characters were quite fleshed out, not caricatures at all.

Updated On: 10/7/15 at 07:46 AM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 8:23am

MNC77 said: "Possibly my favorite element of the show was the scenic and lighting design. You could tell they used a lot of very Japanese sensibilities mixed with American design elements, and the projections were fantastic."

I agree. I LOVED the set and lighting design for this show so much. I also thought that the projections were very well done. I really loved the show curtain for this. Very cool.

 

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 10:39am

Thanks for your response, Hushpuppy. I guess I missed the line about Sammy's mother dying in child birth. I deduced that Kei raised him, but didn't feel they really covered in depth much about the mother.

 

I remember the father mentioning the earthquake (and that he had worked the land for 20 years), so I was a little confused on the timeline of when they and who exactly emigrated. I think some of this could be cleared up with some dialogue to give us more of a sense of the family's history in the US. 

 

I saw Sammy very much in the vein of Mother's Younger Brother- a rudderless man searching for something to believe in- but I found his Ragtime counterpart to be far more developed and distinctive as an individual. Why exactly was Sammy so loyal to America and so proud to join the army? We only saw he be mistreated by the government, yet he never seemed to resent the treatment. I understood Frank wanting to resist his draft notice and I understood the men who were willing to enlist just to be freed from the camps, but I don't think they fully explored Sammy's blind, dare I saw allegiance, to the US government.

 

Kei mentions that she is getting A-s in school, but we don't know what she's studying. If she's going to school (college?) she must have aspirations to do something. 

 

I think I connected most with Frank because we given the most hard facts about his life. His parents, who ran a Japanese language center, were taken away as spies and he hasn't seen or heard from them since. He was a law student at USC when he was pulled out of school and sent to the camp. It followed easily that he would resist working with government/military and his big number felt like it sprung forth from his character in more natural way because of all we had learned about his past. 

 

After sleeping on this show I was reminded of a recent thread here about what should come first when writing a show, the story or the message? Some quoted an instructor saying write the story and the message will come out. For me, Allegiance is a classic example of starting with the message and creating characters around it to convey the message. I didn't find the characters to have rich inner lives, especially when compared to the character in say Fun Home or The King and I. 

 

I will go back to see Allegiance again in previews. I don't think it was a terrible show by any means- I just think this subject matter could have been used to make a far more nuanced and delicate story than what they came up with. I respect your opinion a lot, hushpuppy and who knows how I'll feel after a second viewing. I've definitely changed my mind about a show before!

[seahag2]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 10:39am

I was under the impression that Allie Trimm's role was given to Katie Rose Clarke's part. Is this wrong? Did they play two different characters?

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 10:53am

^ It sounds like Katie Rose Clarke did take over Trimm's role. I wonder if it was altered significantly as Trimm is now 20 (would have been a teenager during the readings) and Clarke is 31.

[eperkins]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 11:08am

Back up on TDF for tonight and tomorrow night.

[hushpuppy]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 12:50pm

Thanks for your reply WhizzerMarvin. It's been so long since I became so wrapped up in a new show, I'd forgotten how fun it is to discuss back and forth the elements of a production.

 

I'll admit I filled in a lot of the family story in my mind, and I agree that some expository dialog would've helped. Tetsuo, the father, spoke with the cadence of a non-native speaker,  and I seem to recall reading that if you come to your new county prior to the age of 6, you lose your native accent. So let's say Tatsuo was born in Japan around 1890, and the family moved to the US around 1905, which would put them in San Francisco for the '06 quake.  Tatsuo met his wife around 1910, perhaps she was a picture bride, Kei was born around 1913, and Sammy came along in 1921. That makes Sammy 20 and Kei 27 at the start of the war. So we can assume that she deferred her college education until Sammy was in high school. (Perhaps Kei wanted nothing more than to be a wife and mother, but out of respect to her father, she entered college. As you pointed out, we just don't know). 

 

So Tatsuo's refusal to disavow Japan makes sense because he was born in Japan. He moved to the US and built a life for him and his family, and loves his adopted country, but he cannot bring himself to take the final step (which was the case with Takei's actual father, I believe).

 

My jaw dropped when you said you respect my opinion. From someone who writes as eloquently as you, that is high praise indeed. Coming from outside the 'theater community', and never having been involved in any production in any way, I never thought of my opinions as being particularly knowledgeable or intelligent (which my above nattering probably just proved). I'll just graciously say 'thank you'.

Updated On: 10/7/15 at 12:50 PM

[Pauly3]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 3:28pm

hushpuppy said:

"So Tatsuo's refusal to disavow Japan makes sense because he was born in Japan. He moved to the US and built a life for him and his family, and loves his adopted country, but he cannot bring himself to take the final step (which was the case with Takei's actual father, I believe).

"

Didn't Tatsuo and others refuse to answer yes to the question asking the internees to forswear allegiance to the emperor of Japan?  And they refuse because to do so would indicate they had a built-in allegiance to Japan, when that was not reality?  In other words, because the government assumed the internees had a built-in allegiance to Japan, all internees had to "officially" forswear that allegiance - and because that perception was not reality, the question was preposterous and one many refused to acknowledge by answering yes.

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 3:51pm

Let's pray that changes are made throughout previews. Although the only thing we wanted was blood from Carrie and that didn't happen. Imagine what Sam Gold could have done or even, dare I say, John Doyle. After messing up Ragtime (and now trying to copy it), making Carrie boring, and taking away what few good things Bare had, Arima is throwing away the potential in this production. I just wish previews still meant that things would be changed, not just fixing sound and costume issues.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 3:53pm

Where did Arima direct Ragtime?

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 3:54pm

The West End.

[henrike]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 4:45pm

Long time lurker finally joined to make a post.

 

Some posters have made a comment about the direction and yes, it's quite baffling how Arima keeps getting work with his perfunctory direction. It's quite presentational and pedestrian. I've seen more innovative, engaging works by community theatre directors. This show is essentially a family drama, but Arima's directorial style simply doesn't flesh out the family ties between the performers.

 

But he cannot take all of the blame, as the book is quite mediocre. It's not offensively horrible as Amazing Grace, but nothing about the story feels enlightening or thought-provoking. It presents itself as a watered down version that tries hard to not offend any Americans. A good play on this subject might present the complex inner monologue of Young Sam as he is faced with the questionnaire regarding loyalty - but nope; the book wastes no time in painting the characters in black or white.

 

I think my main issue, however, lies with the lead characters. George Takei doesn't have much to do on stage, so I won't go into his performance. But as an earlier poster stated, Lea Salonga and Telly Leung cannot seem to act convincingly, which is a shame as I was excited about the casting. I understand that Lea Salonga is a marquee-worthy name (at least in the theatre community) but I think Telly should be replaced right away.

 

I thought the set was good. I can't comment much on the lighting as I wasn't paying much attention (but I guess that's a good thing). Sound hopefully will be improved.

 

Ultimately, it feels like a wasted opportunity to tell a beautiful, disturbing tale in American history that was tainted by forced dialogue, cliched lyrics, mostly forgettable music, bad direction, and disappointing performances.

[Kad]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 4:49pm

It's truly baffling that Arima- who has not proven himself to be a commercially viable director outside of Altar Boys (which is already forgotten and didn't exactly need brilliance at the helm)- continues to get notable projects.

[Pootie2]

Posted: 10/7/15 at 4:53pm

I didn't realize he had such a reputation. A brief search across this forum yielded some stuff (uh, Bare). It seems he may be good at marketing himself. In any case, the best way he can prove himself is by bringing something different from his previous failures, but who knows.

 

Meanwhile, rush policy beginning 10/8 was announced: https://twitter.com/allegiancebway/status/651856942969786370

"$39, ages 35 & under (ID req), 2 ticket max, when box office opens! All forms of payment. See you tomorrow!"