Posted: 1/7/16 at 1:01am
many thanks to the Allegience team for getting this show to broadway.
it was a long shot at best, took guts to produce and move forward IMO, and wish it best on tour and the cast recording...
Posted: 1/7/16 at 1:10am
"Critic's darling" means something reviewers love but can't find an audience.
Oh, and plenty of "normal" people don't like Hamilton. They just don't seem to post on this board. Not that one could blame them. They know the vituperation that would be headed their way. Like the kind you've just shelled out.
Oh pish. You're just another crank referencing the terrified hordes of people who are just too frightened to admit their feelings. Nobody's going to attack somebody who honestly doesn't like something they have actually seen. That's where you always lose people here, After Eight. ANYBODY could write what you do about shows without seeing them. You don't see half the things you claim to hate.
Posted: 1/7/16 at 7:35am
broadwaysfguy said: "many thanks to the Allegience team for getting this show to broadway.
it was a long shot at best, took guts to produce and move forward IMO, and wish it best on tour and the cast recording...
"
I am glad I saw it. It was moving, and gave me a lot to think about. I hope it tours and gives more actors of Asian descent the opportunity to be a part of it.
Posted: 1/7/16 at 7:58am
"like the misuse of the term "critical darling," which generally implies that the subject isn't a "commercial darling" "
Oh, so NOW it's "generally implies." Not "incontrovertibly means," but "generally implies." Be careful as you backtrack; you might bump into something.
Over fifty years ago, a song in Carol Channing's revue Show Girl offered the following lyric: "You may be the darling of the critics, and star in Noel Coward's latest play."
Anyhow, to get back to the subject of this thread, Allegiance was superior to the whole lot of the absolutely unbearable critics' darlings of today.
Updated On: 1/7/16 at 07:58 AM
Posted: 1/7/16 at 7:59am
Hogan has said it best - "Allegiance had its heart in the right place, but the show is basically community theatre quality writing dressed up with two "stars" who are not able to attract enough of an audience to make that fact go away."
This was a noble topic dealt with in a clichéd, generic, sentimental way. The writing let the story down. Oh - and Stafford Arima is probably the most inept director working today.
Updated On: 1/7/16 at 07:59 AM
Posted: 1/7/16 at 8:03am
So are closing day tickets no longer discounted? I'm looking at both performances on Feb. 14 and discount codes don't seem to work on Telecharge Offers -- only full price tickets -- even though Playbill and Broadway Box codes seem to say they should be valid.
Posted: 1/7/16 at 11:21am
ChrisTyler12882 said: "I'm sure they'll still release the cast album. If it's scheduled for 1/30, I'd imagine it's already recorded."
One of the producers posted on Facebook that people have 6 more weeks to see it, and that the cast album drops later this month, so that isn't affected.
Posted: 1/7/16 at 12:05pm
didn't the release say the album drops the following week?
Posted: 1/7/16 at 1:13pm
Took them long enough. I really liked parts of this show. I think if they had shortened it to a 90 100 minute off Broadway at NWS, it could of had some success... it was too much time bitching about being stuck in a camp, without moving the plot forward. Got bored fast. Just my opinion.
Posted: 1/7/16 at 1:34pm
After Eight said: "Sad news.
Allegiance had soul, heart, an attractive score, and a wonderful performance by Lea Salonga.
Editing your post for you AE ,knew you were about to so saved you the trouble.
cO--that was a bit harsh-those nasty thoughts are best kept in your head. Conflicting comments do not deserve death.
SL
"
Posted: 1/7/16 at 6:39pm
The cast recording is available for pre-order with a 1/22 release date
Posted: 1/20/16 at 3:41pm
I am hoping to see the evening show on 2/7. Does anyone have any insight as to if any cast members will be out? Never had an opportunity to see Lea Salonga on stage, so I hope to see her.
Also, has anyone purchased tickets through TDF? I know it's such a mixed bag usually, but how have the seats been?
Thanks! :)
Posted: 1/22/16 at 12:39pm
Wasn't the cast album supposed to be available to download digitally on the Broadway Records website today?
Posted: 1/22/16 at 12:49pm
In my experience, Broadway Records is usually very slow with their digital release date. It's almost never up when they say it will be. If not today, it might take a few days.
Posted: 1/26/16 at 11:00pm
I finally got to see Allegiance in my trip to NYC last week. I had tix to 1/23 eve show but when I arrived on Wednesday I decided (spur of the moment) to catch the matinee. So glad I did with the show cancelled on Saturday due to the snowstorm. I loved the show and couldn't stop crying. Lea Salonga voice is amazing, per usual. Telly Leung held his own very well too. And George Takei was funny! The supporting cast were also very good. The show was full of heart and a history lesson too. Wish it was more successful but I hope it has a life outside of Broadway! Of the 6 shows I saw this visit this was my #1 show (and I put ahead of Hamilton which I went to see for the 2nd time). Just my opinion of course!
I also got the cast recording at BroadwayCon Marketplace. A little bummed I didn't get it signed by Lea and Telly when they visited the Marketplace. But it's all good
Updated On: 1/26/16 at 11:00 PM
Posted: 2/8/16 at 9:53am
I saw Allegiance last night as my last NYC show for now. Make no mistake there are flaws in the show. The most of the score and lyrics (save for a few) do not live up to the potential. The story and the show are beautiful over all. Lea has really grown as an actress. She was amazing. Hell the whole cast was. I cried so hard towards the end of the show. Katie Rose Clarke was a standout to me. She had a fully realized character and was in the moment the whole show. Someone rudely laughed during her death scene. George was amazing. His last monologue was so full of emotion and he was crying real tears. Simply stunning. I get chills thinking about it. The actor playing Lea's father was great as well. I'm very pleased I saw the show. It's a story that needs to be continued to tell. Some of the cast were talking about a potential tour so I hope that happens. I would love to see this filmed for PBS. Also some of the staging ideas were strong and moving.
Posted: 2/8/16 at 10:26am
I went to the matinee yesterday after having seen it in the first weekend of previews.
The lyrics are still mostly terrible, some of the music is still pedestrian, and some of the book scenes are a little long -- but it's improved a great deal. It's much tighter, less trying to be Les Miz/Ragtime, and the characters are more fleshed-out. I think if it had started previews (or opened) in the shape it's in now, the bad buzz wouldn't have killed it. Its intentions have always been better than the end product.
If it doesn't tour, I think this show will at least have a decent regional life in cities with a significant Asian American population.
Posted: 2/8/16 at 10:45am
I was at the matinee yesterday. Had a TDF seat that was 2nd row in the mezzanine. Perfect view IMO. I loved the show. While it was a bit boring at parts it was intense. "Stronger Than Before" had me a mess as did the last 15 minutes of the show. I'm glad I saw it before it closes.
Posted: 2/8/16 at 10:50am
Were you near that child who kept yelling, "BRAVO!" for all to hear?
Posted: 2/8/16 at 12:48pm
No. Thank goodness for that.
Posted: 2/8/16 at 1:30pm
Mostly agree with LizzieCurry's review. I saw it during previews and again recently.
I'm sad to see this show go though. I strongly believe in the content/subject of this show and had the material been in the right hands, it would be a huge success, as it also had a phenomenal star cast. The story still moves me because of the truth it speaks. It's a really powerful and thought-provoking story and definitely touches close to home.
Perhaps many years down the line, an incredible writer can revive this as a play rather than a musical.
Updated On: 2/8/16 at 01:30 PM
Posted: 2/8/16 at 3:54pm
I saw Allegiance shortly after opening night, and I have purchased and listened to the cast recording. I really enjoyed the show and was very moved by it, and the cast recording is something I am extremely happy to have now. I agree with After Eight’s first sentence in this thread, and I think his choice of words describing the music is very fitting – the music is attractive. I enjoy the music more and more having listened to the CD a few times now. Perhaps I do not understand what “pedestrian” music is or how to recognize it, but I do not find Jay Kuo’s score significantly lacking or unusual in comparison to most any other musical score that has been produced professionally. I certainly like other scores better, but there is nothing I like so much better that I would refer to the score of Allegiance as pedestrian in comparison.
Going back to After Eight’s comments, I don’t agree with him that Allegiance is better than everything else this season. As much as I liked Allegiance, Hamilton is superior in just about every way. Hamilton is an amazing piece of entertainment and like nothing I have ever seen before. The only thing I would give Allegiance the nod over Hamilton is how moved I was leaving the theater. Hamilton comes close as I was also incredibly moved by what I experienced inside the Richard Rodgers, but what stuck with me leaving the Longacre seemed more impactful a few months ago and is more impactful now.
Posted: 2/8/16 at 8:32pm
mpkie said: "Perhaps many years down the line, an incredible writer can revive this as a play rather than a musical."
Is this really an option? (What other musicals or straight plays have been revived in the other format?) I hope they close with a decent uptick, at least. Neither of the last two Sunday shows are close to being sold out.
Posted: 2/8/16 at 8:47pm
At the show I was at last night it was nearly sold out if not not sold out. Whoever said they lost it during the last fifteen minuets that is so true. I wept. The emotions on that stage were incredible. The whole cast was invested.
