Reading to Feature Lea Salonga and George Takei

[musicaltheater1]

Posted: 7/6/09 at 10:54pm

Playbill News from Andrew Gans:

Tony Award winner Lea Salonga and George Takei will take part in a staged reading of the new musical Allegiance.

The July 13 reading will be held at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. The cast will also feature Jose Llana, James Snyder, Michael K. Lee, Enrico Rodriguez, Jennifer Paz and Michael Hagiwara.


More in the Playbill Article

[EarthLuau]

Posted: 7/23/09 at 9:16pm

By Lea Salonga
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:03:00 07/22/2009

MANILA, Philippines?When I wrote my column last week, I was heading to bed after a long rehearsal day for a reading of a new musical called ?Allegiance,? a story about a Japanese-American family and their experience in the Heart Mountain Relocation Center (read: concentration camp).

The reading hadn?t yet taken place then. I had initially intended to add a short postscript to tell you how the reading went, but my deadline came and went while I was 35,000 feet in the air on my way to Manila.

However, there was a lot that went on that Monday.

Long, busy day

Early morning, I had all my stuff ready to go in my little suitcase. One of the reading?s volunteers, a lovely half-Portuguese half-Filipino man named Dexter, came to pick me up from my aunt?s home. I knew it would be a long and busy day so I asked Dexter to drive for me and thankfully he obliged.

We arrived at the Japanese-American National Museum just a little past 10 a.m. I headed to the Hall of Democracy?s green room to settle in. Jennifer Paz had just arrived the night before and was already rehearsing her music with Michael Lee (the two would play the reading?s romantic leads, Gloria and James).

My call wasn?t until 10:30, so I had a few minutes to chill out before it came time to rehearse our trios. Once everyone else arrived, Jay Kuo (one of the show?s creators, as well as its composer and lyricist) got us together to rehearse a little bit. We had to use the green room; the piano in the main hall where the reading would take place was still being tuned. (On a side note, the tuning device the piano guy was using had to be one of the most high-tech pieces of equipment I?ve ever seen. It?s called the Rayburn CyberTuner, a long, long way from the tuning fork.)

From script to score

When the piano was tuned Jen and I started plunking out some of the more difficult harmonies (she was tonight?s designated soprano, I was the alto). After we were done, she kept on practicing her stuff while I checked my binder to make sure all my pages flowed smoothly from script to score and back again.

It was just about time for lunch, and since Tamlyn Tomita (?The Karate Kid II,? ?The Joy Luck Club?) had a long break, she volunteered to head to the nearest Korean barbecue place to grab lunch for everyone. She was our ?Mommy? for the day, bringing back grilled chicken and bulgogi, with tons of salad, rice and soup on the side.

After lunch, Jose Llana (my leading man on ?Flower Drum Song,? as well as the creator of the character of Chip Tolentino in the hit Broadway musical ?Spelling Bee?) walked in, and jumped right into things. We would now roughly go through some music and technical moments before our run-through.

We all got dressed at about 4 p.m. and did one run, stopping only occasionally to fix a note or correct a mistake. I rehearsed this run in my jeans because I forgot to bring my black trousers (they were hanging on the back of a chair). Thank heavens my aunt would be attending the reading, and she took the trousers with her at about 6 p.m.

After the run I munched on my leftovers from lunch while slapping some makeup on and pulling my hair back. I didn?t have to go heavy on the eyes; I would be wearing my glasses for tonight.

The audience started filing in at about 6:30. Our reading would start at around 7:10. In single file, we in the cast headed to our chairs on the stage.

The reading started with a speech by Lorenzo Thione, our producer. (Here?s a factoid for computer geeks: Lorenzo?s one of the co-founders of Powerset, a tech startup that was sold to Microsoft a year ago. I had no idea what Powerset or the Bing search engine was, but Rob knew right away when I told him.)

Then Jay got up to speak. Once he was done, the lights went down. George stood at his microphone, and our reading began.

It?s amazing what happens in a performance ?stakes are raised incredibly high that many moments feel like a matter of life and death. During her performance as Kimiko, Tamlyn let out a wail, a mother?s cry that started from within her soul and burst forth into the room. I was only a couple of feet from her, which wasn?t helpful. Her wail got me crying, right before I had to sing one of my solos.

Actually, the entire reading was a deeply emotional experience: United States citizens placed behind barbed wire fences, living in shoddily built shelters under the harshest conditions in the middle of nowhere; the 442nd, a segregated armed unit that became the most decorated in World War II; finding your first love, and losing it; plus the music Jay wrote and the script that followed.

There were many moments that moved us, and the audience, to tears.

I headed back to Manila with a full heart. Reading ?Allegiance? reminded me of one reason I do what I do: I love telling a good story with music and lyrics, taking an audience on a journey with me. It?s also wonderful telling a tale that needs to be heard.

[fgreene1938]

Posted: 7/23/09 at 10:13pm

I hope this goes on to a full-fledged staging. I saw Salonga and Llana in Flower Drum Song and their chemistry was palpable. Jose Llana said some very kind things about her when we spoke at the Spelling Bee stage door. He's a very nice guy and obviously admires her talent. It'll be great if this leads to something more.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 7/23/09 at 10:33pm

George Takei could do a reading of Special K ingredients and it sound sexy.