METROVANINDEPENDENT.COM
November 2015
17
ENTERTAINMENT
Lea Salonga returns to Broadway with ‘Allegiance’
By Janet Nepales
Los Angeles – “This never gets old,” an
excited Lea Salonga told us about her
return to Broadway with the musical,
“Allegiance.”
“The piece is incredibly good and of
course, I said yes,” she added.
Lea was first approached for the
musical, inspired by the experiences of
“Star Trek” TV series alum George Takei, in
2009 – the year she also did a reading for it.
“Allegiance” was previously staged at
the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in 2012.
Appearing as Kei Kimura in the musical,
Lea is reunited with actor George Takei,
who portrays Sam Kimura/Ojii-chan. Lea
and George first worked together when
they did the voices in the Disney film
“Mulan” in 1998. Lea was the singing
voice for Mulan and George was the First
Ancestor.
“He is such a joyful man,” Lea said of
George. “It is such an incredible thing to be
around him and the crowd is so receptive.
He is funny, articulate, incredibly intelligent
and passionate about his projects. He is 78
years old and he is incredibly inspirational.”
Lea Salonga.
“George said there were some
words that were never exchanged
between him and his Papa. He
never got a chance to apologize
as a young man. So he gets to do
it onstage every night."
- Lea Salonga
Also in “Allegiance” are Telly Leung
(“Godspell,” “Glee”) who portrays the
young Sammy Kimura, Michael K. Lee
(“Miss Saigon,” “Rent” and “Jesus Christ
Superstar”) who plays Frankie Suzuki, and
Katie Rose Clarke (“Wicked” and “The
Light In The Piazza”) who acts as Nurse
Hannah Campbell.
The musical, which runs at the
Longacre Theatre, is inspired by the trueto-life experience of George Takei as it
follows one family’s extraordinary journey
when Sam (Takei) goes back 60 years ago
to recall how he and his sister Kei (Salonga)
strove to save their family from the wrongful
imprisonment of Japanese Americans
during World War II.
Allegiance at Longacre Theatre.
It will be Lea’s sixth stint on Broadway
and her first since she did Fantine in “Les
Misérables” in 2007.
Her excitement over being back in
Broadway and doing “Allegiance” is
palpable.
She shared, “The piece is emotional
and very touching so I said yes, first
because my husband (Robert Chien) is
half-Japanese, half-Chinese American so
I have a Japanese-Chinese-AmericanFilipino daughter, so this is very meaningful
for her. Rob attended one show with his
grandmother, who had escaped internment
by fleeing to Colorado. She is 94 years old
and she has never f