The New York Times - Somewhat Recommended
"..."Allegiance," a new musical about the internment of Japanese-Americans in camps during World War II, could be said to suffer from a problem of divided loyalties, and I'm not referring to its characters. The show wants to illuminate a dark passage in American history with complexity and honesty, but the first requirement of any Broadway musical is to entertain. While well-intentioned and polished, "Allegiance" struggles to balance both ambitions, and doesn't always find an equilibrium."
NY Daily News - Somewhat Recommended
"...There's noble and meaty material here. But the storytelling has issues. The production, directed by Stafford Arima, is a jumble - super-serious here, airy musical-comedy there. Kuo's score careens from grand pop opera anthems to earnest but trivial self-help filler songs...'Allegiance' also wants to make a significant statement. But it's too tangled to say very much."
Associated Press - Not Recommended
"...Internment camps, racial discrimination and an atomic bomb blast are challenging topics to incorporate into a satisfying night of theater. The heavy-handed, cliche-driven "Allegiance" which opened Sunday at the Longacre Theatre tries to take on all three - but does so unsuccessfully in a bombastic and generic Broadway musical."
Hollywood Reporter - Somewhat Recommended
"...There's a tremendously affecting scene at the end of Allegiance in which George Takei's character, his eyes glistening with tears, reconciles with his conflicted past and finds a promise of comfort that has eluded him for more than 50 years. The knowledge that the story was inspired by Takei's childhood hardships in the Japanese-American "relocation centers" of World War II adds significantly to the emotional impact. But the powerful sentiments involved are too often flattened by the pedestrian lyrics and unmemorable melodies of Jay Kuo's score, making an unconvincing case for this material's suitability to be a musical."
Variety - Somewhat Recommended
"...The strength of 'Allegiance' is in the story. Not the musical's book, which is no more than serviceable, but the disturbing real-life events behind it...Authentic moments are few and fleeting, overwhelmed by standard love songs...In their sincere efforts to 'humanize' their complex historical material, the creatives have oversimplified and reduced it to generic themes...It must be said that the production values are quite high. The design of the show is highly stylized, but in a meaningful way."
Newsday - Recommended
"...The show isn't bombastic or preachy, though some may find the well-structured book too earnest. Kuo's serviceable score is loaded with anthems...Although we hear enticing Japanese flute and percussion between scenes, this more 'Le Miz'-lite pop opera than a fusion of musical cultures. But I was engrossed throughout. The show has fully developed characters, a strong cast and a new story to tell in an old-fashioned way."
amNY - Not Recommended
"...It's so depressing when a new musical that explores an important historical event turns out to have so many problems...The musical gets derailed by Jay Kuo's weak score (full of derivative music and pedestrian lyrics), the busy, broad nature of the plotting and Stafford Arima's unexciting staging...'Allegiance' does raise awareness about a dark, overlooked chapter in American history. But considering the show's problems, it is unlikely to find a wide audience."
Wall Street Journal - Not Recommended
"...It is of no artistic value whatsoever, save as an object lesson in how to write a really bad Broadway musical. 'Allegiance' is peopled with characters made of solid cardboard. The Japanese-Americans are all noble and true, the Caucasians yawping apes save for a bosomy blonde nurse from Nebraska who-stop press-falls for an internee!...The cast is mostly very fine, especially Mr. Takei and the marvelous Lea Salonga...But the show itself is a dud-and a missed opportunity. "
NorthJersey - Not Recommended
"...The production is hampered by the mixed signals it sends out. Are we supposed to become involved by outrage at what was done to these innocent people, or entertained by the performance of traditional Broadway musical routines?...It isn't clear, actually, why 'Allegiance' needed to be a musical at all. Most of the songs fall into a numbing pattern...The show's final scene is extremely touching. It's too bad the show couldn't find, and sustain, a similar tone much earlier."
Washington Post - Recommended
"..."Allegiance" does an excellent job explaining the lingering damage the internment inflicts. The musical is framed by the decades-long estrangement between Sammy and his older sister Kei (Lea Salonga, the original Kim of "Miss Saigon") after she marries an internee (Michael K. Lee)."
Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...But although it revolves around the Kimura family, ripped apart by life in the camps, "Allegiance" gets trapped in the very freneticism of its own storytelling. Relationships are built and fall apart without anyone seeming to take the time to think through the implications of anything. Even the small number of emotionally potent ballads in Kuo's florid, traditional and mostly romantic score are taken at a tempo where you wonder how the singer has any time to emote anything. So go the scenes, designed with retro fluidity, by Donyale Werle. Nobody seems to take the time to think, or to feel."
NBC New York - Recommended
"..."Allegiance" is the new Broadway musical inspired by "Star Trek" alum George Takei's experience in Japanese internment camps during World War II. It's a poignant and well-crafted story, with a title that operates on multiple levels."
Time Out New York - Not Recommended
"...If only the creative team behind 'Allegiance' could have worked such gentle magic with the raw and painful material of history. This well-intentioned but mawkish musical about a family interned after Pearl Harbor tries to balance romance, humor and tragedy, but crumples things badly...There's a complex tale of honor, shame and assimilation here, but it's been stretched out to cartoonish billboard size.
The Guardian - Somewhat Recommended
"...'Allegiance' should be better served by its book, score and lyrics, most of which tend toward the generic. Stafford Arima's direction does too. Composer and lyricist Jay Kuo and book writers Marc Acito and Lorenzo Thione are striving so hard for stirring nobility that individuality or particular characterization falls by the wayside...The show only really acquires force once the body count rises and the familiar tropes of melodrama are employed.""
Deadline - Somewhat Recommended
"...George Takei, who would grow up to play Lt. Hikaru Sulu on Star Trek, was five years old in 1942 when his family and some 120,000 other Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast were forcibly relocated to internment camps in California and more distant places. His memory of those years of humiliation, deprivation and determination has been filtered through the prism of a creative trio of musical-theater novices. The result is Allegiance, a somewhat ungainly musical that has moments of beauty and passion, as well as a complexity of themes that are not the usual stuff of Broadway shows."
Talkin Broadway - Not Recommended
"...But none of this has been executed with any wit, color, or invention that may even partially obscure what they're going for...If it all sounds as crushingly boring as it is socially responsible, it is. Dramatic works in general predictably suffer from being forced into activism molds, because any instituted myopia drastically complicates (and perhaps impedes altogether) the process crafting people and situations that can be cared about on anything but a surface level.""
TheaterMania - Recommended
"...Shockingly, it works: Not only is 'Allegiance' a grandiose epic reminiscent of Miss Saigon, it also serves as a compelling family drama...'Allegiance' is delightfully old-school: a big schmaltzy musical of dubious historical accuracy delivered with ample humor and heart...Stafford Arima's fast-paced, ever-moving production reinforces that tone."
Huffington Post - Recommended
"...'Allegiance' is not tiresomely noble. Nor does it waste its time pointing out the obvious injustice of what happened. Instead, it creates vivid drama from the conflicts in the Japanese American community...But a musical lives and dies by its songs. Many a show has a weak book but gets revived by a great score...The music and lyrics by Kuo while moving the plot forward are rarely good enough to stand out on their own."
NY Theatre Guide - Recommended
"...Allegiance' is more of an operetta than a musical. As such the characters find their voices in the music. There is little in the dialog that is remarkable or revealing. There is an interracial love story that livens up the plot, but other than that the story and the blocking are fairly predictable. Which is not to say boring. Because it is the music that tells the tale, and the music is quite wonderful...Ultimately what wins you over is the heart to heart connection."
Broadway World - Somewhat Recommended
"...Bookwriters Marc Acito, Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione do a fine job in voicing the multiple issues involved with the situation with earnestness, and director Arima's production eschews extravagance to focus on the human story, but 'Allegiance' lacks a score that meets the emotional demands of its subject...This is a great topic for a musical and the talented company plays it admirably, but 'Allegiance,' while certainly not a bad theatre piece, is an underachieving one."
