For the past two years, on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, Fathom Events has screened the film version of George Takei’s touching Broadway musical, Allegiance. Following the Kimura family post-World War II, the story exposes the true tragedies faced by many Japanese families in America once forced to leave their homes and register in incarceration camps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. According to Den of Geek, Allegiance “had a respectable run of just under 150 performances on Broadway from October of 2015 until February of 2016”. However, because Broadway smash, Hamilton opened within the same year, Takei found himself having to sell tickets at a discount in order to compete.
Takei knew that this story had the potential to reach audiences further than their run in New York. Because of this, he pushed for the musical to be filmed. Now with much success hitting the box offices these last two years, Fathom Events will be screening its documentary, Allegiance to Broadway: The Dream. The Story. The Journey of A Musical, presenting behind the scenes footage of how this hard hitting musical came to be. Directed by Greg Vander Veer, not only is this film able to capture Takei’s emotional experience throughout this process, but the entire cast, including creators Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione, as they engage with this brutal period that is often forgotten by America.
While the team plans to release their documentary on December 4th, according to Times Square Chronicles, “Fathom Events will also bring Allegiance, the filmed version of the original Broadway production, back to cinemas nationwide for an encore event on Tuesday, December 11th at 7:30 pm (local time)”. This time however, audiences will have the opportunity to watch new, exclusive, never before seen footage between star George Takei and the creative team behind Allegiance. Screening in over 600 movie theatres nationwide, hopefully the documentary will help Takei to bring proper attention to the atrocities faced by hundreds of thousands of imprisoned Japanese Americans.
AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. Check out our Twitter feed and Facebook page for more content. Please consider interning, joining our staff or submitting a story.
