Allegiance, with Takei and Salonga, Aims for Broadway Bow in 2011

The new musical Allegiance, recently presented at a reading in Los Angeles on July 13, is bound for Broadway. Former Star Trek star George Takei, who took part in the reading, told Howard Stern on his Sirius/XM radio show today that the musical should hit Broadway in 2011. Takei said that the audience was moved to tears at the presentation at the Japanese American National Museum, which also starred Miss Saigon Tony winner Lea Salonga.

Described as a story of love, loss and heroism during the World War II Japanese-American internment, Allegiance has music and lyrics by Jay Kuo, who co-wrote the book with Lorenzo Thione. Takei plays the role of Sam Omura, the patriarch of a family from Salinas, California, who must move his family to Heart Mountain, a “relocation facility” shared with 10,000 other Japanese-Americans. Salonga played the role of Gloria Suzuki, Sam’s former sister-in-law, in the reading, and is expected to take the show to Broadway.

Also featured in the Los Angeles reading of Allegiance were Broadway’s Jose Llana (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Flower Drum Song), James Snyder (Cry-Baby), Michael K. Lee (Pacific Overtures), Jennifer Paz (Les Miserables) and Enrico Rodriguez (Rent) as well as L.A. actors Michael Hagiwara and Tamlyn Tomita.