George Takei Pledges His Heart to 'Allegiance'

George Takei gets great joy in calling himself a "debutante" these days. But the man known to millions as Sulu from the classic sci-fi television series Star Trek -- and now a major activist in the LGBT community -- isn't wearing a white ball gown or doing the waltz. Instead, he's making his Broadway debut at age 78 in "Allegiance," a new musical loosely based on Takei's family's experiences in the U.S. internment camps for the Japanese during World War II. It begins performances on October 6 at the Longacre Theatre.
I recently spoke during rehearsals with Takei about this project; his life with his husband, Brad; and how he feels about his position as an LGBT activist.

EDGE: How is the rehearsal process going?

GEORGE TAKEI: Theater may only take two and a half hours, but rehearsing is eight hours straight, and my body feels used and worn. When I was younger, I could do 13 to 14 hours in a row. Not anymore. Thankfully, we have a lot of cots on the set, so I can find places to get horizontal until they have to move the cot. But it's such a thrill to be working on this show. The story is so personal that it's a joy to see it coming to life, especially with a cast that includes Lea Salonga and Telly Leung. Everyone is so talented!

EDGE: The story is taken from your family's life, right?

GT: We use the term inspired by. It's based on the story of my parents' life, and it has been heavily fictionalized. But the historical truth is real.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many Japanese-American people volunteered to serve in the U.S. military, and we were not only denied but categorized as enemy non-aliens. They put us in camps and took our citizenship away from us.

After a year or so, the government realized it had a manpower shortage and had to justify how they could recruit us for service, so they came down with a sloppy loyalty questionnaire that anyone over 17, male or female, citizen or not, had to answer. It was outrageous.

The amazing thing is that thousands of people swallowed their bitterness, said yes, and fought for this country, and were then put into a segregated unit and used as cannon fodder to fight in Europe. They came back the most decorated and heroic unit in the whole Army.

EDGE: Are you afraid the story won't appeal to non-Japanese audiences?

GT: No. First, "Allegiance" is the story of a family whose bond prevails through incredible stress, and that story is universal. Plus, thanks to Donald Trump, we have to face this whole "immigrant" issue again. We've got to learn from our history, and I am afraid we haven't.

EDGE: Did you always envision this story as a musical?

GT: No! It seemed to have been foreordained -- I don't believe in coincidences. Some years ago, my husband, Brad, and I went to see "Forbidden Broadway," and this guy in front of us recognized my voice. The next night, we saw "In the Heights," and after we took our seats, we see these two arms waving at us and realized it was the same guys. Brad thought they were stalking us.

Anyway, near the end of the first act of "In the Heights," the father sings this moving aria about his daughter going to college that expresses his frustration about not being to help, and it triggered a memory of when I was a child in the internment camps and I used to talk with my father after dinner about his anguish when we were in Arkansas and he didn't know what our future was going to be. Anyway, I'm known as a weeper, and I am crying copiously. At intermission, the lights come blazing up, and these guys come over and see this and ask why I am wiping away these tears. It turns out these guys happened to be Jay Kuo, who became our composer-lyricist, and Lorenzo Thione, who became our producer.

EDGE: What happened next?

GT: We went out to dinner, and we talked about my adult feelings about my childhood. While I had already planned to use the first third of my memoir as a play, Jay talked about music being the most powerful way to the heart. So we continued to talk by email, and eventually they came down to visit us and we went to the Japanese American National Museum in L.A., which tells the story of internment camps, and the next generation's struggle for success.

I honestly didn't know how good Jay was as a songwriter, but then he sent me a song called "Allegiance" a few weeks later, and it was my father's anguish, and I started bawling again. Eventually, there was a script, and then we did a reading with these adults who had been in internment camps. Of course, there was a lot of discussion and nitpicking, and so that's how the final script got developed. And here we are now on the most important stage of the American theater.

EDGE: Switching topics, you didn't publicly come out until about 10 years ago. Is that when you realized you were gay?

GT: Hardly. I made some realization about sexual orientation very early on. In the 1950s, Tab Hunter was my heartthrob. But when he was exposed by Confidential magazine as a homosexual -- that was a chilling object lesson. I wanted passionately to be actor and didn't want to be outed. Yes, I did go to gay bars, but I always afraid of being recognized, and I always had my guard up.

EDGE: Was your sexual orientation common knowledge among the cast of "Star Trek?"

GT: For the most part, the "Star Trek" cast always knew, because we had these end-of-the-week parties and I would bring these "buddies." Everyone was very supportive, except for one guy, and you can guess who that was. Basically, he was just too self-absorbed to notice!

EDGE: So what made you come out publicly?

GT: In 2005, my coming out was triggered by then governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refusing to sign California's gay marriage bill. That's when Brad and I decided it was time. I was in my 60s, and we had been together for almost 20 years. I decided I didn't need to live with my guard up anymore. And yet, I still thought what happened to Tab might happen to me.

EDGE: And now, you are really an activist!

GT: I remember my dad explained to me one night when I was a teenager that the core factor of any people's democracy is that it is as great or as fallible as people are. In fact, he introduced me shortly after that night to electoral politics by having me work on Adlai Stevenson's campaign for president. So I became an activist of sorts even back then.

EDGE: And now you and Brad have a web series, and speak out about Kim Davis, and truly help the community in so many ways. Is it too much sometimes?

GT: Well, I get a lot of letters asking for contributions or aid of some sort, and they are all moving and poignant, but one has got to be selective with who you support. I think the best thing Brad and I can do is to educate others and society. I know I've been blessed with "celebrity," and because of that I try to act in that capacity as much as I can. I still find any kind of bigotry baffling.

EDGE: Do you still experience it personally?

GT: Yes, and not necessarily as a gay man. Not long ago, when I did a "Star Trek" convention in Tallahassee, the organizers and I went out for breakfast on Sunday morning to a Denny's or someplace like that. And in the booth next of us were these gray-haired ladies talking loudly about how all the "Jappies" were coming here. The organizers offered to move to another table, but I insisted that we didn't. And when we walked out, I gave them a good, long stare!