George Takei's Allegiance - Charing Cross Theatre

Yes people do still buy dvds, while not denying there can be better quality picture and sound via Blu-ray the difference it makes for most viewing is slight and most TVs and players upscale automatically and just doesn't warrant the 50% increase in cost.

As not tied to any steaming services at present I have to catch up some series via their hard copy release and it's been noticeable that there are a lot of films and TV shows only releasing dvd versions now.

Caught this on Saturday afternoon, really enjoyed it. As someone said above, if the stated aim is to tell a story and shine a light on the treatment of people during the war then it absolutely succeeds. I had very little knowledge of how they were treated and am now reading a little more into the subject. Objective achieved!

As a show, it does 'hang' on Takei, he's the reason bums are on seats. I usually avoid 'celebrity' driven shows but considering this is his baby, not just a celebrity tacked on to sell a show, then I was happy to make an exception. Unusual crowd at it I think, although as a general rule, anything that gets paying people into a theatre and paid actors a place to perform, is OK in my book!

Aynrand Ferrer does a LOT of the heavy lifting when it comes to the singing, she is absolutely the standout performer for me. A mention to Patrick Munday too, who was part of the Cheerleader cast which was the highlight of last year for me. He develops his role really nicely, especially in the second half. Overall I would recommend it, even if the pacing isn't to everyone's taste, the ending is very strong.

Im quite suprised at how nuch liked this as 90's sounding musical theatre ballads is not my thing

The story is really moving and i was so impressed with Telly Leung who really has that star power. Aynrand Ferrer was also excellent but to be honest the whole company and unformaly fab.

Best show at CCT since Titanic.

24 hour sale on TodayTix - go get them seats!

I think they've made mistake in making front rows Premium, and including a signed poster.  When they don't sell, it just creates a gulf between actors and audience which must be disheartening all round - hence moving forward.  It looks like Mr Takei is often (always?) out front to meet fans afterwards, so the value of the 'up front seating' is not very exclusive anyway.

Yes they did this when I was there too.

If you want to sit closer to George Takei, choose rows A to H. That's the side he's sitting closer to most of the time. Otherwise both sides are fine but make sure you get seats in the middle of the rows.

Saw this today, there’s a tag line on the poster that says it’s “uplifting” but it’s literally the opposite. I thought the performances were great, but the whole thing was a bit dull and boring. In shows you usually get happy bits, then sad bits, then happy bits, but this just seemed to go sad, sadder, even sadder, saddest. I just came out of it feeling a bit deflated tbh, especially after arsenals loss to Everton just before.

I am glad I went to this and the cast sang well, with great ensemble work and did the most they could with the material. Whilst the songs fair moved along, the lyrics were at best serviceable and I felt that there could have been more to the storyline in terms of exploration of the after effects of the war and the effects on the Japanese community. It just wasn’t very subtle and a lot brushed over. My friend was a lot more emotional than me though.

Staging in traverse was a mistake. It hampered the cast (so only half could perform to each side at any one time) and most of the time they were performing to the orchestra side ways to the audience. Good on the decision to ask the audience to move forward (the first rows would have been empty otherwise). A decent 3 stars for me.

I probably learned more from the article I read which had initially piqued my interest (not the headline which focuses on William Shatner!).

www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/nov/28/star-trek-george-takei-on-william-shatner-love-and-life-as-an-enemy-alien

I enjoyed this tonight. It's an easy story to understand with good singing and the score is pleasant enough even if there are few stand-out songs.

Great to see George Takei, what a legend together with his Star Trek chums and unchum. Been watching it since I was five or six and still in love with the series and most of its sequels.

Note to Charing Cross Theatre: it's a really bad idea, maybe even on safety grounds, to have a stall selling stuff just in front of the only exit from the auditorium.

Can anybody advise where is best to sit for this? I’m seeing different versions of the seating plan and I’m slightly confused. Is the production along the lines of ‘in the round’?
Thanks for any help.