Today, former Star Trek actor George Takei is better known for his incredible social media presence. He’s trying to change that now by taking on Broadway through Allegiance, a new play that’s loosely based on his own life. In a new interview, Takei talked about the play and also his relationship with Trek co-star William Shatner.
Allegiance will be staged at the Longacre Theater and begins previews in October, with an official opening scheduled for Nov. 8. In an interview with the New York Times Magazine this week, he said that he just helped put the posting on the marquee.
The musical is about Takei’s life in an internment camp during World War II. He told the Times that he really wished that his father could see that their story is being told on Broadway.
“Takei is his surname, and the play is about an event that affected him so profoundly. He came back to Los Angeles from the camp with nothing — literally penniless — and was living on Skid Row,” Takei told the Times.
Takei said that he also sees similarities between the internment camps during the war and how gay men used to be treated.
“When I was going to gay bars in my 20s and 30s, the older guys there explained to me that the police would occasionally raid these places and march the clients out, load them onto paddy wagons, drive them down to the station, photograph them, fingerprint them and put their names on a list,” Takei recalled. “They were doing nothing wrong, and it was criminalized.”
The conversation also turned to Shatner and there has been tension recently between the two Trek stars. However, Takei suggests there’s only tension whenever Shatner thinks he needs some extra publicity. Otherwise, their relationship isn’t that bad.
“It’s difficult working with someone who is not a team player,” Takei said of working with Shatner. “The rest of the cast all understand what makes a scene work — it’s everybody contributing to it. But Bill is a wonderful actor, and he knows it, and he likes to have the camera on him all the time.”
Takei told the Times that he has already forgiven Shatner and even invited him to Allegiance’s opening night.
image courtesy of Kristin Callahan/ACE/INFphoto.com