By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAY
Manzanar War Relocation Center was one of ten camps where Japanese American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were interned during World War II.
NEW YORK — In 2009, Tony Award-winning singer/actress Lea Salonga met with actor and activist George Takei at his home in Los Angeles. Takei wanted Salonga to play a role in a new stage musical he was developing, inspired by his family’s time in Japanese-American internment camps duringWorld War II.
“That was the first time we heard her sing, in my living room,” recalls Takei, 78, now co-starring with Salonga in the Broadway premiere of the musical, Allegiance, which begins previews Oct. 6. Takei and his husband, Brad Altman, “were both so excited to hear her crystalline voice resonating through the house.”
Salonga, 44, a star of Broadway’s original Miss Saigon, remembers finding a free moment to access her Twitter account. “I was tweeting, ‘Omigosh, I’m in Sulu’s living room,'” she says. “All my nerd friends immediately jumped on that.”
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