GEORGE Takei at the Longacre. Photos by Lia Chang
LOS ANGELES—I’ve just landed in LA the day after “Allegiance” performed its final show on the evening of Valentine’s Day. The show in the afternoon felt like the usual, but the evening had a different feeling to it.
At 6:15 p.m., 45 minutes before show time, the whole cast and members of our creative team gathered onstage to rehearse the finale and curtain call.
Our heroic swings—Belinda Allyn, Owen Johnston II, Manna Nichols and Sam Tatsuo Tanabe—would get their own special bow, and our creatives—choreographer Andrew Palermo and his associate Jenny Parsinen, book writer Marc Acito, book writer-composer-lyricist Jay Kuo, book writer-lead producer Lorenzo Thione, music supervisor-arranger-orchestrator Lynne Shankel—would join the curtain call, like they did on opening night.
Our director Stafford Arima was there for the rehearsal and to deliver one final address for all of us, but quietly slipped out during the actual show.
Emotions were running very high. Many of the girls had tears streaming down their faces, having a tough time containing this combination of excitement, celebration, sadness and grief.
We all took the time to say our goodbyes and give bear hugs to the in-house crew one by one, thanking them for welcoming us so warmly to the Longacre Theatre. Over the course of the week, we emptied our dressing rooms, taking our stuff home.
During the performance itself, we had one technical glitch. Normally, this would be reason to panic, but on this night, it was a blessing. It helped us, as a company, refocus our energies on the performance rather than on this being our last show. And the rest of the show went incredibly well. We sang and danced our faces off. It was fantastic!
After receiving our guests and making sure we had no more personal effects in our dressing rooms, we headed to Southern Hospitality to celebrate. A special “Allegiance” backdrop was where many photos were taken, and my favorite photos were that of a bunch of us wearing our special “Allegiance” onesies!
It was so nice to see many of us from the cast, stage management and music departments wearing this black garment. On the back, it reads, “#onesiefamily”—and we most certainly are one!
I decided to call it a night as I had a lot of packing and cleaning up to do, while many others headed over to Pier 15 at South Street Seaport for one last hurrah on a Hornblower cruise vessel.
We had a party on one of their boats for opening night, so it was fitting that on closing night, there would be another one.
To my “Allegiance” family, I miss you all terribly, but our paths shall cross again. Besides, I’ll be back in New York in the spring. Here’s to more adventures then!
The author and costar Telly Leung in their onesies.
‘Miss Saigon’ auditions
I’ve saved the rest of my Backstory space for this special announcement from Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group (Ateg):
Cameron Mackintosh announces Open Call Auditions in Manila for various global productions of “Miss Saigon,” the record-breaking production that is taking London by storm and opens on Broadway in 2017.
Auditions will be represented and facilitated in Manila by Bobby Garcia and Atlantis, and held at the Opera Haus (3657 Bautista St., Makati City.)
“The producing and creative team of ‘Miss Saigon’ will be flying in from London to hold auditions for various global productions of the hit musical. I look forward to working with them in discovering a new generation of Filipino talent to shine on the international stage in ‘Miss Saigon,’ the way Lea Salonga, Leo Valdez, Jon Jon Briones, Joanna Ampil and Rachelle Ann Go, among many others, have in the past,” says Garcia, who was also an associate director for “Miss Saigon.”
“We encourage performers throughout the Asian region to come to Manila and audition for the musical,” added Garcia.
All applicants must be 16-40 years old with strong singing voices (all vocal ranges) and proficient in the English language. Some dance movement experience preferred.
For registration, bring your photo and CV. For auditions, prepare 16 bars of a song from “Miss Saigon” (a pianist will be provided to accompany you). Otherwise, bring your own music scores or CD.
Registration dates are on March 11 and 12 from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at the Opera Haus. Auditions are on March 15 and 16 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
So, what are you waiting for?