Fearful as I am of the big Broadway musical, I left Allegiance Saturday afternoon delightfully blown away. This is really one musical you need to see.

First and foremost, George Takei (yes Mr. Sulu and Howard Stern’s favorite gay male guest) is a wonder. He plays two parts here, as Allegiance takes us from present day to when the atrocities that make up the bulk of this play occurred.

Takei gets the best humorous moments (and yes there are some even in a play as heavy as this) and his ending scene will bring tears to your eyes, if you aren’t crying before. The rest of cast here is a delight from the stunning Lea Salonga with her gorgeous pipes, Telly Leung and Christòpheren Nomura to too many others to name here.

The songs tell the story neatly and without much fanfare. There might not be any one tune you are humming on the way out of the theatre, but I feel in some ways this is a perfect theatre score when it comes to exposition and evoking feeling for what is certainly a modern black mark on American history.

But Allegiance is more than a well told historical play. It is a story of people and their stories. People living and breathing even in the face of the worst adversity, people trying to retain their spirit or “Gaman” a word used often here (meaning “endurance and dignity” according to the author’s not in the Playbill the inspiration and guiding light for this production) and people we so come to care for.

Allegiance is now playing on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre. For information and to purchase tickets, please visit http://allegiancemusical.com/.