NEW YORK — A musical inspired by Japanese American actor George Takei’s childhood experiences in a World War II concentration camp has opened on Broadway.

Takei, most famous for playing Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek TV series and movies, expressed hope that “Allegiance — a new American musical” would advance his lifelong goal of making a painful chapter in history known to the American public.

“We have to finish the nice, long successful run,” the 78-year-old actor told Kyodo News before the Oct. 6 start of the show at Longacre Theatre, which follows an extended run on the West Coast in 2012. “We will organize a road company that will travel through the U.S.”

In 1942, roughly 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast were sent to remote camps in ten locations in seven states such as Arizona and Utah, on the assumption they posed a threat to national security, after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor triggered the war in the Pacific theater.

Takei, who was then 5 years old and living in Los Angeles, was among them. Along with his parents and siblings, he was initially transported to a camp in Arkansas.

The family was later sent to the Tule Lake center in California with harsher living conditions for people deemed “disloyal” after Takei’s parents refused to pledge allegiance to the United States during mandatory questioning.

The musical portrays confrontation, dispersal and reconciliation in the family of Sammy — a young Japanese American played by Telly Leung, and his sister Kei, played by Lea Salonga, who received the Tony best actress award for her role in the musical “Miss Saigon.”

Takei also plays a part.

“Allegiance” completed a two-month-long run at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in 2012, a record for the theater.

Following the preview starting Oct. 6, “Allegiance” will officially open in New York on Nov. 8.