Tony Award-Winner: Best Play
Drama Desk Award-Winner: Outstanding New Play
Biloxi Blues
by Neil Simon
directed by Max Williams
GoldStar Roar of the Crowd Winner!
- 05/14/07 REVIEW: Fullerton Observer
- 05/17/07 REVIEW: Back Stage West
- 05/21/07 REVIEW: StageCritter.com
- 05/29/07 REVIEW: What The Butler Saw
- More Press on The Chance
THEATER REVIEW
Biloxi Blues
by Eliot Rosenthal, Fullerton Observer
May 14, 2007
I believe that all serious theatergoers enjoy or are moved in some way by an excellent performance. I also believe that the enjoyment or any other emotion that they feel increases markedly when they can identify personally with a play’s characters and situations.
That was the case when I attended Chance Theater’s production of Neil Simon’s semi-autobiographical comedy “Biloxi Blues.” I felt that the characters in the play, six young World War II Army recruits undergoing basic training could be mirror images of young men that I encountered during my own military service. So the play, aside from being extremely well done, was of special interest and appeal to me.
The storyline is about a Jewish teenager from New York City named Eugene Morris Jerome who is inducted in to the U.S. Army during the late stages of World War II. Eugene is sent to an Army camp in Biloxi, Mississippi for basic training. There he must adjust to his new life living, working and training with a diverse group of fellow recruits while enduring the whims, taunts and punishment from a tough, seemingly unstable drill sergeant.
Jerome, away from home for the first time, keeps a journal of the daily events in his life and soon gets an introduction into the world beyond Coney Island. Among other things he experiences hostile prejudice and while on a pass in the city he is introduced to sex for pay. Jerome loses his virginity in a hilarious scene with a patient and understanding prostitute.
The main focus of the play however, is the interaction between the six recruits and the drill sergeant who harasses them. The play is funny, indeed hilarious at times but it is also [a] window into the hearts and minds of the young men. There are serious aspects to be considered.
There are nine cast members and every one of them does a very creditable job. I was especially taken with the performances of David J. Dalton as the demanding drill sergeant, A.J. Gutierrez as Jerome and Michael Irish as Arnold Epstein, a stubborn nonconforming loner.
“Biloxi Blues” is directed by Max Williams whose credits include numerous productions throughout the United States. The play runs until June 17.
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THEATER REVIEW
Biloxi Blues
by Melinda Schupmann, Back Stage West
May 17, 2007
Often criticized for being bland and formulaic, Neil Simon's plays are nonetheless exceedingly popular with theatre companies and audiences. The experiences of his characters seem intrinsically familiar, like stepping into an episode of your own life. In this second chapter of his Eugene trilogy (Brighton Beach Memoirs, Broadway Bound), he plumbs a richer field of moral dilemmas but always with a keen sense of humor.
Now grown up, Eugene Morris Jerome (A. J. Gutierrez) is in the Army, stationed in Mississippi in 1943. His fellow recruits (Bryan Barton, Jonathan Howard, Michael Marinaccio, Michael Irish, and Justin McCaffrey) are a microcosm of personality types, allowing budding writer Eugene to chronicle his thoughts about them in his diary. He declares he has three goals during this period: to become a writer, not get killed, and lose his virginity. By play's end he has visited a prostitute, Rowena (Staci Johnson), and fallen in love, with Daisy Hannigan (Sarah Moreau).
The ensemble works beautifully together thanks to fine direction by Max Williams. Characters are nuanced, avoiding potential caricature. Gutierrez makes a likable Eugene, observing and commenting as the story unfolds. Masako Tobaru's simple bi-level set of army cots makes a neat staging for the unfolding story, keeping the action focused on the characters. Christian Lemay's lighting design also highlights the days and nights of basic training.
A standout is David J. Dalton as Sgt. Merwin J. Toomey, an old-school drill instructor who blends tough tactics with occasional glimpses of heart. As he begins to season his recruits, he encounters a Jewish intellectual, Arnold Epstein (adroitly played by Irish), who questions authority and acts as a bellwether for Eugene's development and later reflection.
This is probably one of the most interesting of Simon's self-studies. Through Epstein, Simon casts a shadow over Eugene's behavior, leaving the audience with the opportunity to critique Eugene's lack of activism in the face of adversity. Thoughtful reflection combined with Simon's inherent humor make this part of the trilogy especially well-crafted.
Presented by and at the Chance Theater, 5552 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim. Thu.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. May 4-Jun. 17. (714) 777-3033. www.chancetheater.com.
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THEATER REVIEW
Biloxi Blues - The Chance Theater
by Michael Buss, Stage Critter
May 21, 2007
I have watched this little theatre grow from the days when we actors changed under the risers, and ran back stage once the audience was seated, to a wing area almost as small as a shoe box!
In the current venue the one-time barely finished theatre is now a smart, efficiently run, high quality venue providing an imaginative and varied theatrical diet to its regular patrons. It seldom disappoints. Their history is now littered with richly deserved awards, the latest being the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle (LADCC) Polly Warfield Award.
So -- to the current offerings.
Biloxi Blues is Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical continuation of Brighton Beach Memoirs in which the pubescent Eugene Morris Jerome had us in hysterics at his growing curiosity about sex. All of this he recorded in his notebook. Now he has now been conscripted into the US army, is located for training in Biloxi, Mississippi, and soon to be deployed in active service in WWII.
The scene is mostly set in a barrack room where Eugene is billeted with five other raw recruits. The director cleverly makes the army beds and metal trunks double for all and every set piece making the action fluid and uninterrupted. The squad soon finds itself under the rigorous, almost brutal, command of Sgt. Merwin Toomey, played by David Dalton - who although somewhat light of voice was no lightweight with his powers to bully his men into subjection and humiliation.
Through the medium of Eugene's journal we are carried into the characters and complexities of his fellow soldiers as well as stark issues of "prejudice, identity and responsibility" more aggressively than in any other of Neil Simon's works.
I had expected to be laughing all the way. But no; this piece is often too serious for laughter - it's called Biloxi Blues, dammit!
I wanted to be more amused by the character of Eugene, but found A.J. Gutierrez' portrayal too sober. That may have been a production choice; it made him engaging, sensitive, thoughtful, more mature. But for sheer gripping acting I could hardly look away from Michael Irish's characterization of Arnold Epstein, the Jew. Early in the play Sgt. Toomey picks on Epstein and a classic duel develops between ignorant authoritarianism and principled defiance. The resolution of this conflict is almost the conclusion of the play. Irish plays with such disciplined self control that not one movement, one inflection, one flash of his eyes breaks the character he has built in rehearsal. He is almost intimidating in his intensity. But it must be said, the whole show was beautifully cast and melded into a flawless team.
The two girls added their touch delicately; Staci Johnson as Rowena, the prostitute with whom Eugene finally enters his "golden temple of the Himalayas" (from Brighton Beach), and Sarah Moreau - the smart and morally upright (darn it!) Catholic girl with whom Eugene nearly gets it together in love. (Geez, Sophie - I hope you're not really like that!)
Not seen the show? It's a must. The play runs until June 17th.
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THEATER REVIEW
"Biloxi Blues"
by James Scarborough, What The Butler Saw
May 29, 2007
Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues, directed by Max Williams for the Chance Theater, is a well-done, entertaining, coming-of-age story of boys who become men, rubes who become worldly, and grunts who train to face, um, vicissitudes, the likes of which they cannot imagine.
Under Williams’ atten-TIVE! direction, the excellent ensemble performance is tender and shocking, aw-shucks sweet and oh-hell coarse. We see raging hormones and bellyaching about barracks hygiene, army cuisine, and the maniacal machinations of their screw-loose sergeant.
Embryonic writer Eugene Morris Jerome (A.J. Gutierrez) travels to and begins Army basic training in Biloxi. He’s joined by a cross section of the collective psyche of young American manhood that, though hard to imagine, would become the Greatest Generation: Don Carney (Bryan Barton), Roy Seldridge (Jonathan Howard), Arnold Epstein (Michael Epstein), Joseph Wykowski (Michael Marinaccio), and James Hennesy (Justin McCaffrey).
With the exception of Eugene, who’s writer-detached and records everything in his journal, everyone’s biases, idiosyncrasies, and chips-on-shoulders play themselves out across this tapestry of khaki and cigarette smoke.
More than his cohorts, Eugene has goals: he wants to survive the war; to fall in love - Daisy Hannigan (Sarah Moreau); to lose his virginity – Rowena (Staci Johnson); and become a writer. Over time he accomplishes all of his objectives.
With its range of characters that initially tops-over with individuality and bluster and then slowly melds into homogeneity and conformity, the script required the actors to nuance their roles without recourse to stereotype. That happened, in spades.
David J. Dalton had to make the hardheaded (steel plate, dogmatic) Sergeant Merwin J. Toomey a stern taskmaster without turning him into a stereotypical Sergeant Carter. He did. He dished up discipline (he had a pedigree of discipline) and then he goes over the edge. He did. His ceremonial surrender to Epstein was surreal.
Moreau had to make schoolgirl Daisy the foil of working girl Rowena: next-door neighbor cute, saturated with goodness and giddiness; and the exact same degree of innocence as Eugene. She did. Her I Love You scene with Eugene was dishy.
Gutierrez had to make Eugene almost-invisible, as befits a writer, but not so invisible that we lose sight of him. Like Hawkeye Pierce in MASH and Yossarian in Catch-22, Eugene lends a human face to war. It was Eugene's story and Gutierrez made it Moon River dreamy; he was kind, he was gentle, and he was wide-eyed with awe (think Fred Savage in The Wonder Years) at what unfolded before him.
And Irish had to make Epstein emotionally complex and intellectually haughty, not just to set off his odd-man-out position in the barracks but to underscore his amazing transformation at the end. Boy did he. His standoff with Toomey accelerated his maturation process and showed us that sometimes the battles we have to fight are in our own backyard.
Performances are 8 pm, Thursday – Saturday, 2 pm, Sunday. The play runs until June 17. Tickets are $22-25. The Theatre is located at 5552 E. La Palma, Anaheim, CA. For more information call (714) 777-3033 or visit www.chancetheater.com/
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