Biloxi Blues @ Theatre Arlington
Photos by Eric Younkin
—Jan Farrington
It’s easy to believe young Neil Simon was always “that kid” with the notebook—writing down everything he saw and thought, who he met, what he went through growing up in the 1930s and ‘40s. In a trilogy of semi-autobiographical plays, he called that kid Eugene Morris Jerome (“Gene” for short, just like my WWII dad).
Theatre Arlington did a lively production of the first of the “Eugene” plays, Brighton Beach Memoirs, in 2019. And Biloxi Blues, the second one (Broadway Bound comes third), is even better—in no small part because we already know and care about this Eugene, who is played again by the fine young actor Eric Berg from TA’s Brighton Beach.
In Biloxi Blues, we find Eugene on a troop train heading for Army boot camp in 1943. He’s the same smart, comical Brooklyn boy—but minus his loud and loving family. He’s in the world of men, and on this train (after three days of travel), men stink. In Biloxi, Mississippi, with a ranting drill sergeant shouting in his ear (Michael Phillip Thomas is a terrific, complex Sgt. Toomey), he’ll learn how to be the Army’s idea of a soldier—but being Eugene, will turn it into comedy and sharp-eyed observations in his handy-dandy notebook.
He knows just what he wants from this experience: to survive the war, lose his virginity, and fall in love with “the perfect girl.”
But first, he’s trying to figure out the guys he’s with: Selridge (Caleb De La Torre), who mostly thinks about women; Wykowski (Maximilian Swenson), who thinks about women and head-bashing; Carney (Sean Sicard), who wants to sing at Radio City; sweet-guy Hennesey (Landry Beckley), who’d spend his last “fantasy week” with his family; and the possibly brilliant Talmudic scholar and rebel Arnold Epstein (John Marshall), who sees no logic in anything the Army asks him to do or be. They’ll all wind up in Gene’s notebook—but onstage, under Larry W. Cure’s smart direction, they are vividly real and alive, with all their flaws and fears.
There are two women, of course: the weary but kind-hearted local “pro” Rowena (Rhonda Triana), and pretty, book-reading college girl Daisy (Lauren Floyd)—whose bright spirit, we can tell, will stick with Eugene/Neil for the rest of his life.
The production team pulls together—sets, projections, music, sound—to keep us in the atmosphere of this wartime world. Above Kevin Brown’s boot camp sets (bunks, mess hall, troop train) are projected photos of camp scenes from the time. Forties swing tunes and ballads play, and the swamps of Mississippi (lit spookily by Bryan Stevenson) come alive with creepy-crawly sound from designer Victoria Esquibell. Janice Pennington’s costumes (nicely pressed uniforms for “leave” in town, pretty frocks for Daisy) and Robin Dotson’s period props are well done. It’s a good-looking show.
Perhaps the thing I love most about Simon’s writing is his ability to mix character and comedy—and some darker stuff too. Eugene is quick with a quip, but he and the guys are well aware they might be killed before their lives get started. Sgt. Toomey is a relentless cartoon of a drill sergeant…until he’s drunk, desperately sad about leaving the Army—and dangerous. And Berg gives a remarkable performance as Eugene, managing to be the naïve boy and the budding, thinking young writer all at the same time. He’s a nerd with spirit and guts—and we feel kinda proud that America made him.
WHEN: Through September 4
WHERE: Theatre Arlington on Main Street
WEB: theatrearlington.org
