Biloxi
Blues is chapter two in the continuing saga
of Eugene Morris Jerome, alter ego of the youthful Neil
Simon. When we first met Eugene in Brighton Beach Memoirs
, he was coping with adolescence in the 1930's in Brighton
Beach , Brooklyn . Here, he is a young army recruit during the
Second World War, going through his basic training, learning more
about life, and generally developing his Writer's Sensibility
at boot camp in Biloxi , Mississippi in 1943.
Still
jotting down his memoirs, Eugene and five other assorted enlisted
men suffer under their hard nosed drill instructor, confront the
daily "mess" served up in the mess hall, join together in a visit
to a local prostitute and, generally, become adults. For the first
time, Eugene confronts the degradation of anti -Semitism: and,
for the first time, he falls in love. Then, his training is over,
and it's goodbye Biloxi ...hello Germany !!!
Byrell
Justice directed. His other credits include:
- One Flew Over
the Cuckoos' Nest , (Winner Masque Award, Best Director)
- Extremities ,
- Nun-crackers !
,
- Brighton Beach
Memoirs (a 2003 On Broadway Production)
Assistant
Directors were Jim Thornton (directing credits include: Any
Given Day and The Only Game In Town ) and Cassie Justice
(directing credits include: PVT. WARS and Pinocchio
), who also worked together with Byrell and the late Great
George Markel in the 2003 hit Visiting Mr. Green .
There
was a hard working, very talented cast, which included:
-
Mike Garcia as Wykowski
-
Bo Justice as Epstein
-
Randy Hines as Selridge
-
Michael Gonzalez as Carney
-
Dustin Dow as Hennesey
-
Aryn Thomson as Daisy
-
Cassie Justice as Rowena (the prostitute)
-
Byrell Justice as Sgt. Toomey
-
And, reprising his 2003 OBT role as Eugene Morris Jerome, Josh
Jennings!
