Biloxi Blues
OPENING: March 28, 1985
CLOSING: June 28, 1986
Seen: August 1985
LOCATION: Neil Simon Theatre
Now that my Dad is older, he doesn’t get to as many shows.
It’s sad, but it’s true. It’s why I’m the one writing this blog instead of him. It’s why this blog is getting written in the first place. But even though I cannot enjoy making new theater memories with him, we have bonded over TV shows over the years.
I promise, there will not be a blog about the TV shows we watch. I’m a theater kid at heart.
One of the TV franchises we bonded over was the 2006 series The Closer and then it’s 2012 spinoff Major Crimes. I fell in love with these two shows for a variety of reasons, but I cannot a deny that one of the major draws was Kyra Sedgewick as a badass leading lady. I cannot pass up a compelling female lead. But the more my dad watched – the more he grew to love the male lead, Jon Tenney.
Ironically, The Closer was written so well that Tenney’s character bordered on how women are generally written for male leads, but it stopped just short of it. Only a feminist writer would be able to see it, but it’s there. Now that I’ve mentioned it, go on, watch it. I guarantee you’ll see it now.
Anyway, imagine my surprise when I opened the next playbill in our line up and who should make an appearance in one of Neil Simon’s later works – none other than Jon Tenney himself.
The play in question was Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues.
Tenney made his Broadway debut in Biloxi Blues. It was the start of a hugely successful career in both theater and TV. But Tenney aside, the legacy that Biloxi Blues was a part of was something that everyone involved with knew was something huge.
Biloxi Blues was written by the legendary Neil Simon, who was one the great playwrights of the 20th century. However, in my experience, he is often not thought of us one as one of the greats because unlike Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, he dealt in comedy instead of strictly drama and therefore is thought to be of a lesser caliber.
Theater Kids, I have often been called a theater snob. I have been called elitist for my opinions. Heck, I have straight up been called wrong. But one hill I absolutely will die on is that COMEDY IS NOT A LESSER ART FORM THAN DRAMA.
Repeat after me. COMEDY. IS. NOT. LESS. THAN. DRAMA.
Thank you for coming to my TEDx Talk. And now that we have established this fact, I will state, now and forever, that Neil Simon is one of, if not the, Great American Playwrights. He is the genius that gave us The Odd Couple (“You want a typewritten list?”), the Sunshine Boys (“K is a very funny letter”), and even lesser known but just as hysterical works of art such as The Star Spangled Girl (“I cannot accept gifts from a man I hardly know. Especially canned goods”) and The Gingerbread Lady (“You look like the second week of the garbage strike”).
By the 80’s, Simon had multiple hits and at one point was averaging a play a year. (For reference – I have written three full length plays. I have another in development. None of them have taken me less than two and a have years to write). And it was at the point that he decided to write a trilogy loosely based on his life – and the second of these is the subject of this article, Biloxi Blues. It tells the story of Eugene, an aspiring writer who finds himself in Army basic training (Taken from his experience in the Air Force). Simon uses Biloxi Blues as a coming of age story for Eugene; a bridge between the young and starry eyed Eugene of Brighton Beach Memoirs and the pensive and introspective Eugene of Broadway Bound. It was a success; it won three Tonys, including Best Play.
As a whole, the trilogy was not received as well as Simon’s early works were. If we’re being honest, the most successful of the three was Brighton Beach Memoirs, the first play. Biloxi Blues was seen as the funniest as the three but many found the material tough – Simon used it as a vehicle to call out antisemitism that he experienced as a young man in the Air Force – and Broadway Bound was overall just clunky. But I think the absolute true success of Biloxi Blues and it’s companion pieces is the theatrical landscape around it and the legacy of Neil Simon.
Simon was one of the few playwrights to actually own his own Broadway theater. For several years, he actually owned the Eugene O’Neill on 49th Street (Currently home to the long running Book of Mormon). But by the time Brighton Beach Memoirs opened at the Alvin Theater in 1983, he had established himself as one of the most prolific playwrights on Broadway. It was decided that the Alvin, where Brighton Beach Memoirs was running, should be named after him. And when it came time for Biloxi Blues to open, the decision was made not to open it at another theater, but instead move Brighton Beach Memoirs to another theater so that Biloxi Blues could open at it’s playwrights namesake. It’s a legacy that would honor me to my core and I could only imagine the pride that Simon felt. The only piece of the puzzle that could have made it more perfect for him would have been all three plays running at the same time, but alas – Brighton Beach Memoirs closed in May of 1986, and Broadway Bound opened in December of 1986. You can’t have it all.
My dad could not have known the history he was witnessing. I don’t think most of the audience did. But history was there. And I envy him for that. He also laughs at the fact that he saw Jon Tenney on stage and doesn’t remember. But the biggest legacy, at least in my family? Neil Simon is the reason I am a playwright. And I think that Mr. Simon would be proud – not only because he inspired a theater kid (And by extension, this blog), but because his legacy will live on through people like me. And that’s why he wrote Biloxi Blues and it’s companion pieces in the first place.
CAST: REPLACEMENT
ROY SELRIDGE: Mark McDermott
JOSEPH WYKOWSKI: James Anthony Shanta
DON CARNEY: Jim Fyfe
EUGENE MORRIS JEROME: Bruce Norris
ARNOLD EPSTEIN: Mark Nelson
SGT MERWIN J. TOOMEY: Bill Sadler
JAMES HENNESSEY: Jon Tenney
ROWENA: Randall Edwards
DAISY HANNIGAN: Penelope Ann Miller
STANDBYS: Adam Silbar (Eugene); Holt Wilson (Wykowski, Selridge, Carney, Hennessey); Ron Eldard (Carney); Greg Germann (Epstein); Jamey Sheridan (Sgt Toomey); Joan Goodfellow (Rowena); and Joyce O’Brien (Daisy).
Hernandez, Enrico. “Silverston, Germann, and Tenney Ready for L.A. Run of Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow.” Playbill, December 21, 2006. https://playbill.com/article/silverstone-germann-and-tenney-ready-for-la-run-of-mamets-speed-the-plow-com-137216
Internet Broadway Database. “Brighton Beach Memoirs.” Accessed January 2024. https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/brighton-beach-memoirs-4212
Internet Broadway Database. “Broadway Bound.” Accessed January 2024. https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/broadway-bound-4434
Internet Broadway Database. “Jon Tenney.” Accessed January 2024. https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/jon-tenney-75586
Internet Broadway Database. “Lost in Yonkers. “Accessed January 2024. https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-show/lost-in-yonkers-5561
Isherwood, Charles. “Neil Simon, Broadway Master of Comedy, Is Dead at 91.” New York Times, August 26, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/obituaries/neil-simon-dead.html
New York Theatre Gude. “Neil Simon Theatre.” Accessed January 2024. https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatres/neil-simon-theatre
Playbill Staff. “Neil Simon Theatre.” Playbill. Accessed January 2024. https://www.playbill.com/venue/view-more?venue=00000150-aacd-d8be-af71-ffef1886000c
Playbill Staff. “Neill Simon Theatre.” Playbill. Accessed January 2024. https://www.playbill.com/venue/neil-simon-theatre-vault-0000000031#:~:text=The%20Neil%20Simon%20opened%20in,the%20theatre%20in%20his%20honor
Rich, Frank. “Stage: ‘Biloxi Blues,’ Simon’s New Comedy.” New York Times, March 29, 1985. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/29/theater/stage-biloxi-blues-simon-s-new-comedy.html
Rich, Frank. “Theater: Simon’s ‘Broadway Bound’”. New York Times, December 5, 1986. https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/05/theater/theater-simon-s-broadway-bound.html
