Biloxi Blues

Tony Award Best Play 1985

The second in Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Neil Simon's trilogy which began with Brighton Beach Memoirs and concluded with Broadway Bound. When we last met Eugene Jerome, he was coping with adolescence in 1930's Brooklyn. Here, he is a young army recruit during WW II, going through basic training and learning about Life and Love with a capital 'L' along with some harsher lessons, while stationed at boot camp in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1943.

"A fine comedy, and another step in the process of making Simon neither so simple, nor so simplistic."-New York Post

"Joyous and unexpectedly rewarding."-The New York Times

"A play that rings with a newer, deeper, sweeter truth."-New York magazine

Neil Simon's hilarious semi-autobiographical Tony Award-winning play stars Josh Radnor and Justine Bateman. This production features an exclusive interview with the prolific playwright.

Library Journal

Biloxi Blues continues Simon's dramatization, begun in Brighton Beach Memoirs , of Eugene Morris Jerome's adolescence and young manhood. The sequel follows Eugene and his fellow recruits through basic training at an Army base in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1943. Eugene's rite of passage has its basis in the playwright's own experiences. One expects humor from this writer and is not disappointed, but a more sober side is also revealed. The script is after all about a young man's education in the real world, and the reader is always aware of the fearful adventure awaiting the recruits. Though its form and theme break no new ground, the play evokes a nostalgic feeling for its period and elicits genuine response to its characters. The winner of the Tony award for best play in 1985, this belongs in most public and academic libraries. Theodore O. Wohlsen, Jr., Connecticut State Lib., Hartford