Basic Training for Life in 2002

If there’s a war going on, it’s time for a military comedy.

The decision by Pasadena Playhouse--in the wake of Sept. 11--to ditch an expensive production of a new play in favor of Neil Simon’s “Biloxi Blues” may appear awfully safe. Especially when an American flag unfurls during the curtain call, the choice looks overly calculated.

Nonetheless, “Biloxi Blues” remains a military comedy, and this production treats it well.

The play challenges military values as much as it honors them. As part of his basic training, at a camp near Biloxi, Miss., young G.I. Eugene Jerome (Daniel Sauli) learns that he can’t always play it safe, observing from the sidelines. Sometimes he has to step forward to preserve his individual identity, even as the Army seems intent on squashing it.

That the play was set in 1943, when World War II was raging, is made crystal clear from the outset of Paul Lazarus’ staging: a big sign indicates the year.

When Simon rewrote his script as a screenplay, he moved the year to 1945, which corresponded more closely to his own experience. This raised the irony level, for the characters arrived on the scene too late to use the military training that was drilled into them.

Even though the Pasadena production keeps the events in 1943, befitting the supposedly post-ironic period we’ve been in since Sept. 11, the war still remains at a distance. The play’s rebellious streak isn’t totally subsumed by the need to fight the Nazis.

The exemplar of that rebellious streak is the bookish Arnold Epstein (Evan Neuman), who refuses to capitulate to the whims of tough Sgt. Toomey (Josh Clark). Neuman, making his professional stage debut, is a model of spare, focused intensity.

In comparison to some other interpretations of the role, Neuman downplays the hints that lead Eugene to think Arnold might be gay. But it’s not necessary to make Arnold especially effeminate, for Simon establishes the overall level of homophobia in the military in 1943 elsewhere in the plot. Of course, this remains an issue even now--making “Biloxi Blues” surprisingly topical on this subject.

Sauli has the sense of general affability that Eugene requires, and--as narrator--the ability to raise his eyebrow or adjust his gaze in the spotlight, so we know exactly what he’s thinking.

In the movie, Simon gave Eugene--instead of Arnold--the final confrontation with Sgt. Toomey, enabling the character to be seen in action as well as in reaction. In the play, Eugene doesn’t get that chance, but Sauli’s reactions are suggestive of their own inner dramas. These dramas are more apparent under the spotlights of a theater than they would have been on the big screen.

The other actors, including Clark’s cantankerous Toomey, go through their somewhat predictable paces with assurance. Lazarus has marshaled his troops into a smooth acting unit.

The only part of the story that feels too prepackaged is the subplot involving a local girl (Nicole Nieth), who serves too easily as Eugene’s first love. But this is a problem in the script, not in Nieth’s performance.

It’s the only obvious problem in the script, which is one of Simon’s best. He raised issues here that transcend the confines of the genre in which he was working. In the writing of Eugene, he seemed to tacitly criticize the glibness that sometimes surfaces in his own work.

Maybe someday, Simon will interpolate a few of his screenplay adaptations into the stage play. In the meantime, the play remains one of those rare crowd-pleasers that questions the importance of pleasing the crowd.

*

“Biloxi Blues,” Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 5 and 9 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Feb. 24. $39.50-$44.50. (626) 356-PLAY. Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes.

Daniel Sauli...Eugene

Evan Neuman...Arnold

Josh Clark...Toomey

Jonathan Wade Drahos...Wykowski

Robert Della Cerra...Carney

Ben Tolpin...Selridge

Krishna Le Fan...Hennessy

Finn Carter...Rowena

Nicole Nieth...Daisy

By Neil Simon. Directed by Paul Lazarus. Set by D Martyn Bookwalter. Costumes by Dan Moore. Lighting by J. Kent Inasy. Sound by Francois Bergeron and Martin Carrillo. Production stage manager Lurie Horns Pfeffer.