Arts & Entertainment
Somerset Valley Player's Comedy Puts War Veterans in Spotlight
Biloxi Blues, opening January 25, tells the story of 5 WWII Army recruits, and the production is dedicated to 2 local WWII veterans.
Hillsborough, NJ – It’s 1943, and five young men find themselves on a train to Biloxi, MS. The war in Europe and the Pacific is raging. And the Army is going to make them into soldiers. They hope.
That’s the premise of Biloxi Blues, the autobiographical Neil Simon comedy opening January 25 at the Somerset Valley Players in Hillsborough.
Simon drew on his own experiences as a G.I. in the wartime Army to mine laughs from his experience in basic training.
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“The narrator of the play, Eugene Jerome, is Neil Simon’s alter ego,” explains director Todd Bennington. “The show is told through the aspiring writer Eugene’s book of memoirs. It’s a good bet that the other characters are caricatures of his very real fellow soldiers.”
Bennington has directed several Simon comedies at SVP. Directing Biloxi Blues is special to him for personal reasons. “I directed Brighton Beach Memoirs in 2015, which is the first of Simon’s ‘Eugene Jerome’ trilogy. Second, with Simon’s passing in 2018, it’s a fitting way to pay tribute to this comedy legend.”
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The most personal reason, though, is why Bennington chose not just to direct the show, but also to sponsor it with a financial donation to SVP. “Both my grandfathers, Henry E. Bennington and Ralph N. DeMarco, were part of the ‘greatest generation’ of American men who became ‘citizen soldiers’ in WWII exactly the same way Eugene and the other characters in the show do. I’m so proud that this show will honor their service to the country.”
“The comedy in Biloxi Blues comes from how these men were thrown together in the most difficult circumstances,” adds producer Karen Abbatiello. “The characters don’t often see eye-to-eye, and they don’t necessarily even like each other, but by the end of boot camp they are a band of brothers ready for the fight.”
Produced by Dominick and Karen Abbatiello and stage managed by Holly Lessing, Biloxi Blues runs January 25-February 10 at the Somerset Valley Players theater on 689 Amwell Road (Rout 514) in Hillsborough. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 8 p.m. Sunday matinees start at 2 p.m. The theater is air conditioned, barrier free and wheelchair accessible.
For tickets and show times go to www.svptheatre.org.
Photos of Ralph N. DeMarco and Henry E. Bennington courtesy of Todd Bennington.
