"Biloxi Blues," The Chance Theater, Anaheim, CA

Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues, directed by Max Williams for the Chance Theater, is a well-done, entertaining, coming-of-age story of boys who become men, rubes who become worldly, and grunts who train to face, um, vicissitudes, the likes of which they cannot imagine.

Under Williams’ atten-TIVE! direction, the excellent ensemble performance is tender and shocking, aw-shucks sweet and oh-hell coarse. We see raging hormones and hear bellyaching about barracks hygiene, army cuisine, and the maniacal machinations of their screw-loose sergeant.

Embryonic writer Eugene Morris Jerome (A.J. Gutierrez) travels to and begins Army basic training in Biloxi. He’s joined by a cross section of the collective psyche of young American manhood that, though hard to imagine, would become the Greatest Generation: Don Carney (Bryan Barton), Roy Seldridge (Jonathan Howard), Arnold Epstein (Michael Irish), Joseph Wykowski (Michael Marinaccio), and James Hennesy (Justin McCaffrey).

With the exception of Eugene, who’s writer-detached and records everything in his journal, everyone’s biases, idiosyncrasies, and chips-on-shoulders play themselves out across this tapestry of khaki and cigarette smoke.

More than his cohorts, Eugene has goals: he wants to survive the war; to fall in love - Daisy Hannigan (Sarah Moreau); to lose his virginity – Rowena (Staci Johnson); and become a writer. Over time he accomplishes all of his objectives.

With its range of characters that initially tops-over with individuality and bluster and then slowly melds into homogeneity and conformity, the script required the actors to nuance their roles without recourse to stereotype. That happened, in spades.

David J. Dalton had to make the hardheaded (steel plate, dogmatic) Sergeant Merwin J. Toomey a stern taskmaster without turning him into a stereotypical Sergeant Carter. He did. He dished up discipline (he had a pedigree of discipline) and then he goes over the edge. He did. His ceremonial surrender to Epstein was surreal.

Moreau had to make schoolgirl Daisy the foil of working girl Rowena: next-door neighbor cute, saturated with goodness and giddiness; and the exact same degree of innocence as Eugene. She did. Her I Love You scene with Eugene was dishy.

Gutierrez had to make Eugene almost-invisible, as befits a writer, but not so invisible that we lose sight of him. Like Hawkeye Pierce in MASH and Yossarian in Catch-22, Eugene lends a human face to war. It was Eugene’s story and Gutierrez made it Moon River dreamy; he was kind, he was gentle, and he was wide-eyed with awe (think Fred Savage in The Wonder Years) at what unfolded before him.

And Irish had to make Epstein emotionally complex and intellectually haughty, not just to set off his odd-man-out position in the barracks but to underscore his amazing transformation at the end. Boy did he. His standoff with Toomey accelerated his maturation process and showed us that sometimes the battles we have to fight are in our own backyard.

Performances are 8 pm, Thursday – Saturday, 2 pm, Sunday. The play runs until June 17. Tickets are $22-25. The Theatre is located at 5552 E. La Palma, Anaheim, CA. For more information call (714) 777-3033 or visit www.chancetheater.com/