Biloxi Blues is the second entry in Neil Simon's autobiographical trilogy, a recollection of his days in an army training camp lost in the sands of a Southern state, where he and his fellow recruits awaited departure for Normandy during WWII.

The play's Russian-language premiere, in a translation by Irina Golovnya, took place in December 1987 at the Oleg Tabakov Theater. Its participants recall that the rehearsal process was unusually quick and harmonious. The reason, they feel, was the quality of the material, as well as a clear sense of responsibility for turning to the subject: the production period caught the final days of the drawn-out, bloody, tragic and absurd war in Afghanistan. The allusions could not be escaped.

The heroes are young, green, naive – eternally touching. They die, they lose limbs, they go missing in action – an eternal tragedy. But the play is not about the horrors of war. It's about the critical moments in life that reveal the true nature of a man. When real strength proves to be not in muscle but in spirit, when a worthy death is chosen over survival at any cost, when the lessons of life are learned at breathless speed.

Since its premiere, the production has featured several casts and many a now-famous name. Biloxi Blues is itself a veteran, undying in the affection of its audiences.

(Now playing with a different cast. Mr. Mironov has left the production.)