Two childhood pals share the stage in Palm Canyon Theatre's 'Biloxi Blues'

"Biloxi Blues" is a coming-of-age story set during World War II about young recruits struggling with individuality, military discipline and the mentality of young draftees preparing for deployment.

On Sept. 2-11, the Neil Simon play will run at the Palm Canyon Theatre — and it will star two young actors who have been performing together for the past eight years.

Ben Van Dijk of Cathedral City and Fabrizio Ibanez of Palm Springs first appeared together in a 2014 production of "Cinderella" at Palm Canyon Theatre. Both attend the David Green's Musical Theatre University, a pre-professional performing arts training center at Rancho Mirage High School.

Van Dijk, a junior at Rancho Mirage High School, has performed for nine seasons — acting in 14 productions — at Palm Canyon Theatre. In 2022, he received the Lucie Arnaz Award for Outstanding Leading Actor and was named as a Jimmy Awards Nominee, performing at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre.

This is Ibanez' 11th season and 18th production at Palm Canyon Theatre. A junior at Xavier College Preparatory High School, he's also performed in TV commercials for Walmart and Facebook.

"Biloxi Blues" is loosely based on Simon's experiences serving in the U.S. Army Air Force Reserve and is recounted by the character, Eugene Morris Jerome (Ibanez), who is drafted into the Army during World War II. While going through basic training, Eugene finds camaraderie with fellow soldiers, including Arnold Epstein (Van Dijk).

Other characters include Joseph Wykowski (Sam Martinez), James Hennesey (Matthew Pichler,) Roy Selridge (Sabastian Reda,) Don Carney (Giancarlo Molina,) old-school drill instructor Sgt. Toomey (Richard Marlow), enterprising prostitute Rowena (Erika Aleman,) and local girl Daisy (Katelyn Compton).

The storyline portrays the characters as they form a brotherhood. To prepare for the production, Van Dijk said director Ralph Strangis took the cast bowling to build teamwork and another cast member cut everyone's hair to fall in with the military look.

"It's been a very cooperative process," Van Dijk said.

THE DESERT SUN: What has it been like to work with each other on stage at the Palm Canyon Theatre and Musical Theatre University? 

BEN VAN DIJK: I think Fabrizio and I have become really good friends because we essentially grew up together at the Palm Canyon Theatre. We've been performing alongside each other since we were 8 years old, and we're shifting into adult roles now. We've always been together and now we're involved in after-school programs too.

FABRIZIO IBANEZ: It's been a blast to work with him for this long because we're always working together and learning from each other. We always have fun in our rehearsals.

What are some advantages of working together for so long? 

VAN DIJK: We've been good friends for a long time, and there's little things such as a handshake we've been doing for eight years now and things like that. It makes the whole experience so much better because when you're dealing with people you love, it makes theater fun.

IBANEZ: What I enjoy about working with him is whenever we have trouble learning our lines, we help each other and we're always showing each other new things on how to get into character.

How does this chemistry help you in "Biloxi Blues?" 

VAN DIJK: Arnold and Eugene progress to become the closest out of most of them because Arnold has a couple of bad experiences and they both have similar backgrounds. They're both Jewish and from New York. They find a kinship with each other. It's been great to have that relationship with Fabrizio because it's almost like every time we do the show, it's like becoming friends with him all over again. It's starting on the train ride to Biloxi and then by the end of the show, we're back on the train but we've had all these experiences together.

IBANEZ: We're all supposed to be like the characters and like brothers. In some type of way, me and Ben are brothers. Our friendship plays a big role in the show.

Are there any more roles you would like to play together? 

VAN DIJK: This is a dream come true. It's a show where both of us get to perform together and be with each other in semi-leading roles. I think we're able to play off each other a lot. We have some great scenes and I think there's good chemistry because of that friendship. In the future, I would love to do another show where we're both in it or work off each other.

IBANEZ: Some roles I would like to play with Ben are more roles around friendships. A third wheel type of show could be funny and I've always wanted to do comedy shows with all my friends.

Both of you attend Musical Theatre University. What advantages does this provide in your acting abilities? 

VAN DIJK: We have access to Broadway veterans who are our teachers. We have classes almost every day and get to learn about singing, acting and dancing from the perspective of someone that performed on Broadway or has a bunch of experience in the field of theater. It's opened up opportunities for me and Fabrizio.

IBANEZ: They teach us a lot about acting and methods of how to get more in character. I would say it also makes our knowledge in the theater world more intense.

CorrectiA previous version of this article erroneously stated Van Dijk and Ibanez have been performing together for six years. 

Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment for the Desert Sun. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Canyon Theatre's 'Biloxi Blues' stars two childhood friends