We attended a Desert Stages Theater production of Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues hoping to see pleasant performances and maybe grab a few laughs. Who knew a powerhouse performance by a principal player — a performance so thrilling that it completely overshadowed the production itself and its other leads — lay in wait? The stunning performance by Todd Michael Isaac, who turned the secondary role of Epstein into a sensation, was more than a little memorable. It began small, with a handful of casually delivered wisecracks that built into a bravura of confrontation and emotion. He hadn't been seen on stage since an equally superb portrayal in the same company's production of The Pillowman a few years ago, but this performance — tense, stylish, slightly unhinged — was worth the wait.