Pee-wee Herman moves to Club Nokia, pushes back show dates

In August, Pee-wee Herman, a.k.a. Paul Reubens, announced that he would return to the spotlight in a re-conceived version of his '80s stage production "The Pee-wee Herman Show" at the Music Box @ Fonda.

Now the eternal man-child has announced that the show has moved to Club Nokia in downtown L.A. In addition, the show is now set to start its run Jan. 12, 2010, pushed back from the original opening day of Nov. 19.

Ticket-holders can exchange their seats for "comparable" seats beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday through 10 p.m. Oct. 13 via Ticketmaster at (800) 653-8000. (They should have their original confirmation number when calling.)

In a statement, Reubens said: "To the fans who already bought tickets, I apologize for the inconvenience of the venue and date changes and am arranging for you to come backstage and say hello!"

Promoters of "The Pee-wee Herman Show" said that the venue change "will allow more fans to attend and purchase tickets at various price points, including VIP tickets, as well as lower-priced general admission tickets."

The public sale of Club Nokia tickets is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Oct. 15 via Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com.

"The Pee-wee Herman Show" will run at Club Nokia from Jan. 12 to Feb. 7.

Alex Timbers has joined as the show's director. With his roots in experimental theater, Timbers is the artistic director of the New York-based company Les Freres Corbusier. He directed "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2008.

-- David Ng

Photo: Pee-wee Herman, in a scene from his television show. Credit: Paul Reubens / Herman World

Comments

[john]

I cannot wait to see this show. Pee-Wee is just that awesome.

[bob]

UFB - We have tickets and are moving to the east coast before the new shows happen. Thanks pee wee! - hope you make as much as po$$ible.

[Lynn]

Okay, me and my bestfriend booked hotel, airfare, bought tickets for two nights for the original run and made vacation arrangements with our jobs. We live in Boston and Atlanta.

Since August, we've pretty much finagled all of our holiday vacation time to coincide with the Nov-Dec run, not to mention, forgo a number of other vacation opportunities, since this was the chance of a lifetime. Like, a "pinch me I'm dreaming" sort of thing.

And now we're supposed to just be able to make a little switcheroo to Jan/Feb?

We can't.

Why wouldn't he keep the Nov/Dec run then ADD a Jan/Feb run at the larger venue, to meet fan demands?

I don't want to think him capable of it, but it seems like a money-grubbing bully move.

[James L.]

I am extremely disappointed. I paid top dollar to get front table seats and now have to compete and potentially pay more for a less interesting venue and view? Forget it. Good luck Pee Wee - I am taking my refund.

Sincerely,
"Ripped Off" James L.

[Karen Kenyon]

If you want "more fans to attend" you ADD shows not change the whole tour. I made plans to travel from the East Coast for this show, I cannot easily re-schedule to January and honestly at this point don't want to. Pee Wee you have lost a fan of 30+ years. I am very disappointed.

[Kevin]

Call him the out of towner letdowner! Many true LOYAL FANS have already planned & booked their trips. This decision is a bigger flop than his BIG TOP. PEEWEE has sold out his fan base all of us who belong to his fanclub, twitter, and face book pages. The ones who put the demand on his show are now shafted. We are left with cancellation fees for airfair, hotels, etc. Oh and we get to reorder our great seating tickets as well. THANX! Not a good start for his fan base.
Join his facebook group, see what others have to say. Not good Paul, NOT GOOD! Your pal, Kevin

[Bobby]

Club Nokia is not nearly as interesting a venue. I can only assume that the second this guy started selling tickets he got greedy. Not that i'm surprised. When I heard he was rewriting the original show for a brief gig at the music box, I figured he was probably just angling for a movie deal. Where's your integrity peeweed?

[dmax]

I'd bought tickets within the first 5 minutes, as it coincided with Thanksgiving weekend and a family get-together. Now, date pushed back, my family is scattered around the country and can't come in for the new dates.

The appearance of this is straightforward: in order to make more money, Pee Wee is screwing over his most ardent fans.

I'm not the only one that's very unhappy about this. Think of the ones that bought airplane tickets after buying their tickets?

[Steve]

This is extremely hard to swallow. After already booking a flight, reserving a hotel room, and getting vacation time approved from work, we're all suddenly supposed to say, "Oh, no big deal"? Now those of us who got great seats at the Music Box have to fight over the phone lines with others who didn't?! This is absolutely ridiculous. I'm not blaming Paul Reubens, as I'm sure his management and the promoters of the show had more to do with this than he did, but I'm still extremely disappointed. I might not even be able to make it now, and I've been waiting to see Pee-wee Herman live for over twenty years!

[Steve Gadlin]

I'm heartbroken by this news. I had scored FRONT ROW TICKETS! I'm from Chicago, and planned an entire freaking trip around this show. I've been a Pee Wee fan since I was a little kid.

Now my tickets are worthless, and I have to eat the cost of my flight to LA in November. I can't wait to hear about these "comparable" tickets. What could compare to seeing Pee Wee from the front row in an intimate space???

http://www.steev.org/?p=1231

[Queen Shmooquan]

Pee-wee...what about me?

I love him the most and now I've gone and used up my whole jar of pennies to buy a flight from the Pacific Northwest to go see his doomed December 3 show. And like many poor-folks-fans, I don't have the money to change my plane ticket. Seemed to good to be true. Bummer dude. I guess I'll just sit home, wear my Pee-wee mask from 6th grade and eat my buggars that night instead.

[Disappointed "Fan"]

Saying I'm very disappointed isn't even scratching the surface, mainly because unknowing of this information, I just booked everything for this trip last night!

I've been planning this w/ my girlfriend since the end of August. I spent days looking for the perfect tickets online, and finally found floor seats to a 10 PM show on Ticketmaster, after debating whether or not to get ripped off on Ebay or Stubhub.

We planned our whole trip to revolve around Pee Wee, now our 5 day dream trip to LA has turned into a complete nightmare. Now I have to deal with cancellation fees for flight, hotel and car rental. I spent $1000 so far to see this CLOWN, and we haven't even touched the ground at LAX!

I'm agreeing with the others, he should have added more dates. He already extended the engagement once, why not do it again? Moving it to a bigger venue only means one thing, that he's a greedy and self-centered sellout. And now you expect the people who have had their tickets forever, who were the first in line to grab up front row seats, to compete for "comperable" tickets? Is this supposed to be some type of joke?

I'm not putting the blame completely on him though, I do believe he feels bad about this. He didn't know the show would be such a hit, but many people have been fans since they were children. Now that we're grown up, we realize that the entertainment business really is just that, business. It's a shame that for once upon a time, I thought he was different and better than that..

[Steve Gadlin]

I couldn't agree more, Disappointed Fan.

Aside from the $300 I'm about to lose on plane tickets, here's what pisses me off...

The email I received from Ticketmaster didn't include half the information of this LA Times article. I had no idea my tickets would be exchanged for "comparable" seats. I had no idea I'd have a chance to meet Pee Wee Herman backstage.

So when were they going to tell me that? Lucky that I found this LA Times article, eh? Especially given that I live in Chicago.

Boooooo to this whole turn of events. I definitely feel punished for being a Pee Wee Herman fan. This is a terrible time to throw away money on plane ticket... a big slap in the face...

But hey, SOMEONE will be getting rich off of our misfortune. Hooray airlines and entertainment investors!

[Huge Fan.]

I will be going for the refund.

This is just so insulting to the fans. There is NO reason they could not honor their original SOLD OUT show and then added more at a new venue. You don't respect us, I can't respect you.

Even the mentioned meet and greet was not described to let people know in advance if the HUNDREDS of dollars in flight change fees would even be worth it. Going backstage with 1000+ other people who exchanged their tickets doesn't seem like much of a consolation prize.

I just can't buy that you're my pal anymore Pee Wee. You can't imagine how excited I was... but I can't reward you for this stunt. Especially after seeing how rusty you were on Leno and your new FB video.

[Alycee Zubrod]

This is terrible. I have never outgrown Pee Wee...at the age of 29, I still adore him. As a member of his fan club, I bought tickets early with money I saved just to be on the line right now waiting for a non-busy signal to get through to Ticketmaster. I'm going to lose my seats. I'm actually quite sad...here I am having scheduled to go see him on the opposite coast after surgery and I was all psyched..silly temporary tattoos, my favorite windbreaker, the box sets on in the background...gee whiz. I'm a total goober, I know...just totally disappointed. "Disappointed!? I know you are, but what am I!?"

[Lisa]

I have been a pee wee fan for YEARS. When I heard about his "exclusive 20 dates ONLY" tour, I was so excited! Even though I live all the way across the country in NJ, I knew I had to be there! So I bought my ticket the day the sale started, booked my hotel and flight without a problem, and got approved for vacation time from work in November. Everything was going smooth until this bomb was dropped on me yesterday. Thanks for the debt pee wee. I really hope the money is worth it. I just dont understand why you couldnt have just added more shows. I probably will not be attending the new rescheduled shows. Thanks for nothing and good luck!

[Jill]

I have never felt more angered and inconvenienced. I was flying out from the East Coast for this and now the whole thing is screwed up. I don't understand why more shows couldn't be added to the already sold out shows. I was so happy to have gotten tickets on OPENING NIGHT that were great seats. Now I can't even get through on the one phone number provided for exchanges to see what the options are.
Bad customer service, and bad judgement call on screwing all the people who already had their show tickets...and plane tickets. Think of all the merch I won't be buying now or ever.

[Glenn Rosenblum]

Have been on with Ticketmaster for 60 min.
For the same tickets I have in the 5th row at the Fonda,
they want 40 more per ticket to sit in the same seat at the Nokia. Or put me in the balcony.
Even exchange?

I think not.

Greed?

I think so.

Shame on the producers and the performer.

[Laura]

For all of you who are stuck flying to LA for the original show dates with nothing else to do because you:

-Already took vacation around original show dates
-Purchased unrefundable airfair, taxi, accomodations
-Have to wait the 10 days to have originally purchased tickets refunded back to your account before you can buy new "comparable" tickets (we had front row table at original venue-there are no "comparable" seats at Nokia venue)

Contact the promoters at Goldenvoice & let them know how disapointed you are and that it is more than an "inconvenience"

http://www.goldenvoice.com/

[Donald]

I am just trying to get through to Ticketmaster, which so far in THREE HOURS has been IMPOSSIBLE! I'm willing to go to the new theater, and sit in crummy seats (even though I was in a second row TABLE at the Music Box), but IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET THROUGH.

How many re-dials in 3+ hours? Two hundred? Four hundred? Still NOTHING.

Someone here wrote about getting an email from Ticketmaster? I still haven't received one of those. If I had not BY CHANCE happened upon this story online I would NOT have known at all.

"Outgrowing your venue" is a load of bull. When PeeWee conceived this show, did he think of the venue or the show? Why plan a show for the Music Box when you are dreaming of the Nokia (or larger) the whole time? That is just a lie.

This situation is total crap and a terrible injustice to his fans who got online early in July and August and planned ahead and supported him.