Pee-wee Herman heading to Broadway

Following his big comeback earlier this year at Club Nokia in downtown L.A., Pee-wee Herman (a.k.a. Paul Reubens) will be riding his red bicycle all the way to Broadway, where he will open his new show at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre for a six-week run starting Oct. 26.

The comic man-child will star in "The Pee-wee Herman Show," a revised version of his hit '80s stage show. The production, which opened in L.A. in January to much fanfare and fan adulation, featured familiar characters from the original play plus other characters from Pee-wee's popular CBS television show.

News of the Broadway transfer was initially reported in the New York Times.

The cast of characters of "The Pee-wee Herman Show" includes Cowboy Curtis, Chairry, Pterry the Pterodactyl, Jambi the Genie and Miss Yvonne. 

Alex Timbers, of the edgy New York-based Les Freres Corbusier, directed the recent L.A. engagement and will return for the Broadway run. Timbers recently directed "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson," which is running at the Public Theater.

The L.A. run of "The Pee-wee Herman Show" was originally supposed to open at the Music Box@Fonda in Hollywood last fall, but producers changed venues to Club Nokia and pushed the opening date back by a few months. The switch angered many ticket holders who wrote to Culture Monster about having to change or cancel plane tickets and hotel reservations.

Pee-wee eventually made amends with irate fans by holding talk-back sessions following performances at Club Nokia.

Casting for the Broadway engagement has not been announced yet. The L.A. run featured Lynne Marie Stewart, who reprised her role as Miss Yvonne. It also starred two "MADtv" alumni -- Phil LaMarr in the role  of Cowboy Curtis (which was originally played by Laurence Fishburne) and Josh Meyers as a firefighter.

-- David Ng

Photo: Paul Reubens in "The Pee-wee Herman Show" at Club Nokia. Credit: Bret Hartman / For The Times

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Comments

[The Royal One]

Whew. If I could have just ONE more Saturday Morning watching my girls,
watch "Pee-wee's Playhouse". Thank-you, so much, Mr. Reubens.

[Bill Mohon]

What about Captain Carl, The Jelly Donuts, Mailman Mike, Monnsieur Le Croc,
and Hermit Hattie? I hope they didn't write these characters out of the script!

[Jesi]

Let him go rip off New Yorkers instead of us.

[Blade]

I scored two second row tickets to one of his Broadway shows. Expensive? Yes. But worth it to be. I'd gladly get "ripped off" to enjoy Pee Wee again!