PEE-WEE HERMAN ON BROADWAY

I was thrilled to be invited to The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway. Though we've never met, I've been on his Christmas card list for decades. (He says that he's "obsessive" about it.) 70's talk show legend Dick Cavett was in the audience the night I attended and we snapped a pic in the Green Room. What a wacky trio! I was very nervous for some reason but Paul couldn't have been nicer. When offered the tickets, I watched the show out of costume and then dragged up a day or two later to meet the legend after his show. I explained this by saying that a) no one can see over my wig and b)I'm an evil reviewer when I'm in drag and seated upon my nasty nelly nuts! There was some nervous laughter but I'm not sure how this went over. I guess I'll see if I get a card this season! At any rate, I had a blast meeting the folks behind the scenes.



Heading into our most expensive holiday of the year in a dire recession, it’s safe to say that a lot of folks could stand to have their spirits lifted a little. Pee-Wee Hermans’s Broadway offering does the trick—at least until you get your credit card bill for the tickets. Aren’t Broadway tickets astronomical these days? It seems like they’re geared only to tourists nowadays. Most New Yorkers I know are too busy hustling to pay rent to cough up $200 for an evening’s entertainment. For that amount, Michael Lucas would screw you.

DICK CAVETT WITH A TURBAN-LESS JAMBI THE GENIE.




This show will not. Pee-Wee’s character is still so recognizable that one of his pr efforts was simply to show up in public and get mobbed. He had to work a little harder in the Big Apple. He never even had to advertise this show in LA. The audience at the performance I saw fondly remembered his gags like the Tequila Dance with applause and enthusiastically joined into childish call and response routines. The original actors who played in the original series like Jambie the Genie, Cowboy Curtis and Miss Yvonne were welcomed back like the cult superstars they are.



I’m a little different from his average crowd. I loved his movie, but I never watched the TV show once. We didn’t have Tivo in the 1980s and I didn’t own a vcr. Besides, at that age I was messing around with anybody that wanted it and age 20, everyone did! But you don’t need to know Pee Wee’s original show to love the new one. It’s so silly and colorful that you’re immediately sucked in. There’s a marvelous set and typically genius puppets by the outrageously talented Basil Twist.

Pee-Wee’s cartoon character is hard to explain. Is it a child? A man? Paul Reubens originated the ageless character with The Groundlings, the LA comedy troupe from which Elvira and SNL’s androgynous Pat also hatched. And he has one other thing in common with these characters—they wear the same outfit throughout their careers! Pee Wee is bratty and selfish like children we are taught not to be like, which is perhaps why we identify with him. But the character’s also good-natured enough to see the error in his ways. And when he’s not, a little show biz magic to save the day is never far away.

Pee Wee started off as a stage show and many elements of the original remain. Some of the new double entendres are a little more adult like his current audience. There’s a balloon trick which had the audience screaming for close to five minutes and was even bizarrely sexual at points. And there’s a new bit about how Pee Wee is dying to get online for the first time so that he can get on Facebook. His animated friends are afraid that they’ll to lose him to the computer. Sound familiar? I know I spend a lot more time in front of a screen social networking” than I do physically getting together with friends these days.

BUNION, PEE-WEE AND THE ADORABLE MISS YVONNE, WHOSE FAB WIG IS BY STEPHEN "PERFIDIA" KIRKHAM.



When Pee-Wee is granted a wish, he unselfishly transfers it to Miss Yvonne. Then he feels sad about the wish he’s given up. Of course, everything works out in the end because you’re in a magical playhouse. But when you see a bratty child able to display enough generosity of spirit to give unselfishly, you’re reminded of the lack of compassion in the world today. Congress just let unemployment benefits for millions expire as they contemplate tax cuts for millionaires. And we’re still fighting two countries which never attacked us. Peace on earth and good will toward men doesn’t seem to apply much in the real world this holiday season. Luckily, they’re abundant in the kooky, irresistible romp that is The Pee-Wee Herman Show. And as in a real kiddie show, you leave the theater so thoroughly entertained by the goofy characters antics that the message is never heavy-handed.

At the Stephen Sondheim Theatre through January 2nd. Tickets from $67

A DEDICATED PEE-WEE DOES A COSTUME CHANGE, COMPLETE WITH EAR MUFFS AND A MEGAPHONE, AND GREETS THE CROWDS AT THE STAGE DOOR AFTER EVERY SHOW.



AND HERE'S GRACE JONES ON PEE-WEE'S CHRISTMAS SHOW: