Theater Review: The Pee-wee Herman Show

The Audience is as Much Fun to Watch as the Show
By Lauren Yarger
Today’s magic word is fun, Pee-wee Herman tells us, but one look around the audience reveals that having fun isn’t much of a secret at The Pee-wee Herman Show, playing a limited Broadway run at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre through Jan. 2.

The mostly baby-boomer-aged audience members laugh, clap, scream and totally enjoy the antics of nerdy, bow-the-wearing, childlike Pee-wee (Paul Reubens), the character created by the actor (who also co-writes with Bill Steinkellner) made popular on television’s “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” which won 22 Emmy awards during its five-year television run in the 1980s. The show also has seen other stage and film renditions.

Loud cheering applause greets each of the visitors to the colorful house (David Korins, design) including Cowboy Curtis (Phil LaMarr), Miss Yvonne (Lynne Marie Stewart, who reprises her TV role), Sergio (Jesse Garcia), Mailman Mike (John Moody), Bear (Drew Powell), Jambi (John Paragon), King of Cartoons (Lance Roberts) as well as some parts of the house brought to life by eight puppeteers (Basil Twist, puppetry; Chiodo Bros. Productions, Inc., puppet company). They include an overstuffed chair named Chairry (voice by Lexy Fridell who also plays a magic screen and some talking fish and flowers), a talking window, a globe, a clock, a super-sham wipe, a flying pterodactyl and a robot named Conky (Josh Meyers) among others. Ann Closs-Farley costumes the crowd with make-up, hair and wig design by Ve Neill.

If it seems a little outrageous, it is. Think Mr. Rogers on crack and you’ll be somewhere in the neighborhood. Alex Timbers (of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson fame) directs the show, which offers a nominal plot about Pee-wee getting a new computer and a love story between Miss Yvonne and Cowboy Curtis (a role played on the TV show for a while by Laurence Fishburne, if you can believe it), but the thrust of the show is just laughing at Pee-wee and the double-entendre jokes which are silly funny. Even some things that don’t seem all that funny to the uninitiated bring uproarious laughter from the adoring audience, like Pee-wee’s popping some popcorn or letting the air slowly out of a balloon.

Pee-wee plays (no pun intended) at the Sondheim, 124 West 43rd St., NYC. Tickets are available by calling 212-239-6200 or 800 432-7250.

Christians might also like to know:
• God’s name taken in vain
• Sexually charged dialogue is veiled in the script, including a reference to gay marriage.
• Jambi is a genie who grants wishes and who chants to contact the spirit world.
• Pee-wee wears an abstinence ring which is the source of sarcastic humor.