The sounds filling the Stephen Sondheim Theater are not the melodies you might expect to hear in a house recently renamed for the revered master of the American musical. They are, instead, the happy sounds and raucous cheers of a thousand reborn inner children romping around a favorite playground.Pee-wee Herman is back, boys and girls! The man-child in the skinny suit and red bow tie, the helium-voiced idol of the snark generation has been sprung from a time machine and has parked his playhouse on Broadway for a spell, bringing his fanciful menagerie of talking furniture and friendly sidekicks along for the ride.
"The Pee-wee Herman Show," which opened Thursday night for a limited run through Jan. 2, is a bubble bath of nostalgia for the many adoring fans of Pee-wee, the sweet 'n' snickery alter ego of comic Paul Reubens. Created and conceived by Reubens, the show resembles an extended episode of "Pee-wee's Playhouse," his children's TV show that had its debut in 1986 and ran for five seasons on CBS.
Reconstituted more than two decades later, the original recipe is essentially unaltered.
NEW YORK TIMES
