Pee-wee set to take on Broadway

Pee-wee's next big adventure will take place on Broadway, with a reimagined version of Paul Reubens's stage and television show scoring a fall run in New York.

Reubens revived his famed character Pee-wee Herman for a series of well-received performances in Los Angeles earlier this year. The new stage production will travel to Broadway for a limited, six-week run beginning in late October.

The show will follow "a day in the life of our bow-tied hero," according to producer Scott Sanders.

The Pee-wee Herman Show got its start in Los Angeles in the early 1980s as an adult-oriented stage show, first at improv site Groundlings Theatre and then the Roxy Theatre.

Reubens eventually toned down his campy but child-like character's innuendo for the 1985 film Pee-wee's Big Adventure and the CBS series Pee-wee's Playhouse, the actor's Emmy Award-winning children's show, which ran from 1986 to 1990.

In 1991, during a sabbatical from his show, Reubens was forced into the spotlight when he was arrested for masturbating in a Florida adult theatre. Despite a wave of support from fans and a host of fellow performers, CBS axed reruns of Pee-wee's Playhouse from its lineup, toy retailers removed Pee-wee merchandise from stores and Reubens generally retreated from the public eye.

Over the years, he has made occasional appearances as Pee-wee and taken on a host of low-profile and small roles, including in movies like Blow, Mystery Men, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Batman Returns. He also earned an Emmy nomination for a recurring role on 1990s series Murphy Brown and has turned up more recently in cameos on Pushing Daisies and 30 Rock.

The Pee-wee Herman Show will begin previews at Broadway's Stephen Sondheim Theatre on Oct. 26, with opening night set for Nov. 11. The show is slated to continue through Dec. 5.