“A Baby Changes Everything”
by Faith Hill
And So We Celebrate His Coming
Merry Christmas
Dec 19, 2010
Dec 12, 2010
Dec 5, 2010
Stage review: The Pee-wee Herman Show
The first sight of the star of The Pee-wee Herman Show is a trip. Eternally natty in his little red bow tie, young master Herman steps out from behind a curtain to open his beguiling time-warp Broadway romp. The fan-filled audience cheers wildly -- they love him enough to marry him!
For a moment the clock spins backward: Paul Reubens -- who first pranced in character three decades ago -- may be a decidedly adult 58-year-old man, but the exuberant, hyperactive boy in the spotlight is an age-resistant, rouged child of 1980-something.
The reunion of Pee-wee and his pals from the great TV show "Pee-wee's Playhouse" is staged with modern brio by director Alex Timbers ("Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,") who produces a dazzling acid ride of color, light, goofy anarchy, punchy video clips, and juicy sound effects. (Here's our review of last winter's L.A. production.)
For fans, there's plenty that's familiar. Hi, Chairry and Magic Screen, the Paleolithically pre-iPad reference tool! Hi, Miss Yvonne, the most beautiful woman in the world (played as ever by Lynne Marie Stewart)!
In a liberating wink, Reubens doesn't stint on giddy new jokes at the expense of e-mail, ShamWow! pads, and the gossip-page knowledge of his own notorious history.
Mailman Mike (John Moody from the original stage show) delivers a letter from a prison friend, and Pee-wee even shows off the abstinence ring he proudly wears (take that, Jonas Brothers!).
Thus do the centuries past and present collide while the host cooks deep-fried onion rings for his buddies and wishes his deepest wish: to be able to fly. What he's really cooking up, though, is a knowing Proustian reflection on time passing and innocence lost -- both Reubens' and our own. And throughout, the secret word is fun. A- -CNN Entertainment
For a moment the clock spins backward: Paul Reubens -- who first pranced in character three decades ago -- may be a decidedly adult 58-year-old man, but the exuberant, hyperactive boy in the spotlight is an age-resistant, rouged child of 1980-something.
The reunion of Pee-wee and his pals from the great TV show "Pee-wee's Playhouse" is staged with modern brio by director Alex Timbers ("Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,") who produces a dazzling acid ride of color, light, goofy anarchy, punchy video clips, and juicy sound effects. (Here's our review of last winter's L.A. production.)
For fans, there's plenty that's familiar. Hi, Chairry and Magic Screen, the Paleolithically pre-iPad reference tool! Hi, Miss Yvonne, the most beautiful woman in the world (played as ever by Lynne Marie Stewart)!
In a liberating wink, Reubens doesn't stint on giddy new jokes at the expense of e-mail, ShamWow! pads, and the gossip-page knowledge of his own notorious history.
Mailman Mike (John Moody from the original stage show) delivers a letter from a prison friend, and Pee-wee even shows off the abstinence ring he proudly wears (take that, Jonas Brothers!).
Thus do the centuries past and present collide while the host cooks deep-fried onion rings for his buddies and wishes his deepest wish: to be able to fly. What he's really cooking up, though, is a knowing Proustian reflection on time passing and innocence lost -- both Reubens' and our own. And throughout, the secret word is fun. A- -CNN Entertainment
Leslie Nielsen, Star Of 'Airplane!' And 'Naked Gun,' Dead At 84
Leslie Nielsen, whose longtime career as a dramatic actor took a sudden turn into comedy with spoofs like "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun," has died at age 84, his family said Sunday.
The Canadian-born Nielsen's career reached back into the early days of television, when he made frequent appearances on live drama series like "Goodyear Playhouse." He played the earnest starship captain in the 1956 science fiction classic "Forbidden Planet" and made regular appearances on a wide range of TV dramas into the 1970s.
Much of that changed in 1980, when he was cast as a doctor aboard an endangered jetliner in the gag-a-minute disaster-movie parody "Airplane!" Nielsen's deadpan delivery of lines like "I am serious -- and don't call me Shirley" helped launch a second career.
The film's producers went on to cast him in their short-lived television series "Police Squad!" and had him reprise that show's bumbling lead character, Lt. Frank Drebin, a decade later in three "Naked Gun" movies. Nielsen appeared in several similar but less-acclaimed spoofs following those films.
Nielsen died of complications of pneumonia in a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, surrounded by family and friends, a family statement said. –CNN Entertainment
The Canadian-born Nielsen's career reached back into the early days of television, when he made frequent appearances on live drama series like "Goodyear Playhouse." He played the earnest starship captain in the 1956 science fiction classic "Forbidden Planet" and made regular appearances on a wide range of TV dramas into the 1970s.
Much of that changed in 1980, when he was cast as a doctor aboard an endangered jetliner in the gag-a-minute disaster-movie parody "Airplane!" Nielsen's deadpan delivery of lines like "I am serious -- and don't call me Shirley" helped launch a second career.
The film's producers went on to cast him in their short-lived television series "Police Squad!" and had him reprise that show's bumbling lead character, Lt. Frank Drebin, a decade later in three "Naked Gun" movies. Nielsen appeared in several similar but less-acclaimed spoofs following those films.
Nielsen died of complications of pneumonia in a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, surrounded by family and friends, a family statement said. –CNN Entertainment
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