Taking Names

Pee-wee’s back

Paul Reubens plans to resurrect his Pee-wee Herman character for a live stage show, DigitalSpy.com reports.

The actor — who turns 57 later this month — reportedly will appear as his nerdy childlike alter ego for “The Pee-wee Herman Show” in Los Angeles in November.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the performance is a re-imagining of his 1980s theatrical production that was also a special for HBO in 1981 and led to his 1985 feature-film debut, “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” The franchise also includes the children’s program “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” which aired on CBS from 1986 to 1990.

“I’ve put part of him away for a long time, but part of him has always been here with me,” Mr. Reubens said. “I think it will be like riding a bike — which is not a bad analogy for Pee-wee, by the way.”

In July 1991, after deciding to take a couple of years’ sabbatical from his Pee-wee character, Mr. Reubens was arrested for indecent exposure in an adult theater in Sarasota, Fla.

“The Pee-wee Herman Show” will run from Nov. 19 through Nov. 29 at the Music Box @ Fonda in Hollywood.

No Met for Anna

Soprano Anna Netrebko has withdrawn from the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata,” scheduled for the 2010-11 season. Directed by Willy Decker, the modern-dress staging is based on his 2005 production for the Salzburg Festival in Austria.

According to the Associated Press, Miss Netrebko told a German newspaper that she won’t appear in the Met production, partly because she wants new challenges and doesn’t want to compete with her previous performance, which is available on DVD.

Staging Sinatra

Meet American musical theater’s latest collaborators: Twyla Tharp and Frank Sinatra.

Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre says it will present “Come Fly With Me” - a new musical conceived, directed and choreographed by Miss Tharp, Associated Press reports. The show, which centers on four couples who fall in and out of love, uses more than a dozen classic Sinatra vocals backed by an onstage 17-piece band.

“Come Fly With Me” will open Sept. 23 in Atlanta for a run through Oct. 11. Previews begin Sept. 15. A Broadway-bound tour will go out on the road next summer, AP says.

Miss Tharp previously collaborated with Billy Joel on the 2002 Tony-winning musical “Moving Out,” which featured Mr. Joel’s songs.

Thurber nominees set

New Yorker contributor Ian Frazier and best-selling essayist Sloane Crosley are among the finalists for the Thurber Prize for American Humor.

Prize organizers say Mr. Frazier was cited for his book on parenting “Lamentations of the Father,” and Miss Crosley for her popular essay collection about the 20-something life, “I Was Told There’d Be Cake.” The other contenders announced Wednesday were Don Lee’s novel “Wrack and Ruin” and Laurie Notaro’s nonfiction “The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death,” Associated Press reports.

Founded in 1997 (Mr. Frazier won that year for “Coyote vs. Acme”), the $5,000 prize will be announced in October. It is named for the late author-humorist James Thurber.

• Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse from Web and wire reports