{"id":389363,"date":"2025-11-19T06:53:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T06:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/389363\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T06:53:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T06:53:13","slug":"tom-hanks-finally-does-something-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/389363\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Hanks Finally Does Something Bad"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Tom Hanks first appears as the time-traveling lead character in This World of Tomorrow<\/a>\u2014possibly the most listless play in New York this Fall\u2014the audience breaks out into the now-customary ripple of applause accorded to a celebrity\u2019s first appearance on stage. <\/p>\n

If this round of applause sounds a little tentative, it might be because people are wondering if it\u2019s really Hanks. His character, Bert Allenberry, sports a visually discombobulating grey wig. Under its smoothly parted thatch, it is indeed the movie star; as soon as Bert opens his mouth, we hear the craggily folksy, reassuring timbre of America\u2019s ur-dad. <\/p>\n

But the thrill is short-lived. While it is quite the coup to tempt Hanks back to the stage\u2014after his Tony-nominated Broadway run playing journalist Mike McAlary in Nora Ephron\u2019s 2013 play, Lucky Guy\u2014this new play, directed by Kenny Leon and running at the Shed until Dec. 21, is the limpest possible vehicle for Hanks\u2019 talents.<\/p>\n

The story\u2014which Hanks co-wrote with James Glossman, based on short stories Hanks himself wrote\u2014is that Bert, a disenchanted scientist in 2089, keeps traveling back in time to the 1939 New York World\u2019s Fair held in Flushing Meadow, Queens. (Bert is an echo of other of many Hanks\u2019 movie characters, who have negotiated fantastical or extreme adventures in time, and\/or who hark back to an idealized vision of America-past.)<\/p>\n

\"TomTom Hanks, Kelli O\u2019Hara, Kayli Carter, and Michelle Wilson Marc J. Franklin <\/p>\n

The reason for Bert\u2019s repeat-sorties is that on his first time-traveling journey he meets Carmen Perry (Kelli O\u2019Hara), who is visiting the fair with her loudmouth niece Virginia (Kayli Carter). <\/p>\n

Despite Virginia\u2019s endless, obstructive prattle, Bert slowly gets to know Carmen, a modest bookkeeper who is visiting the Fair as a treat to herself and her niece the day before her birthday. Along with Bert\u2019s travels, and he clearly being smitten with her, their meet-cute crystallizes the play\u2019s twinned themes of love and time. Bert keeps returning to a day that Carmen lives only once. The Fair itself is a showcase of a shiny, imagined American future. You sense the play, and Hanks, are happiest in the imagined past.<\/p>\n

While Bert amasses a catalog of memories and life-facts about Carmen (which she reveals in each of their encounters), she\u2014at least initially\u2014keeps seeing him over and over again for the first time. Hanks\u2019 journeys to the past come with their own threat to his physical health. <\/p>\n

In 2089, an all-knowledgeable human-ish computer (played by Jamie Ann Romero), adds another complication, revealing to Bert what happens to Carmen in the past, which sends him back to 1939 to try and change destiny. Two stops the play makes at a Greek diner in 1953 reveal how successful he is. (Jay O. Sanders does double duty as Carmen\u2019s gruff, kind father and the gruff, kind owner of the diner. Ruben Santiago-Hudson plays Hanks\u2019 boss, puzzlingly named M-Dash, in 2089.)<\/p>\n

\"KelliKelli O’Hara and Tom Hanks Marc J. Franklin <\/p>\n

The play aimlessly ponders: What possible present, past, and future can Bert and Carmen have? Can they fall in love across the bounds of time? While Hanks\u2019 affable charm remains intact, chemistry-wise the characters seem more buddies than would-be lovers. Occasional, portentous speeches by Hanks about history and ideals suggest the play wants to say something bigger, but it ultimately retreats from doing so.<\/p>\n

Odd plot holes pop up. OK, it\u2019s 2089 and time and foodstuffs will move on, but would Bert\u2014who is supposed to be a knowledgeable, time-traveling scientist\u2014really be surprised by the coins of 1939 or the presence of milk? How does he actually travel back in time from a New York hotel room? This would surely be quite fun to stage and watch.<\/p>\n

\"TomTom Hanks, Kayli Carter, and Kelli O’Hara Marc J. Franklin <\/p>\n

A catatonic dullness and brace of stereotypical side characters further clog the pacing of This World of Tomorrow. Its repetitive script is partially lifted by three things: the consistently versatile and engaging O\u2019Hara who brings a sage edge to Carmen, Derek McLane\u2019s vertical-pillar projections that transport the audience back to 1939, and Dede Ayite\u2019s lovely costuming.<\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t enough to save This World of Tomorrow from its dreary circling of character and themes. The play doesn\u2019t even let the audience see its potentially biggest moments, such as Bert telling Carmen he\u2019s a time-traveling scientist. Instead, and ironically in a show all about time, it wastes just over two hours of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Tom Hanks first appears as the time-traveling lead character in This World of Tomorrow\u2014possibly the most listless…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":389364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[19607,185,171,5039,1148,61263,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-389363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-broadway","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-play","12":"tag-theater","13":"tag-tom-hanks","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115575050353142872","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}