Tom Hanks and Kelli O’Hara Take an Unabashedly Sentimental Journey in ‘This World of Tomorrow’

Are there two famous actors more effortlessly likeable than Tom Hanks and Kelli O’Hara? When it was announced that the two-time Oscar winner would be joined by Ms. O’Hara, one of musical theater’s greatest leading ladies and an eight-time Tony Award nominee — albeit only a winner once, shamefully — would be matched onstage as protagonists in a love story, I knew I’d be rooting for their characters under any circumstances.Little did I know how trying those circumstances would be — though I probably should have guessed. Before Ms. O’Hara’s name became attached, it was disclosed that “This World of Tomorrow,” a new play co-written by Mr. Hanks and James Glossman — inspired by short stories crafted by the movie star, published several years ago — would deal with time travel, involving a scientist from the future who searches for love in the past.Mr. Hanks is, naturally, cast as the scientist, Bert Allenberry, co-founder of S.K.A.E.L. (pronounced “scale’), a technology company offering “chronometric adventures” into ancient times — pre-2089, that is. Ms. O’Hara plays Carmen Perry, a recently divorced woman living with her sister’s family in the Bronx in 1939, as the New York World’s Fair is in progress just a subway ride away, in Queens. A Tony Award-winning director, Kenny Leon, known for his work with Denzel Washington — Mr. Hanks’s co-star in the movie that earned him his first Academy Award, “Philadelphia” — and other top stage and screen actors, has surrounded his leading man and woman with similarly appealing supporting players, among them such beloved theater stalwarts as Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Jay O. Sanders, who deftly juggles a string of colorful roles and accents. If the play itself offers an unabashedly sentimental journey, it is hardly backward-looking; the authors and Mr. Leon take pains to highlight both recurring dangers and timely concerns. “You shoulda killed Hitler,” notes Bert’s wisecracking partner, M-Dash, wittily played by Mr. Santiago-Hudson; there are additional references to the Nazi leader, and other sinister figures and developments, to reinforce how history can repeat itself. We learn that, in 2089, Bert has an “Intimate Relations Contract” with his female work partner, suggesting some creepy product of increasingly delicate, fraught gender relationships. And while he and M-Dash enjoy a loose, chummy rapport, Bert’s interaction with other colleagues can have a more clinical, detached feel, perhaps the logical extension of too much time socializing through digital devices. An A.I. figure called Elma—an acronym for Eternal Learning Machine Associate—seems no more or less human than anyone else.Little wonder, then, that Bert seeks love, and warmth, in a bygone era, and he finds it in abundance. Ms. O’Hara has generally gotten more attention for her glorious soprano than her acting chops, but her last Broadway role, that of a ravaged alcoholic in a musical adaptation of “Days of Wine and Roses,” proved a powerful showcase for the latter.In Carmen, who has her own troubles, the actress has a vehicle for the fine blend of sunniness and composure and the capacity for understated melancholy that have distinguished her acting and singing. Mr. Hanks’s Bert complements these qualities with an easy, self-effacing humor and a sense of quiet vigilance, forging a relaxed chemistry that avoids, or at least transcends, corniness.Kayli Carter makes an effervescent third wheel as Carmen’s young niece, Virginia, who accompanies her aunt to the World Fair and becomes a giddy player in the central couple’s courtship. Mr. Sanders is predictably winning as Carmen’s protective brother, Virginia’s dad, and even better as the big-hearted, observant proprietor of a Greek diner where a pair of key scenes unfold in 1953.“She is waiting for…tomorrow,” the diner owner tells Bert at one point, referring to Carmen. “And you? You are here looking for…yesterday.” And their paths cross just as charmingly as you would expect, given the company provided.

Tom Hanks and Kelli O’Hara Take an Unabashedly Sentimental Journey in ‘This World of Tomorrow’

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