Next Fall at the Fair, Tom Hanks and Kelli O'Hara Head to Broadway

Tom Hanks is coming back to Broadway in fall 2027 in This World of Tomorrow, a time-travel love story set at the 1939 New York World's Fair, with Kelli O'Hara again opposite him.

The news broke on Thursday, October 22. The play will go into a Shubert-owned theater that has not been named yet, according to Playbill. No preview or opening dates are set.

It is a long way off. It is also a rare thing. Hanks has not played Broadway since Lucky Guy, Nora Ephron's newspaper play, closed at the Broadhurst Theatre on West 44th Street on July 3, 2013, Playbill notes.

When Does This World of Tomorrow Open on Broadway?

The play is set for fall 2027. Performance dates, prices and on-sale information are still to come. The show's official site offers only a sign-up form for early word.

The complete cast and creative team will be announced later. For now the two names on the bill are Hanks and O'Hara.

Tony winner Kenny Leon returns to direct, Playbill reports. Brian Anthony Moreland is the producer, and 101 Productions, Ltd. is the general manager.

What Is the Play About?

It is a love story with a machine in it. Late in the 21st century, travel into the past is possible. A scientist named Bert Allenberry, played by Hanks, goes back to June 8, 1939, and the World's Fair in Queens. There he meets Carmen, played by O'Hara, and falls for her.

Broadway.com describes Bert as a man who keeps returning to that one day to try to change his own future. By its account, he learns that the future is shaped by the choices people make for love, not by technology.

Hanks wrote the play with James Glossman. Playbill says it grows out of a short story from Hanks's 2017 collection Uncommon Type. Broadway.com describes the source more broadly, as short stories by Hanks.

If they hadn't gone to the World's Fair in 1939, they would not have met the great love of their life.

That line is Hanks's, quoted by Playbill, and it works as a one-sentence pitch. He went on to describe history as the thing that decides whether you were in the right place at the right time.

How Did It Do at The Shed?

This World of Tomorrow had its world premiere at The Shed in Hudson Yards in 2025, and Playbill's listing says that run closed on December 21, 2025. O'Hara played Carmen there, and she reprises the part.

The reviews were not all love letters. TheaterMania's Pete Hempstead reviewed the Shed run in November 2025 and found it charming but dated. "Hanks and O'Hara have decent enough chemistry between them, but the problem with this play is its physics," he wrote. His kicker was harder still. "Alas, charming as it often is, This World of Tomorrow feels very yesterday."

No script changes have been announced. Leon, quoted by Playbill, said "there's no time like the present to further explore this story of love and time travel from Glossman and Hanks." He added that he wants more audiences to see the onstage chemistry of O'Hara and Hanks.

Who Are the Names Involved?

Hanks is a two-time Academy Award winner, for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, according to Broadway.com. Lucky Guy was his Broadway debut, and it earned him a Tony nomination.

O'Hara won a Tony for The King and I and stars in HBO's The Gilded Age. Leon won a Tony for A Raisin in the Sun and chairs the board of the American Theatre Wing, Broadway.com notes.

Hanks has been turning up in New York rooms lately. He dropped in on the 30 Rock reunion this month, as we reported in Never Televised, 30 Rock Reunites One Night Only at Radio City.

What to Know Before You Go

Nothing is on sale yet. The official site collects sign-ups for news and offers. Watch for three things, in order: the theater, the dates and the ticket release.

Until then there is a year to wait and one fair to imagine. June 8, 1939 is a long way from Times Square, and Bert has the whole of the future to cross to get there.