I told you a couple of times this season, tickets to Tom Hanks’s off Broadway play were not selling.
Two time Oscar winner Hanks has co-written a play he also stars in called “This World of Tomorrow.”
It’s about a man who time travels from around 2080 back to the 1939 World’s Fair in Queens to find the love of his life.
People who’ve seen it call it “slight but charming” but the cast is pretty amazing. Including Hanks there’s Kelli O’Hara, Jay O. Sanders, Donald Webber Jr., and Ruben Santiago Hudson, among others.
For weeks leading up to performances that began on October 30th, tickets were priced at a whopping $399. Nothing was moving. You could buy seats on any night.
There was an initial price drop to $299 per ticket which helped a little but not much.
Now suddenly shows are selling out — and there’s a good reason. You can now get in for as little as $169. The high price seems be about $259, with some going for $239. There may be still be a ticket for those under 30 years old at $45.
Now when you go to The Shed, you won’t be taken to The Shed. Or the cleaners!
Is the huge drop in pricing because our new mayor is demanding “affordability”?
No, I think it’s because Tom, the nicest guy in the world, finally realized his fans were being fleeced. The Shed was charging prices from 2080 with advanced inflation.
So what about going back in time to 1939? Would you do it? We talked about this with Woody Allen recently since his movie, “Midnight in Paris,” is the same idea. You can watch the interview here.
As Woody notes (see below), there are no vaccines for common illnesses. Also, no dry cleaning or air conditioning. (There are also no sugar free products.) Going to Queens on the number 7 train for the World’s Fair was a sweaty affair. Tom Hanks loves manual typewriters, though. Woody’s been using the same one for 74 years. Maybe Tom’s character finds it in the play!
