Wallach co-owns Hatch Escapes, an immersive experience and gaming company based in Los Angeles, which created The Ladder, winner of a 2025 THEA alongside The Sphere in Las Vegas, Tokyo DisneySea, and the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony.[3] He was also placed on the 2025 XLIST, recognizing innovators in experiential design.[4]
In 2008, Wallach was signed to Decca Records, who released his self-titled EP.[5] He has released two full-length albums independently, and has performed in such venues as the Guggenheim Museum and Joe's Pub.
His original musical Vicky & Frank, loosely based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, is currently in development for Broadway by 8-time Tony-Award-winning producer Joey Parnes.[6]
Early life
Wallach was born in Stamford, CT and raised in Bellevue, WA. His mother, Stephanie Wallach, was the 10th female commercial airline pilot in the United States. Wallach attended NYU Tisch, eventually graduating from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, and received an MA in Journalism from Stanford University.
Wallach's second novel, Thanks for the Trouble, was published in 2016.[11] It was reviewed in the New York Times, which called its female protagonist "a sparkling creation, as mysterious as a mermaid," and said "at its best, the novel carries a worthy message: No life is without pain — or promise."[12]
Wallach then published The Anchor & Sophia, a trilogy of books comprising Strange Fire,[13]Slow Burn, and Scorched Earth.[14]
Wallach and Query sold the spec script Delilah to Screen Gems in 2021.[17] Wallach was also tapped to do a production polish on the feature film Charlie 3D for Mandalay Pictures.[18]
In 2023, the pilot for Wallach's comedy series PV & Franny was recorded as a podcast with Table Read Podcast. The episode starred Kensington Tallman, Ty Burrell, and Fred Armisen.[19]
Music
Throughout the aughts, Wallach posted original songs and videos on YouTube and DailyMotion. Combined, his videos have over half a million views. In 2008, Decca Records released Wallach's eponymous debut EP after he won Gather.com's "First Tracks" contest.[20]
Wallach at the Varnish, 2023
In 2010, Wallach's original stop-motion video for his song "Whisper" (co-directed by Tallie Maughan) was shortlisted for the YouTube Play festival. As a result, Wallach was invited to perform at the Guggenheim Museum alongside OK Go and Michael Showalter.[21] Glen Gamboa described the album for Newsday: "Newcomer Tommy Wallach clearly idolizes the gorgeous, clever piano-pop of Rufus Wainwright. The inspiration runs throughout his debut EP, "Tommy Wallach" (Decca)."[22]
In 2018, he released the LP We All Looked Up: The Album, a companion record to his debut novel of the same name. The record was produced by Benjamin Lazar Davis, and features additional strings from Joan Wasser (Joan as Police Woman).[24]
Wallach was one of the house musicians at the legendary Los Angeles cocktail bar The Varnish from 2019 until its closing in 2024.[25]
Musicals
In September 2023, Wallach self-produced a reading for his original musical Vicky & Frank at Ripley-Grier Studios in New York City, directed by Rachel Dart and musical directed by Katie Coleman. The reading starred Kuhoo Verma, Michael Thomas Grant, Julie James, Morgan Dudley, Asher Muldoon, Morgan Siobhan Green, and Jeremy Morse.[26]
Vicky & Frank has been optioned for Broadway development by eight-time Tony Award winning producer Joey Parnes (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, The Humans, Bright Star). A second reading took place in 2024 at NYC's Open Jar Studios, and a workshop is planned for 2025.
Games and Escape Rooms
With Terry Pettigrew-Rolapp, Wallach is the co-founder of Hatch Escapes, a Los Angeles-based immersive experience and gaming company.[27]
Hatch's first escape room, Lab Rat, opened in 2017.[28]Lab Rat casts players as test subjects in a laboratory run by a giant rat doctoral student, Dr. Ratkenstein, who is doing his dissertation on human intelligence. The game was ranked the 8th best escape room in the world in 2018, and was also named the best escape room in Los Angeles by LA Magazine.[29][30]
Hatch's second room, The Ladder, opened in April 2024 after extensive playtesting.[27]The Ladder is a replayable 90-minute immersive experience offering a branching narrative, five playable avatars, and nine possible endings.[27] Players spend 50 years climbing the corporate ladder at Nutricorp, a corrupt pharmaceutical company in Omaha, Nebraska. Each room of The Ladder represents a decade, from the 1950s through the 1990s, and features both traditional escape room puzzles and scored games. The Ladder has won numerous awards, including a THEA (given by the Themed Entertainment Association) and an Immie (the No Proscenium audience award).[31]
With his Hatch co-owner Terry Pettigrew-Rolapp, Wallach also designed the tabletop game Mother of Frankenstein (2023), a 15-hour narrative puzzle game based on the life of Mary Shelley.[32] Its Kickstarter campaign raised nearly $250,000 and received shout-outs from luminaries such as Neil Gaiman and Margaret Atwood.[33] The game was eventually published by Arcane Wonders and made available in Barnes & Noble stores across the country.
Published works
Wallach, Tommy (2015). We All Looked Up, Simon & Schuster BFYR, ISBN9781481418782
Wallach, Tommy (2016). Thanks for the Trouble, Simon & Schuster BFYR, ISBN9781481418812
Wallach, Tommy (2017). Strange Fire, Simon & Schuster BFYR, ISBN9781481468398
Wallach, Tommy (2018). Slow Burn, Simon & Schuster BFYR, ISBN9781481468428
Wallach, Tommy (2020). Scorched Earth, Simon & Schuster BFYR, ISBN9781481468466
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