If you’re looking for a unique event to help you get in the spirit of Christmas, look no further than the First Presbyterian Theater’s presentation of “Tom and Thom’s Christmas Songs and Stories.”
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2018, FPT has scheduled a wide variety of programs, including this original and timely seasonal curtain raiser. The show features Fort Wayne City Councilman Tom Didier and First Presbyterian Theater’s Managing Artistic Director Thom Hofrichter reuniting on stage after a 37-year hiatus, singing Christmas songs and telling stories about themselves and the holiday. The pair had worked together in a 1981 production of Of Mice and Men.
The show will be presented in two acts, one featuring secular songs that likely refer to reindeer, snowmen, and that jolly, fat man wearing a red suit. The second act will focus primarily on the reason for the season, the birth of Christ.
But that’s not all. Didier and Hofrichter, worried that two Thomas’s weren’t enough to carry a show of this magnitude, invited a third Tom, Fort Wayne musician Tommy Saul, to perform some of numbers with them as well. If all goes well, they may have to rename the act for an encore presentation next year. The show runs weekends through Dec. 16. — Chris Hupe