Churchill & Roosevelt: The Christmas That Saved the World!

Churchill & Roosevelt: The Christmas That Saved the World! opens at the Johnson Theater on Thursday, November 12, and runs through Sunday, November 15. It's a new play from David Payne, who also wrote Churchill, and it's part of the Discovery Series at TPAC.

The story takes us back to December 1941, just weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill crossed the Atlantic to meet President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House, and the play focuses on that meeting. It's less about the broad strokes of the war and more about the two men themselves—how two very different leaders forged a personal bond and a shared vision that helped shape the course of the war and the world.

If you're a history buff, the timing is the thing that sticks. The meeting happened when the world was still reeling from Pearl Harbor, and the play puts you right in that room as they worked out how to fight together. It's a focused look at a specific moment rather than a sweeping biography, and it comes from the same creative team as Churchill, so it's in the same vein as that one.

There are five performances over the four days, so you've got a few options for when to catch it. It opens Thursday, Nov 12, at 7:30 PM, followed by Friday, Nov 13, also at 7:30 PM. Saturday, Nov 14, has two shows—a 2:30 PM matinee and a 7:00 PM evening performance—and it closes Sunday, Nov 15, with a 2:00 PM matinee. Tickets are on sale now, and you can save 50% with the code FIRESIDE.