←Recommendations of A LOVE STORY

A satisfying prequel to the story of Scrooge, the lead character in Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Adam Richter gives us not just Scrooge's backstory, but his partner, Jacob Marley's as well, and we see how the relationship between them grows. There are lots of unexpected twists and turns in "Jacob and Ebenezer" before Scrooge becomes the man at the opening of Dickens' classic tale. For the first time, we get to see how Scrooge's heart froze, and how, if the conditions are right, it might unfreeze again. Well done!

What a touching and imaginative exploration of a re-imagined back-story for the principal character in A Christmas Carol. We see an authentic human connection under the stern and miserly visage and we see how the loss of that connection calcifies that visage. The irony of the early scenes is superseded by the very moving final events. All-in-all, an impressive and engaging work!

What might seem at the outset to be an implausible set up -- who can imagine Ebenezer Scrooge having love in his heart for anyone but himself? -- turns out to be an earnest, heartfelt and heartbreaking tale of two hardened souls bending for each other, if only in private.

Adam Richter is able to write in the voice and world of other writers with great authority, and his pastiche of Dickens' A Christmas Carol is no exception. There are lines that will stick with you long after you finish reading, and moments aplenty that will touch your heart. Excellent!

This one-act play is like a dovetail joint: Adam Richter's story about Jacob Marley and Ebenezer Scrooge aligns perfectly into what readers know from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."

Richter casts the two characters in a different light than Dickens' original. The audience sees the character arc that ultimately leads to the Scrooge in Dickens' tale and provides motivation for Marley's need to visit.

The results are eerily theatrical and emotionally vibrant.

JACOB AND EBENEZER’s titular characters are men building a barricade of wealth to protect them from a threatening world. The tragedy of Richter’s melancholy prequel is how they build a wall between each other, alternately attempting to break through and holding it in place, each longing for comfort while denying it to the other.

Richter’s insightful and empathetic point of view renders his characters more three-dimensional than their Dickensian counterparts, while remaining squarely in the world of A Christmas Carol. I don’t think I’ll ever see Scrooge the same way again.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL begins with a death, but I have always wondered what things were like when Marley was alive. Richter's spin on the story reveals that Scrooge and Marley were partners in more ways than one. In this charming play, we get a miserly love story and an origin tale with the detail of the ghostly chain that only Marley can hear. "JACOB AND EBENEZER" is the prequel I never knew I needed. It is worthy of being called a Christmas classic, as beautiful as the source material. I want to see Richter's prequel performed every holiday season.

JACOB AND EBENEZER: A LOVE STORY is a bittersweet prequel to Charles Dickens's A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
In it, we get to see the stuff in between the visions the ghost of Christmas Past has Scrooge relive, and we see how one relationship shaped and molded him. As a huge fan of a Christmas Carol, I felt this fit seamlessly and beautifully into the mythos of Dickens's story. It is heartbreaking (and lovely) to watch as these characters grapple with their own limited understanding of humanity.

BRAVO! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

A pitch perfect prequel. Exploring a very possible “what if” scenario that instantly became canon to me. At the heart of this examination of the title characters is the idea that love binds us together, often times against the rest of the world. And those chains are stronger than anything hell can devise. I loved this piece. It was heartbreaking and redemptive.

We all know the story of penny-pinching Scrooge and his equally parsimonious partner, Marley- but do we know the 'why,' behind their cold, ungenerous paths? Richter gives us an unexpected origin story that causes one to feel the rightness of it in their soul. This take is equal parts beauty, sorrow, explanation and regret. The chains we hear softly approaching as these two continue to lose their way, also herald a compassion not typically associated with Marley and Scrooge. But Richter crafts & delivers it beautifully. A deeply satisfying heartache for sure.