History Theatre / Ebenezer

* DeathByChildbirth: Scrooge's mother died giving birth to him, causing his father to send him away. [[spoiler:Marley invokes this with Fran to make Scrooge hate Fred]].
* DeathEqualsRedemption: Subverted. Upon his death Marley claims to realize where he went wrong and says he can still make amends, but it's much too late for that.

** Scrooge's father gets the first version of "Listen Ebenezer" as he extols in his son the virtues of money.

** Jacob Marley gets quite a few, including "Listen Ebenezer" and its reprise, "For A Moment I Was Good," and "Nothing Matters Except the Money."

''Ebenezer'' is a musical prequel to Charles Dickens' ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'', with music and book by Maurice Walters and Christopher Sparkhall. It tells the tale of the early years of Scrooge's life, how he gained his notoriety, his partnership with Jacob Marley, and the dark secrets that lay in his past...

* AdaptationNameChange: Scrooge's fiancee was renamed from Belle to Emily.

** Jacob Marley is much more malicious than in the book, as [[spoiler:he was in a one-sided love with Scrooge and Fran's mother despite her having a husband, impregnates and kills Fran as an act of revenge on their family, convinces Scrooge his fiancee Emily was cheating on him, and convinces him to foreclose Emily's orphanage on Christmas Eve, killing everyone there]].
** Scrooge is also worse than in the book. [[spoiler:When Dickens reveals Marley's crimes to him, he reveals he'd known about Marley from the start and is ''fine'' with all they'd done, including viciously attacking Emily himself and ordering the foreclosure]].
* AgeLift: While how old he was in the book is ambiguous, here Jacob Marley is old enough to [[spoiler:have romanced Scrooge's ''mother'']], making him much older than usual portrayals.
* BigBadDuumvirate: Jacob Marley is a toxic influence on Scrooge and is directly responsible for heinous crimes. However, Scrooge becomes just as bad, and [[spoiler:him knowing about Marley and not caring makes him even worse in some ways]].

** "Air Balloon," originally an uplifting song about Scrooge and Emily's romance, gets a dark reprise as [[spoiler:Emily and the orphans freeze to death]].
** "Out, Out" was already a dark song about Scrooge and Marley kicking the cast out of the firm when they tried to make Scrooge see reason, but its reprise is even worse as [[spoiler:Scrooge and Marley kick Emily and the orphans onto the streets to die]].

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Scrooge's fiancee lives in the book, but dies here]].

* DownerEnding: The musical ends with Jacob Marley dead and doomed, Dickens disgusted at [[spoiler:Scrooge knowing and not caring about the truth]], and Scrooge rejecting everyone and everything with a "Bah, humbug."

* TheEndingChangesEverything: The majority of the play shows how Jacob Marley was a toxic influence in Ebenezer Scrooge's life, and how that plus the various crimes he committed changed him into a cold-hearted, selfish man. [[spoiler:The reveal that Scrooge knew it all along and didn't care, feeling there was no goodness in the world, changes the content of the entire play and Scrooge's entire character]].

** Emily begs Scrooge to reconsider when [[spoiler:he and Marley foreclose the orphanage]] but he refuses and [[spoiler:leaves her to die with the others]].

* HistoryRepeats: Scrooge's mother died giving birth to him, while Fran dies giving birth to Fred. [[spoiler:She was actually murdered by Marley]].

* KickTheMoralityPet: Scrooge completes his transformation into a cold-hearted miser by [[spoiler:leaving Emily and the orphans to die]].

** Jacob Marley gets "Nothing Matters Except the Money," as he talks Scrooge into [[spoiler:foreclosing the orphanage where his love interest works]] for the sake of cash.

* RecursiveCanon: In the prologue Scrooge speaks with Charles Dickens, who's looking to publish a book based on his life and wishes to inform him of a scandal buried deep in his past.
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Scrooge knew about Marley's ways from the start and didn't care]].
* SpinningClockHands: As Marley dies the clock hands in the background spin wildly, lit in red.
* StrawNihilist: [[spoiler:It's revealed Scrooge is this, believing there is no goodness in this world--and whatever goodness there is is extinguished]].

* VorpalPillow: [[spoiler:Jacob Marley kills Fran this way]] at the start of Act 2.
* WhamLine: The majority of the play is built up as a story Dickens tells Scrooge to get him to realize the truth about Jacob Marley and his past. Then it's revealed [[spoiler:Scrooge knew it from the start]].
-->'''Scrooge:''' [[spoiler:You must think me a simpleton, sir. Don't you think I've known about everything from the start? Don't you think I've known about Marley's motives all along?]]
* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler:Jacob Marley was in a one-sided love with Scrooge's mother, and her death giving birth to Scrooge spurred him to take revenge on his family]]. Notably, it's never said if she reciprocated his affections at all or if they even met in person, and she already had a loving husband.

* YourCheatingHeart: Marley gets Scrooge to suspect Emily of infidelity, though she's innocent.

* MoneySong: Jacob Marley gets "Nothing Matters Except the Money," as he talks Scrooge into [[spoiler:foreclosing the orphanage where his love interest works]] for the sake of cash.

* VillainSong: Jacob Marley gets quite a few, including "Listen Ebenezer" and its reprise, "For A Moment I Was Good," and "Nothing Matters Except the Money." Scrooge and Marley both get "Out, Out" and its reprise, and Scrooge gets a solo in the finale where he echoes Marley's words.

The musical was written over a period of two years and premiered in the Canford School in 2011. The entire soundtrack can be heard in [[https://soundcloud.com/christopher-sparkhall/sets/ebenezer-act-1 two]] [[https://soundcloud.com/christopher-sparkhall/sets/ebenezer-act-2 parts]] on Soundcloud, and a synopsis can be found [[http://csparkhall.wixsite.com/bandsaw/ebenezer here]].

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: Charles Dickens, upon learning the truth, storms out in a disgusted rage. It's implied that the ''A Christmas Carol'' we know is what he deemed worthy to publish.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Scrooge knew about Marley's ways from the start and didn't care]].