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October 1, 2017

Charles Dickens, as you might expect of a novelist who made his fortune writing serialized cliffhangers, would like a little more drama with his religion. He has just been listening to Thomas Jefferson deliver a rather dry version of the New Testament’s parable of the talents.

As far as the author of “Great Expectations” is concerned, such a presentation — even from a former president of the United States, in biblical exegesis mode — simply won’t do. “Tales must sparkle,” he insists. Otherwise, how on earth (or in heaven, or limbo) do you capture a listener’s attention?

That’s the problem facing Scott Carter, the writer who has so venturesomely put Jefferson, Dickens and Leo Tolstoy in a sealed antechamber to the afterlife, along with a copy of the Bible and some pens and paper. The onerous weight born by anyone who hopes to find the crowd-captivating sparkle therein is suggested by the title of Mr. Carter’s play, which opened Sunday night at the Cherry Lane Theater.

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