From basement shows to the Fox Theatre: Atlanta actor takes the stage in ‘Hamilton’
The Tony Award-winning musical “Hamilton” returns to Atlanta’s Fox Theatre on Sept. 2 for a three-week run.
As figures from U.S. history race around the stage to tell the story of the nation’s founding, the performance will likely feel extra meaningful to Stockbridge native Christian Magby, who has been playing Lafayette and Jefferson in the touring performance since July 2025.
“Nothing feels like this,” he said on the phone a few days before heading back to Atlanta. “To be performing at the Fox in a principal role in a show that I am deeply proud of, I feel like I owe that to Atlanta for just getting me to this stage and being able to share it with my friends and family and classmates.”
Finding his way to one of Atlanta’s most renowned stages took decades of work.
Magby’s performing arts journey began in 2006 with Atlanta theater company Youth Ensemble of Atlanta, an African American youth theater that works to foster young people’s talents in the performing arts. By 15, he had composed 11-person musical “Love Does Cost a Thing.”
But long before he began performing on stages and composing musicals, the Stockbridge resident said he would set up his video camera in his basement and enlist visitors to the house in his projects.
“I just knew that there was some form of telling stories I wanted to be a part of,” he said.
Tyler Perry was also a huge inspiration to Magby while he was growing up. Even before the first Tyler Perry TV show was created, Magby was watching Perry’s stage plays.
“I’m seeing somebody who looks like me create their own yes,” Magby said. “Now, I’m seeing my Atlanta actor friends in some of his productions. It just felt that much more tangible.”
The Youth Ensemble of Atlanta company ranges from ages 8 to 24, so Magby stayed well connected in Atlanta’s performing arts community.
“(In Atlanta) it is very easy to have an idea and get it off the ground,” Magby said. “I tell people all the time, especially if they wanted to start a career in Atlanta, I was like, ‘If you do something well one time and somebody sees it, you will stay busy.’”
That moment for Magby was when he performed in Aurora Theatre’s “In the Heights” after graduating from SCAD. The performance was a jumping-off point for future workshops, projects and performances.
Magby first auditioned for “Hamilton” about 10 years ago when it was just beginning to tour after its Broadway premiere. At the time, he didn’t know a lot about auditioning, and going for a role that attracted such a huge pool of talent was eye-opening.
But almost a decade later, when his agent suggested he give “Hamilton” another shot, he landed the Lafayette/Jefferson role. This time around, he had 10 more years of experience to draw on.
“What helped me, just as an actor, is also having been a composer and a music director behind the table, and so I had just a little bit more knowledge of, if I was to walk into a room, what would I want to see from me if I was on the other side of the table?” Magby said.
He got the call while he was in the middle of working as music director for the show, “Milo Imagines the World,” which was preparing to debut at the Alliance Theatre. Fortunately, “Hamilton” let him fly back and forth when he needed to, and he was able to direct “Milo Imagines the World” through its opening.
When “Hamilton” debuted on Broadway in 2015 and Magby first listened to songs like “Helpless” and “Alexander Hamilton,” the opening number, he recognized echoes of the music he’d grown up with.
“Coming up in Atlanta, it’s just like, this is what musicals sounded like to me, and so I think I was just able to identify with something that had the heart of what I grew up with,” he said. “And to be able to tell a story through hip-hop and R&B and pop, not just musically but with dance, it’s absolutely extraordinary.”
On Magby’s very first day of rehearsal, he sat down to watch the show with the new perspective that he would be performing in one of the main roles. He never realized how much the characters of Lafayette and Jefferson ran around onstage.
“I’m watching this whole cast, and I’m just like, ‘There’s no way,’” Magby said with a laugh. “I’ve got the job at this point, and I’m like, ‘Oh my, what have I done?’”
This job has mentally prepared him to take on any other project, Magby said, and showed him the level of time and focus needed for this kind of production. That includes what kind of meals he can eat before a performance — he quickly learned that a 10-piece order of wings with fries wouldn’t do the job.
Despite the challenge of performing in such a demanding show and traveling around the U.S. for a little over a year, Magby still looks forward to performing every day.
“This show is the epitome of smart theater to me,” he said. “This is smart storytelling, smart collaborators all the way through, and so to be a part of something that’s not just brilliant, but it looks great, and it sounds great, and it’s something that I can be proud of, it’s a reason to show up at work every day. It truly means a lot to be entrusted with this material.”
As a creator, watching the process and seeing what goes into every detail of the performance, “it fuels me outside of the show to want to do something as great.”