Atlantan Christian Magby pulls double duty as an actor in ‘Hamilton’ and a composer of musicals

Picture this: It’s 2016, and you’re sitting in the Aurora Theatre, watching the annual musical revue, Christmas Canteen. A spotlight appears on the stage, and the iconic intro from Hamilton’s opening number begins as Christian Magby enters. He is dressed as Jack Frost, and the whole audience soon dissolves into laughter at the clever lyrics, not of “Alexander Hamilton,” but rather, a parody — “Jolly Old St. Nicholas.” 

At the time, Magby imagined this was the closest he would ever come to being in the then-new yet already groundbreaking musical. How wrong he was.

An Atlanta theater mainstay beloved for roles from Sonny in Aurora’s In the Heights to the Beast in Beauty and the Beast at City Springs, Magby has also directed and composed a few musicals of his own. Today, he is in his second year touring North America in Hamilton, which comes to The Fox Theatre September 2 through September 20.

He auditioned for and almost booked a standby position in the rap musical three times between 2016 and 2020 before auditioning yet again in 2025. When he was called back for one of the leads instead, Magby assumed there had been a mistake.

“I reached out to my manager, and I was like, ‘Hey, um, is this callback for Lafayette and Jefferson or for the standby position?’” he recalls. After a confused back-and-forth revealed there had been no mistake, Magby’s fantasy of booking the juggernaut musical became a burst of optimism. 

“And that was the first time that I felt like I could actually book this thing,” he says. Older and wiser than at his first audition, he fancied himself much more capable of telling the story. His recent years as a composer and being “on the other side of the table” — that is, part of the creative team — didn’t hurt either.

“I think a good part of me was just like, ‘If I were to watch me in an audition room, what would I want to see?’” he says. “That really aided me in booking it, which was beyond my wildest dreams.”

Magby has found he loves playing such different characters — Alexander Hamilton’s friend Marquis de Lafayette in the first act and his foe, Thomas Jefferson, in the second. 

“[What] I thought was going to be a challenge has actually been one of the most rewarding things,” Magby says of the double track. Alongside the characters’ unique costumes — including a wig as Jefferson — Magby physically distinguishes his characters as well.

“They walk very differently. When it comes to Lafayette, I lead with my chest,” he explains. Lafayette’s soldierly demeanor comes less naturally to Magby than Jefferson’s irreverence. “[Jefferson]’s an accessible side of me that’s not very hard to find — just the witty, sarcastic strut of it all.”

While not his first experience with an eight-performance week, it is his first lesson in sustaining voice and body through so many weeks. From meals to socializing, Magby has adjusted every aspect of his life to optimize his craft. 

“I need to make sure I can do this show eight times a week,” he says, adding, “while still composing musicals.” 

Yes, musicals, as in, more than one. Along with Atlanta-based lyricists and playwrights, Magby is currently composing three. And he’s not just working in the morning after a good night’s sleep. Often, his writing work begins when he gets back to his Airbnb after Hamilton, and he doesn’t hit the pillow until 4 a.m. 

In what must be a Mary Poppins bag, Magby brings an entire recording studio on the road. A foldable piano keyboard fits into his trunk with a stand, monitors, microphone and more. 

“It’s quite impressive,” he says. “I’ve gotten my setup time to 45 minutes now, but the first time I set up everything, it took like an hour and a half.”

He even composed The Great Ant Sleepover entirely on the road, ahead of its summer 2026 Alliance Theatre debut. Still, nothing replaces in-person collaboration. 

“It’s the shortest musical I’ve ever worked on but the hardest, and I think it was because we were all in different spaces physically,” he says. Learning from this experience, he took a writing retreat with lyricist Christian Albright and playwright Terry Guest to work on their current musical, Glitched. 

“One of the things we realized is that we’re good at working separately and trusting everybody to do their own thing, but the magic that we come up with when we’re in a room together is by far very different,” he says. “The entire show — from beginning to end and concept-wise — changed, the name of the show changed and the characters are not even humans anymore!”

When Magby performs at the Fox by night, he will spend many days meeting in-person with his collaborators and even recording a song sung by a Hamilton cast member. As someone who considers himself an Atlanta artist through and through, this stop at the Fox will be especially meaningful.

“I’ve always wanted to perform at the Fox. And so I think being able to perform this show in this role on that stage in a city that I still live in and make art in feels very, very surreal,” he says. “I cannot even explain the level of excitement right now, because it’s definitely one of my biggest dreams come true.”

Where and When

Hamilton is at the Fox Theatre September 2 through September 20. Tickets start around $100 and depend on seating. 660 Peachtree St. NE.

Sally Fuller is a theater nerd and journalist with a passion for telling people’s stories. Her work has appeared in Encore Atlanta, City Lifestyle magazine and The AJC, among others. When not writing, she works at her dream job of mothering her mini-me, alongside the best husband and father in the world.