{"id":73552,"date":"2025-12-06T12:09:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T12:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/73552\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T12:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T12:09:07","slug":"st-petes-american-stage-puts-a-21st-century-twist-on-a-holiday-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/73552\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pete’s American Stage puts a 21st century twist on a holiday classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AMorgan Tapp (L) and Tristan Braboy in \u2018The Magi,\u2019 playing Dec. 4-21, 2025 at American Stage in St. Petersburg, Florida. Credit: Chaz D. Photography \/ americanstage\/Flickr<\/a><\/p>\n

In O. Henry\u2019s 1905 short story \u201cThe Gift of the Magi,\u201d a young husband secretly sells his pocket watch to buy his wife a comb and she secretly sells her hair to buy him a watch chain.<\/p>\n

The worst Secret Santa ever? Or a testament to the generosity inherent in sacrifice? O. Henry saw it as the latter, seeing an echo of the Biblical Magi in the couple\u2019s willingness to give up their most valuable possessions to show their love.<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Magi,\u201d Helen R. Murray\u2019s 21st-century update with music and lyrics by Eli Pafumi, the young couple have been touring together for years in a band called, not incidentally, The Magi. What will they sacrifice for love?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat you will have to see,\u201d says Anthony Gervais, who\u2019s directing the musical for American Stage. \u201cYou learn about their relationship, the things they give up for each other emotionally on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he allows, \u201cthere is a satisfying answer,\u201d one that captures the same spirit as the O. Henry. \u201cIt\u2019s a very emotional holiday show that asks some big questions, and the ending is very hopeful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cast and production of \u2018The Magi\u2019 at American Stage<\/p>\n

Tristan Braboy plays Nix, who wants to settle down. Morgan Tapp plays Jude, who craves the open road. Audiences have already seen both performers in American Stage shows, including \u201cRing of Fire\u201d and \u201cHundred Days,\u201d in which Sapp played a fiery fiddle. <\/p>\n

Like \u201cDays,\u201d the production has a rock-concert vibe, but quieter\u2014just a violin and a guitar and the two singers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are monologues to the audience when the other character can\u2019t hear them,\u201d says Gervais. \u201cAside from that, the show is more like an intimate concert that goes off the rails.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Magi\u201d will offer patrons a chance to really lean into the intimacy. VIP tickets allow audience members to sit at one of five tables on stage, complete with table-side service.
\u201cYou\u2019ll really feel like you\u2019re at a cabaret club,\u201d says Gervais.<\/p>\n

There\u2019ll be general admission seats for the rest of the house, with the hope that folks will fill rows near the stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to bring everyone as close as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you go see \u2018The Magi\u2019 at American Stage<\/p>\n

Tickets to see \u201cThe Magi\u201d at St. Petersburg\u2019s American Stage on select nights through Dec. 21 are still available and start at $45.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article appears in Nov. 27 \u2013 Dec. 03, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Morgan Tapp (L) and Tristan Braboy in \u2018The Magi,\u2019 playing Dec. 4-21, 2025 at American Stage in St.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[19946,202,204,203,199,201,200,787,788],"class_list":["post-73552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-american-stage","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay-theater","tag-theater-in-st-petersburg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}