Max Wagner
Max Wagner is a freelance guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. Over the last 11 years, he has become a fixture of the musical theatre scene, playing in dozens of theatrical productions and cabarets as well as working as a recording musician and sideman. A versatile player, Max is known for his acoustic and electric guitar work, as well as for his dexterity on 4- and 5-string banjo, mandolin, ukulele, lap steel, and electric bass. As Max always says, “If it has strings and frets, I can play it.”
Max can currently be seen and heard by New York audiences as a Guitar 2 sub for Hell’s Kitchen, Alicia Keys’ hit Broadway musical, and as a Guitar sub for the Off-Broadway mega-hit Heathers the Musical. Max was the Guitar 2 chair for Drag: The Musical Off-Broadway, and also subbed for This Is Not A Drill, at the York Theatre.
In 2024, prior to making the move east, Max was the guitarist for the 25th Anniversary Revival of Reefer Madness the Musical in Hollywood, performed in the Reefer Den’s post-show jazz set with David Lamoureux’s Four Twenties, and played guitar, banjo, and ukulele on the subsequent cast album. Max is the first-call guitarist for easily a dozen music directors and music contractors who praise his tone, sight-reading chops, flexibility, and easy-going attitude.
Some of Max’s other recent theatre credits include McCoy-Rigby’s Waitress the Musical, Mystic Pizza the Musical, and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Mad World Inventions’ Scissorhands: A Musical Tribute at the Bourbon Room, and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s relaunched La Cage nightclub revue. He’s played at venues including the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, the Kennedy Center, the Troubadour, and the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.
Max has worked with numerous stars of stage and screen, including Kristen Bell, Wayne Brady, Bill Farmer, voice of Disney’s Goofy, and Tony Award-winner Lindsay Mendez. From 2016-2021, he was the guitarist for John Burroughs High School’s award-winning show choir’s professional combo and from 2021-2024 he was the main guitarist for California Center for the Arts, Escondido’s Center Cabaret series. Max is also one-third of indie-folk-pop band MillStock Wagner, whose second EP Hope Springs was released in October 2024.
Video
“Kaleidoscope”
An original song recorded entirely on one acoustic guitar. Produced by John Schroeder at Blue Dream Studios.
Contact Max
To reach out for live booking, sessions, or any other inquiries, email:
Selected Musical
Theatre Credits
9 to 5
American Idiot
Assassins
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Big Fish
Bottle Shock
Bright Star
Catch Me If You Can
Chess
Cruel Intentions
Dogfight
Drag: The Musical (Off-Broadway)
Footloose
Fun Home
Godspell
Heathers The Musical (Off-Broadway)
Hell’s Kitchen (Broadway)
Hello, Dolly!
In The Heights
Jesus Christ Superstar
Kinky Boots
The Last Five Years
Love Somebody Now
Mystic Pizza
Once
Once on this Island
Particle
Pippin
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Reefer Madness
RENT
The Robber Bridegroom
School of Rock
Shrek
Something Rotten
Sweet Charity
This Is Not A Drill (Off-Broadway)
tick, tick… BOOM
Unlock’d
The View UpStairs
Waitress
The Wedding Singer