St. Petersburg illusionists are recovering from hurricanes with a new Christmas show

ST. PETE, Florida. Last month, ABC Action News told you about two St. Pete magicians who lost their home in Hurricane Milton. Even though they have to spend the night in their theater, these magicians say the show must go on.

Chris and Ryan Zubrick were busy hanging ornaments on the tree at Zubrick’s Magic Theatre. This was their new home for the holidays after they lost their permanent residence during Hurricane Milton.

“We came home to find 22 inches of water in our house. It was absolutely devastating for us, of course, but also for our seven-year-old son Oliver,” Chris said. “We had to go into his room and throw away a lot of his toys and clothes, it was heartbreaking, he also lost school during Helen’s time.”

Despite the devastation, Chris and Ryan knew the show had to go on, not only for their family, but for the entire community.

“Even though Milton took our home, he didn’t take our passion for performing, so now more than ever we need to add some entertainment, happiness and joy into people’s lives,” Ryan said.

From now until the end of the year, the couple is offering a new show they call the Holiday Spectacular.

“A truly exciting show, we have state of the art projection equipment throughout the theatre, we have a great audience, of course we have our crowd favourites, but we have put a little festive twist on them. , sleight of hand, grand illusion, family comedy,” Chris said.

Ryan and Chris can trace their careers back to opening presents on Christmas morning when they were children.

“When I was seven years old, I got a magic set for Christmas and it was just a passion that stuck,” Ryan said. “Now we have magic kits and we hand pick the magic tricks and they make the perfect stocking fillers, so we love giving them to others,” Ryan said.

While the show may be full of illusion, the only thing that is real is the reaction of the audience, many of whom are going through the same problems as Ryan and Chris.

“They talk to us in the lobby and say, ‘Thank you so much for letting us escape.’ We lost our home, we lost our business, and we needed to experience the magic and wonder again,” Chris said.

For more information on show times and tickets, visit zubrickmagic.com.