- April 25, 2024
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Clear the stage: There's a new theatre company in town.
Halifax Repertory Theatre, opened by Ormond Beach residents Sandra and Jack Cook, will host its first performance at the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center on Friday, July 23. Titled "Spectacular Spectacular: A Night of Broadway" the show features a compilation of sings from hit Broadway shows including Les Miserables, Hamilton, Rent, and Wicked. When asked about the show's title, Halifax Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Sandra Cook said one "spectacular" was simply not enough to portray the show's caliber of performances.
"We needed to have more than one," Cook said.
Featuring seven performers, including a former Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeer, the show also serves as a fundraiser for the Children's Musical Theatre Workshop's scholarship program. The Cooks were both involved with the program as children, having grown up in Ormond Beach. They lived in Orlando for 20 years before returning to their hometown, and now their daughter and son have both been enrolled in the CMT program.
All of the proceeds from the show will benefit the nonprofit, which hosts performing and theatre courses for children in Volusia and Flagler counties.
Cook remembers the lively local theatre scene as a child. Having spent the last two decades in Orlando, where she and her
husband formed part of the Orlando Opera Company and worked for 10 years in a murder mystery dinner theatre show, once she retired from her paralegal career, Cook said she felt there was a void in Ormond that she could help fill.
"We feel like this town needs a rejuvenation in theatre and in live performances," she said.
Thus, she got together with Jennifer Gibbens, the business manager of CMT, and the Halifax Repertory Theatre was born. Her husband Jack, who is a medical malpractice attorney by day and performer by night, serves as the theatre company's executive director. Both will perform in "Spectacular Spectacular."
One of the numbers Cook will be performing is "My Strongest Suit" from the Broadway musical "Aida," though a number to watch will be "Lilly's Eyes" from "The Secret Garden."
With COVID-19 having taken a toll on the entertainment industry, the Halifax Repertory Theatre company is ready to take the stage.
Many performances in the past year-and-a-half have taken place virtually, but that doesn't compare to sitting inside a theater and watching a live show, Cook said. Likewise, as a performing, nothing compares to being in front of a live audience, she explained.
"There are a lot of things with the pandemic that won’t really return back to the way they were, and this is one area that we feel should return back to what it was, and it’s needed," Cook said.
Everyone involved in the show is excited, she added. She is aiming for the audience to leave in good spirits after the show.
“I hope the audience walks away with a smile," Cook said. "I feel like there’s been so many difficult, challenging things in the last year for so many people, and we just want to bring some fun, and some excitement, and some smiles to people’s faces.”
