Thanks to having three sisters who liked watching musicals, Rob Stack, ’07, grew up watching them too. As a kid, he found himself drawn to Grease 2.
“I know. It’s a horrible movie with a campy, cliché depiction of high school,” he says. “But, I loved every minute of it. I sang all of the songs, and even tried to turn my bike into a motorcycle.”
After that, he was bitten by the musical theater bug, and, in sixth grade, he started acting and enrolled in his first drama class.
“When you perform a show, it becomes a living, breathing thing,” he says. “It’s always changing — the cast, the audience, content, state-of-mind, etc. It’s very exciting and kind of a high. I love challenges and roles that stretch me beyond what I know and am comfortable with.”
And, his latest role has definitely stretched him out of his comfort zone. In addition to the usual acting and singing, Stack also has to play guitar and perform a striptease for the audience as Hugh in Spank! The Fifty Shades Parody, which runs through March 23 at The Abbey in Orlando.
Much closer to his comfort zone is his day gig, playing a crab in the Finding Nemo: The Musical live show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Performing in two different shows each day has been challenging, but Stack has figured out how to balance his busy schedule.
“I only do five things on my work days: ‘Nemo’ in the morning, gym in the afternoon, ‘Spank’ in the evening, family in the evening and then sleep!” he explains. “On my days off, I’m spending time with my family and keeping up on ‘The Walking Dead.’ Love that show.”
Stack says he chose to attend UCF for many reasons — a big one being that it offered a B.F.A. in musical theater.
“The UCF musical theater program was such an amazing experience for me,” he explains. “First of all, I met my wife there. But, I also met a crucial network of very talented friends and colleagues who I still keep in touch with today. I enjoyed it so much because it’s such a well-put-together program. They have excellent professors, a great curriculum, and they mount fantastic productions every semester.”
As a student, Stack performed in many of those productions, including Pippin, Fiddler on the Roof, The Visit, and The Boyfriend.
In addition, he and his wife, Andrea (Dunn), ’07, performed together as love interests Brad and Janet in the UCF’s production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
“It was the most fun I have ever had on stage,” he says. “It was such a wonderful team of people, from the production team to the cast. We all felt like rock stars! I’m sure you heard about it… It was legendary.”
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