Copious Notes

Walter Tunis as Falstaff, Jesse Hungerford as Edward (Ned) Poins and Trent Fucci as Prince Hal rehearse SummerFest's production of William Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Part 1," being presented July 8-12 at the Arboretum on Alumni Drive. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Trent Fucci was doing what was normal for guys in his family.

His grandfather, Dominic Anthony Fucci, was an All-American in football and baseball at the University of Kentucky in the late 1940s, and he briefly played for the Detroit Lions in the National Football League.

His father, Sam Fucci, was a baseball and track standout at Tates Creek High School and played baseball for Auburn University. His uncle, Dominic Anthony Fucci Jr., was the 1975 Kentucky Mr. Basketball who also played baseball for Auburn and was drafted by the Chicago White Sox, making it to the teams’ Triple A affiliate.

Trent’s cousin, Ryan Fucci, is currently a baseball standout at Tates Creek.

As Trent was getting started in sports, playing T-Ball, his mom, Holly Fucci, noticed that whenever he wasn’t on the field, he was over at the stands, “entertaining the audience,” Fucci recalls, catching himself referring to sports fans as, “the audience.”

Fucci says, “My mom said, ‘We need to get you into a theater program.’”

And he did do some theater, in school at Tates Creek. But he also stayed with sports, all the way through his Freshman year at Transylvania University, where he played baseball.

“Finally, it became apparent that I needed to focus on theater,” Fucci says.

And his stage career since is another example why as much as we watch college sports programs to look for future sports stars, it’s also worth watching the stages for future marquee actors.

Fucci has gone on to graduate school at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where he will spend his last year, the 2010-11 academic year, as an intern at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater.

And it was Orlando and the prestigious Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival that helped point Fucci toward his biggest role in his hometown.

Looking for a monologue to perform in the Festival, a couple of University of Central Florida professors pointed Fucci to Prince Hal from William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I. Fucci’s performance of the monologue that ends Act I earned him the classical acting award in the competition.

This week, Fucci will expand his performance of that role from a signature monologue to the entire show in SummerFest‘s production of Henry IV, Part I.

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Scott Terrell conducts the Lexington Philharmonic in the orchestra's annual Patriotic Concert at Transylvania University. The concert was also his debut as music director of the orchestra. Photo by Mark Cornelison | Herald-Leader.

Click here to see more photos from Friday’s Patriotic Concert.

Scott Terrell said he liked the view from the stage in front of the Old Morrison Building at Transylvania University. When he looked one way, he saw his new orchestra, the Lexington Philharmonic. When he turned around, he saw his new town, or what must have looked like the whole town, from that perch.

The crowd for the Patriotic Concert the Philharmonic presents ever July 3 stretched from the steps of Old Morrison back across the lawn and over Third Street through Gratz Park almost to the back steps of the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. Our own Tom Eblen, a veteran Patriotic Concert fan, guessed the audience was almost twice as large as the typical crowd for this event.

That makes sense, as it wasn’t a typical Patriotic Concert.

It was the debut of Scott Terrell as the Phil’s music director — his first concert conducting the orchestra since he was named to that post in April.

Whether it was that or the perfect night that drew people out, it was a truly big debut that showed Terrell had some good instincts.

Conventional wisdom would have had him waiting for his first bow in September when the Philharmonic opens its Masterclassics season at the Singletary Center for the Arts.

Thing is, you couldn’t fit this audience in a couple of Singletarys.

By taking the baton Friday night, he got in front of one of the Phil’s biggest audiences of the year for a concert that sent a few messages.

~ Masterclassics aren’t the only thing. Terrell has talked about reviving the Phil’s pops series and introducing other concerts and series in coming seasons. That he chose to debut with this concert and obviously put some thought into it says he’s serious about broadening the orchestra’s profile.

~ Get ready for some new ideas about repertoire. Friday night’s concert had some of the staples of the event, including a tribute to the Armed Forces and the “get out your sparklers” rendition of Stars-and-Stripes Forever. He also got to conduct My Old Kentucky Home for the first time, and complimented the “mass choir” of the audience joining the Lexington Singers for the state song.

But Terrell wanted to make it about the broader concept of American music, so he added a selection of traditional melodies, showtunes and movie themes.

My favorite moment of people watching came during All That Jazz, from Chicago, when near the front of the stage, a little girl was dancing with abandon while, a few yards behind her, a senior couple was walking in rhythm, as if they were about to cut a rug — or lawn, as the case would be.

Exploring American music for the Fourth is an interesting idea, and it could yield some intriguing programs in the future. I did hear that some people wanted a concert more in line with the traditional Fourth evening of patriotic standards. The audience immediately around me, near the front of the stage, seemed to enjoy the program. Just as Lexington will spend the next season hearing Terrell’s ideas, Terrell will certainly spend the next season — and beyond — hearing audience feedback.

One note: It was cool he included Leroy Anderson’s Blue Tango, as Anderson was a favorite of Terrell’s predecessor, George Zack.

Speaking of Zack . . .

~ Terrell is ready to embrace the role of “Face of the Philhamonic.” Replacing such an iconic figure in Lexington arts, Zack’s successor needed to be ready to step forward in a PR role as well as musical role. Terrell seems ready for that, picking a debut concert that had him talking to the audience quite a bit.  And by picking this concert, Terrell chose a venue that would put him center-stage before one of the orchestra’s biggest audiences.

And he seemed to have a great time, a big time — big gestures, big eyes and a big smile on the podium.

That would be the podium where he saw his orchestra and his audience, and we got out first good look at the Philharmonic’s future.

Friday’s concert will be repeated Saturday night in Versailles.

Comment: What did you think of the program?