Hot Seat: Media Monday S2:E45 | Avenue Q, Metal at the Marina 3 & Alliance Classical Players
This week’s Hot Seat: Media Monday celebrates music in many of its different forms—from Broadway puppetry and heavy metal to timeless classical compositions.
I start the show with Claire Bosley, Carl Neff and Zach Swistack of the Pioneer Theatre Alliance at Utica University for a preview of Avenue Q.
Along with their puppet costars Kate Monster, Rod and Princeton, they explain how performers act, sing and express emotion through puppets while making sure the audience’s attention remains on the characters.
We also discuss the surprising heart beneath the adult musical’s irreverent humor. Avenue Q explores identity, acceptance, relationships and the uncertainty of becoming an adult—almost like Sesame Street for grown-ups.
One of its most meaningful messages is that even when life becomes difficult, “everything is only for now.”
Avenue Q, directed by Justin Jones, runs August 13–16 at Strebel Auditorium at Utica University, with evening performances Thursday through Saturday and a Sunday matinee.
Then, Photojournalist and AI Content Producer Jim Hale and I head to Metal at the Marina 3 in Frankfort for a look at one of the Mohawk Valley’s biggest free heavy-metal festivals.
Organizer Austin Evancheck, musicians, vendors and fans tell us what heavy metal means to them. They describe it as a source of power, emotional release, friendship and even calm.
As Alex from The Omen Machine tells us, “Heavy metal is a community. It’s fun. It’s family.”
The report also explores The Omen Machine’s satirical white-collar-crime concept and how musicians from different bands came together to create the project.
In the final portion of the show, Colleen O’Neal and Kristin Kelly join me to celebrate 20 years of the Alliance Classical Players and their tradition of bringing free chamber music to the Mohawk Valley.
The two clarinetists discuss what makes classical music timeless, how instruments and musical styles have evolved, Mozart’s influence on the clarinet and what their instrument allows them to express.
The Alliance Classical Players will celebrate their anniversary with a free outdoor concert at 6:30 p.m. Monday, August 17, at the Rome Art and Community Center, 308 West Bloomfield Street in Rome.
The program will feature marches, ragtime, Broadway selections, music by John Williams and other recognizable audience favorites. Guests should bring their own seating. The concert will move indoors in case of rain, and a free reception will follow.
The episode also features the Alliance Classical Players performing the fourth movement from Arthur Bird’s Suite in D and the “Bourrée” from Handel’s Water Music Suite No. 2.
This episode has Broadway, puppets, heavy metal, classical music and a reminder that every musical tradition can bring people together through creativity, expression and community.
