CREATING THE AUDIOBOOK OF DRAMA DANCE
the 8th Nicky and Noah mystery novel by Joe Cosentino
performed by Griswold Addams
Don’t you love The Nutcracker ballet? Every December I sit at the edge of my seat as Uncle Drosselmeyer (definitely a gay uncle since he gives the best presents) gives Clara the nutcracker. I cringe as her (clearly straight) brother Fritz breaks the nutcracker, and I sigh when Clara mends him. As the party is over, and the Christmas tree grows, I fall asleep with Clara and wake to her handsome Nutcracker in a red jacket and white (bulging) tights. After his duel with the Mouse King, Clara saves her Nutcracker and they take me with them to The Land of the Sweets (definitely a metaphor for Provincetown). Once the international sweets (visiting gays) are finished entertaining them, the Sugar Plum Fairy (need I say more) and her gorgeous Cavalier (again with bulging white tights), send Clara, the Nutcracker, and me off on a golden sleigh to wonderland. Who could ask for a better winter holiday treat?
So, when it came time to write the eighth Nicky and Noah mystery, I couldn’t resist having Nicky direct and co-star (as the Mouse King) opposite his husband Noah (the Cavalier), son Taavi (Fritz), and best friend and department head Martin (Drosselmeyer) in Treemeadow College’s renowned production of The Nutcracker. Since it is Treemeadow College after all, there are lots of cracked nuts as characters and the yule tide is definitely gay. Oh, and of course there are more murders than (as Nicky would say) closet gay politicians hidden in the stalls of public men’s rooms.
I’m thrilled to announce this entertaining and festive novel is now available as an audiobook narrated by the entertaining and festive Griswold Addams. Why an audiobook? Griswold’s astounding and versatile character voices really bring the story to life. Since I’ve worked with Griswold on four previous Nicky and Noah mystery novel audiobooks, we have a great rapport, practically communicating in code, to create these wonderful audiobooks. Griswold’s equipment (no pun intended) is top notch, and his comic timing is impeccable. You won’t believe that one man can create all of these voices. His performance is truly remarkable. As Nicky might say, “I’m happier than a banker at 3pm!”
For those of you who haven’t yet ventured to the land of Nicky and Noah (who are definitely sweet,), it’s a gay cozy mystery comedy series, meaning the setting is warm and cozy, the clues and murders (and laughs) come fast and furious, and there are enough plot twists and turns and a surprise ending to keep the pages turning “faster than a priest going to altar boy induction” (as Nicky would say). At the center is the touching relationship between Professor of Play Directing Nicky Abbondanza and Associate Professor of Acting Noah Oliver. We watch them go from courting to marrying to adopting a child, all the while head over heels in love with each other (as we fall in love with them). Reviewers called the series “hysterically funny farce,” “Murder She Wrote meets Hart to Hart meets The Hardy Boys,” and “captivating whodunits.” One reviewer wrote they are the funniest books she’s ever read! Another said I’m “a master storyteller.” Who am I to argue?
In Drama Queen (Divine Magazine’s Readers’ Choice Award for Favorite LGBT Mystery, Humorous, and Contemporary Novel of the Year) Nicky directs the school play at Treemeadow College—which is named after its gay founders, Tree and Meadow. Theatre professors drops like stage curtains, and Nicky and Noah have to use their theatre skills, including impersonating other people, to figure out whodunit. In Drama Muscle (Rainbow Award Honorable Mention) Nicky and Noah don their gay Holmes and Watson personas again to find out why bodybuilding students and professors in Nicky’s bodybuilding competition at Treemeadow are dropping faster than barbells. In Drama Cruise it is summer on a ten-day cruise from San Francisco to Alaska and back. Nicky and Noah must figure out why college theatre professors are dropping like life rafts as Nicky directs a murder mystery dinner theatre show onboard ship starring Noah and other college theatre professors from across the US. Complicating matters are their both sets of wacky parents who want to embark on all the activities on and off the boat with the handsome couple. In Drama Luau, Nicky is directing the luau show at the Maui Mist Resort and he and Noah need to figure out why muscular Hawaiian hula dancers are dropping like grass skirts. Their department head/best friend and his husband, Martin and Ruben, are along for the bumpy tropical ride. In Drama Detective, Nicky is directing and ultimately co-starring with his husband Noah as Holmes and Watson in a new musical Sherlock Holmes play at Treemeadow College prior to Broadway. Martin and Ruben, their sassy office assistant Shayla, Nicky’s brother Tony, and Nicky and Noah’s son Taavi are also in the cast. Of course dead bodies begin falling over like hammy actors at a curtain call. Once again Nicky and Noah use their drama skills to figure out who is lowering the street lamps on the actors before the handsome couple get half-baked on Baker Street. In Drama Fraternity, Nicky is directing Tight End Scream Queen, a slasher movie filmed at Treemeadow College’s football fraternity house, co-starring Noah, Taavi, and Martin. Rounding out the cast are members of Treemeadow’s Christian football players’ fraternity along with two hunky screen stars. When the jammer, wide receiver, and more begin fading out with their scenes, Nicky and Noah once again need to use their drama skills to figure out who is sending young hunky actors to the cutting room floor before Nicky and Noah hit the final reel. In Drama Castle, Nicky is directing a historical film co-starring Noah and Taavi at Conall Castle in Scotland: When the Wind Blows Up Your Kilt It’s Time for A Scotch. Rounding out the cast are members of the mysterious Conall family who own the castle. When hunky men in kilts topple off the drawbridge and into the mote, it’s up to Nicky and Noah to use their acting skills to figure out whodunit before Nicky and Noah land in the dungeon.
Now in Drama Dance, during rehearsals of The Nutcracker ballet at Treemeadow, muscular dance students and faculty cause more things to rise than the Christmas tree. When cast members drop faster than Christmas balls, Nicky and Noah once again use their drama skills, including impersonating other people, to figure out who is trying to crack the Nutcracker’s nuts, trap the Mouse King, and be cavalier with the Cavalier before Nicky and Noah end up in the Christmas pudding. Old beloved cast members are back, including Nicky’s best friends the comically cantankerous Martin and Ruben, Martin’s sassy office assistant Shayla, and Nicky and Noah’s both sets of riotous parents. New characters include Thomas Bighorn, the muscular and gorgeous student cast as the Nutcracker. Everyone at the college wants to be in his Christmas stocking. Thomas’ understudy and ex, Piero Lamas, is just as hunky and makes everyone’s bells jingle. Only Piero’s sister, Caterina (Clara), knows Piero’s secret, and he knows hers. Liz Canton (Clara’s understudy) is an abstinence before marriage advocate with more than holiday gifts hiding in her closet. The dance faculty members playing the other roles, and choreographer with a secret past Otto Dietrich, have just as many hidden chestnuts in their drawers.
I’ve acted professionally in theatre, film, and television. Currently, I am a college theatre professor/department head. So, I know first-hand the wild and wacky antics, sweet romance, and captivating mystery in the worlds of theatre and academia. Griswold Addams has a background in improvisational comedy, which awards him with all the equipment (no pun intended) to create the perfect audiobook version of this novel.
It is my joy and pleasure to share the audiobook of this eighth novel in the series with you. So take your seats. The curtain is going up on Clara, the Nutcracker, the Mouse King, the Sugar Plum Fairy, and the Cavalier. And of course hilarity, romance, and murder!
DRAMA DANCE (the eighth Nicky and Noah mystery)
a comedy/mystery/romance novel by Joe Cosentino
audiobook performed by Griswold Addams
Click on the below link for a preview:
Theatre professor Nicky Abbondanza is back at Treemeadow College directing their Nutcracker Ballet co-starring his spouse, theatre professor Noah Oliver, their son Taavi, and their best friend and department head, Martin Anderson. With muscular dance students and faculty in the cast, the Christmas tree on stage isn’t the only thing rising. When cast members drop faster than their loaded dance belts, Nicky and Noah will once again need to use their drama skills to figure out who is cracking the Nutcracker’s nuts, trapping the Mouse King, and being cavalier with the Cavalier, before Nicky and Noah end up stuck in the Land of the Sweets. You will be applauding and shouting Bravo for Joe Cosentino’s fast-paced, side-splittingly funny, edge-of-your-seat entertaining eighth novel in this delightful series. Take your seats. The curtain is going up on the Fairy—Sugar Plum that is, clumsy mice, malfunctioning toys, and murder!
Joe Cosentino was voted Favorite MM Mystery, Humorous, and Contemporary Author of the Year by the readers of Divine Magazine for Drama Queen, the first Nicky and Noah mystery novel. He is also the author of the remaining Nicky and Noah mysteries: Drama Muscle, Drama Cruise, Drama Luau, Drama Detective, Drama Fraternity, Drama Castle, Drama Dance, Drama Faerie, Drama Runway, Drama Christmas, Drama Pan, Drama TV; the Player Piano Mysteries: The Player and The Player’s Encore; the Jana Lane Mysteries: Paper Doll, Porcelain Doll, Satin Doll, China Doll, Rag Doll; the Cozzi Cove series: Cozzi Cove: Bouncing Back, Moving Forward, Stepping Out, New Beginnings, Happy Endings; the In My Heart Anthology: An Infatuation & A Shooting Star; the Tales from Fairyland Anthology: The Naked Prince and Other Tales from Fairyland and Holiday Tales from Fairyland; the Bobby and Paolo Holiday Stories Anthology: A Home for the Holidays, The Perfect Gift, The First Noel; and the Found At Last Anthology: Finding Giorgio and Finding Armando. His books have won numerous Book of the Month awards and Rainbow Award Honorable Mentions. As an actor, Joe appeared in principal roles in film, television, and theatre, opposite stars such as Bruce Willis, Rosie O’Donnell, Nathan Lane, Jason Robards, and Holland Taylor. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Goddard College, Master’s degree from SUNY New Paltz, and is currently a happily married college theatre professor/department chair residing in New York State.
http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Web site: http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JoeCosentinoauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeCosen
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4071647.Joe_Cosentino
Amazon: Author.to/JoeCosentino
Length: 6 hours
Language: English
Genre: MM, contemporary, mystery, humor, romance, dance, college
Cover Art: Jesús Da Silva
Release date: February, 2022
Post a comment about what you love about The Nutcracker Ballet. The one that tickles our tights the most will win a complimentary code for either of the first three Nicky and Noah mystery audiobooks (Drama Queen, Drama Muscle, Drama Cruise): https://www.audible.com/search?keywords=Nicky+and+Noah+mysteries&ref=a_hp_t1_header_search
I have been to the Nutcracker and it is amazing. So much to see while watching
I tend to go old-school nostalgic with the Nutcracker, though I like reworkings in theory…the SF Ballet costumes from my youth still loom large in my memory, so gorgeous! I loved my college’s performances because it was great to see how good my dancer friends were. I also like odd/inspired cameos in the nondancer roles (still kicking myself for missing Bay Area legendary sports superfan Krazy George as Mother Ginger in a regional production a year or two ago).
the music and mice