This year’s Annual Diabetes Mystery podcast, Gypsies, Tramps & Peas promises to be bigger and splashier than ever before! We’ve got more special guests, more suspense, more surprises and more sequins in store for  you on Tuesday, September 12, 2017, 6 -7 PM, EST.

In fact, our cast of characters are set to begin rehearsals for September’s podcast next week in February.

This year’s mystery, “Gypsies, Tramps and Peas” is set at one of New York City’s most colorful and outrageous outdoor events in the 35th Annual Mermaid Parade in Coney Island, NY.

A completely original creation of Coney Island USA, the Mermaid Parade is the nation’s largest art parade and one of New York City’s greatest summer events.

A celebration of ancient mythology and honky-tonk rituals of the seaside, it showcases over 3,000 creative individuals from all over the five boroughs and beyond, opening the summer with incredible art, entrepreneurial spirit and community pride. The parade highlights Coney Island Pageantry based on a century of many Coney parades, celebrates the artistic vision of the masses, and ensures that the summer season is a success by bringing hundreds of thousands of people to the amusement area in a single day.

The MERMAID PARADE specifically was founded in 1983 with 3 goals: it brings mythology to life for local residents who live on streets named Mermaid and Neptune ; it creates self-esteem in a district that is often disregarded as “entertainment”; and it lets artistic New Yorkers find self-expression in public.

The main themes of our  diabetes mystery podcast Gypsies, Tramps & Peas will include positive body image and summertime diabetes self-care tips.

“People with chronic diseases like diabetes as well as people taking certain medications, including heart disease medications and diuretics, which are often used to treat complications of diabetes, are at increased risk of experiencing difficulties in the heat, even though they may not be aware of it,” says Catherine Carver, M.S., A.N.P., C.D.E, Director of Educational Services at Joslin Clinic.

For insulin pump users, excessive perspiration can be a problem in hot weather or during strenuous activities. This can loosen the adhesive securing the infusion set, the part of the device that attaches to your body. If perspiration is a problem, try using a spray of antiperspirant on the insertion site after your usual skin-preparation routine. Others have success with skin-barrier preparations such as Mastisol, Skin-Tac H or a compound tincture of benzoin applied to the skin.

Throughout our Diabetes Mystery podcast we will be playing selected songs from the original cast record of ‘Gypsy’ with Ethel Merman courtesy of SONY Music.

Thirteen years after dazzling audiences as a frontier sharpshooter in Annie Get Your Gun, Ethel Merman mesmerized them again as an indomitable stage mother in Gypsy, the story of Gypsy Rose Lee and her performing sister June Havoc, which arrived at the Broadway Theatre on May 21, 1959, for 702 performances. With a percussive score by Jule Styne, and solidly crafted lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Gypsy stands out arguably as one of the two most perfect musicals ever created (the other one being Guys And Dolls). Over the years, it has been revived frequently, but Merman’s larger-than-life portrayal remains the standard by which all others have to measure up. Jack Klugman and Sandra Church were also in the cast. First LP release: June 8, 1959

Gypsies, Tramps & Peas Plot: Max arrives in Coney Island to host a healthy buffet dinner for Coach on the eve of the Mermaid Parade. Unfortunately Coach disappears before Max can serve the appetizers (a Chef Robert Lewis recipe)! The Coast Guard finds his body on the beach and assume he must have drowned. But how can that be possible if he’s a former lifeguard? Max jumps to his own conclusions and decides Coach was murdered. He begins to investigate with the help of  Susan, Patricia, Tonya and Mama Rose Marie. Our team’s amateur sleuthing skills take them on a wild goose chase through Coney Island and includes riding on a ferris wheel ride, attending  a burlesque dance class and participating  in a séance as they try desperately to solve the murder! Along the way the team uncovers why it’s important to love yourself in order to take care of your health as well as several summertime diabetes self-care tips including properly storing insulin, preventing medical identity theft, and beach footcare and safe pedicure tips.

Here’s a list of characters: Patricia, Susan, Tonya, Mama Rose Marie, Max (playing themselves), Lorraine Brooks (narrator), Chef Robert Lewis (Fast Freddy), Asha Brown ( Coco Mimosa), Seveda Williams (Boom Boom LaRue) and Catherine Schuller (Nutrina – the Fortune Teller).

Cast of Characters:

Fast Freddy: longtime Coney Island resident, lower limb amputee due to shark attack, Coach’s good buddy, searches beach with metal detector

Boom Boom LaRue: ex-burlesque dancer, owns Big Bertha’s Shimmy & Shake Shack dance studio living with type 2 diabetes

Coco Mimosa: the newest star of the Burlesque at the Beach revue and part-time real estate agent living with type 1 diabetes

Coach: Max’s high school swim coach, former lifeguard and self-proclaimed ‘mayor’ of Coney Island, recently diagnosed with pre-diabetes

Kitty Champagne: former and legendary star of the Burlesque at the Beach Revue, currently living in Las Vegas