Heated Rivalry is everywhere, including Off-Broadway.
A theatrical parody of the hit Canadian show will get an Off-Broadway run this May, after eight sold-out concert presentations in March. The show, written by Dylan MarcAurele, follows key plot points in the show, now set to songs like “Big Ass, Cold Heart” and “Shane Hollander Slap That Stick,” with the added character of Susan, who is a “lovable wine mom,” avid fan and somewhat unreliable narrator of the story.
MarcAurele, a musical theater composer who has previously written musical parodies of the M3gan film and episodes of The Real Housewives, as they’ve aired, knew he wanted to turn the television into a musical after only about 20 minutes of watching it.
“It was the bike scene. I just absolutely loved those bikes. I was like, this is iconic. It’s stageable. I loved how their fingers touched on the water bottle,” MarcAurele said.
Per his typical process, he ended up only watching the series once and taking notes. If he watches too many times, “my compass then loses its calibration for what will be funny or emotionally resonant.” he said. Out of this came, Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody, which includes a musicalized bike scene as well as a big opening number with the chorus, “gay hockey players with big butts.”
The character of Susan, played by Ryann Redmond, came out of his desire to speak to the way the show has become increasingly popular among women, as well as the practical need for a narrator with only four cast members. The audience members are also referred to as “Susans.”
“I think that’s a fun central rub, the idea of a lovable wine mom who can take us through the story, and she’s got her Yeti tumbler of Sauvignon Blanc, and she’s maybe in a marriage that isn’t very happy, but that’s why she has this amazing emotional refuge in the show Heated Rivalry,” MarcAurele said. “We are all Susans.”
Due to scheduling demand and a desire to capitalize on the show’s momentum, MarcAurele only had three weeks to write the musical before the March concert presentations. The cast only had a few days of rehearsals. Broadway actor Jay Armstrong Johnson was asked to play Connor Storrie’s character of Ilya Rozanov, who friends have said he bears a resemblance to (“I’m a white guy with high cheekbones and curly hair, so sure, yeah,” he joked). And like Storrie, he had the added challenge of conquering the Russian accent, but on a faster timeline.
“I kind of walked into the rehearsal process thinking like, ‘OK, if my Russian accent is a little bad, then maybe that’ll help with the parody of it all,’” Armstrong said. “And [director] Alan [Kliffer] and Dylan did not believe in that, so I ended up getting a dialect coach to work on the Russian dialect. Most of my rehearsal process was trying to get down this really hard Russian accent, which is way harder than I thought that it would be.”
After the sold-out concert presentations, the musical is now set for a fully staged eight week-run, which will include choreography, starting May 12 at the 6th Floor Theater. Armstrong will reprise his role as Ilya, alongside new cast member Jimin Moon, and returning cast members Redmond, Cherry Torres, and Ryan Duncan. All have Broadway experience.
As the parody goes on to a bigger venue, it’s unclear how much awareness the creators of the television series have of the musical. A press representative for Crave, the original streaming home of the series, did not immediately respond to request for comment.
While his show is a parody, MarcAurele’s musical also does pay homage to some of the emotional resonance he said he found in the series.
“Embarrassing to say, but I really identify with Shane Hollander. He’s this person who tries so hard to be the best hockey player that he can be, the best son that he can be, and you see his journey as a gay person. There’s just so much of it that resonated with me,” he said.
