{"id":1963532,"date":"2026-05-30T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1963532"},"modified":"2026-05-30T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:00:00","slug":"be-warned-heated-rivalry-the-unauthorized-musical-parody-is-more-about-fandom-than-the-show-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1963532","title":{"rendered":"Be warned: ‘Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody’ is more about fandom than the show itself"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Home<\/a>><\/span>Entertainment<\/a>><\/span>TV Shows<\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Be warned: ‘Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody’ is more about fandom than the show itself<\/h1>\n
Shane and Ilya get spoofed Off-Broadway.<\/div>\n
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\n \u00a0By\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kristy Puchko<\/a><\/p>\n
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\"Mashable<\/p>\n
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Kristy Puchko<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n Kristy Puchko is the Entertainment Editor at Mashable. Based in New York City, she’s an established film critic and entertainment reporter who has traveled the world on assignment, covered a variety of film festivals, co-hosted movie-focused podcasts, and interviewed a wide array of performers and filmmakers.\n <\/div>\n

Read Full Bio<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Jay<\/p>\n
Jay Armstrong Johnson and Jimin Moon play Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander in “Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody.”<\/span>Credit: Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Seven months after Heated Rivalry<\/em><\/a>debuted on HBO, Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody<\/em> has opened Off-Broadway. Catering to fans who can’t get enough of Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, the musical hits the biggest beats of the TV show, with the occasional half-hearted jabs at its quirks. But overall, this parody is less about Jacob Tierney’s wildly popular adaptation of Rachel Reid<\/a>‘s smut hockey novel, <\/em>and more about playing to the fans \u2014\u00a0and not just fans of Heated Rivalry <\/em>itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Theater adults will likely chuckle at nods to Gypsy, Little Shop of Horrors, The Full Monty, <\/em>and more. For instance, the book by Dylan MarcAurele begins by taking a page from Titanique.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody<\/em> focuses on a diva, not the hockey dudes. <\/h2>\n
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\"Cherry<\/div>\n
Cherry Torres, Ryann Redmond, and Ryan Duncan play Susans in “Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody.”<\/span>Credit: Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This parody begins not by introducing the rival hockey pros but three fans of Heated Rivalry, <\/em>all named Susan. They sing about how watching “gay hockey players with big butts having sex” gives their boring home lives much-craved spice. And they can’t wait to welcome you into the fandom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The structure of this parody seems pretty clearly cribbed from the Off-Broadway parody of Titanic<\/em>, which is now a four-time Tony-nominated Broadway show. Both center on a female narrator who is eccentric, passionate, and can sing like a pop diva rather than the lovers at the heart of the story. In Titanique, <\/em>that’s the musical’s co-creator Marla Mindelle. In Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody<\/em>, it’s Ryann Redmond, who plays the Main Susan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Redmond delivers a delicious drag performance that exaggerates the stereotypical Heated Rivalry <\/em>fan that’s gotten a lot of attention since the show came out. Susan is middle-aged, white, straight, loves gay smut, and has a Midwestern accent as thick as ambrosia salad. Like the show itself, Susan is a parody done with great affection. And Redmond is remarkable in the role, giving plenty of heart to deeply silly original songs, as well as references to other musicals, like Gypsy <\/em>(“It’s Rose’s turn!”). <\/p>\n

Bolstering her are fellow Susans, played by Cherry Torres and Ryan Duncan; the latter seems to be channeling John Roberts’ internet icon mom<\/u><\/a>, down to the frizzy red wig and penchant for sweat suits. Together, this trio plays most of the supporting roles in the musical, including Shane’s mom, Ilya’s dad, smoothie-maker Kip, movie star Rose, and Kip’s co-worker Maria. What about Shane’s dad? Well, there’s a joke that he’s so boring he’s been cut, but the other excuse is he’s off looking for his phone charger! (IYKYK.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody<\/em> gives one audience member a chance to be a star.\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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\"Cherry<\/div>\n
Cherry Torres and Ryan Duncan play Maria and Kip in “Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody.”<\/span>Credit: Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

You might have clocked I didn’t mention Scott Hunter, the closeted captain of the New York Admirals whose big moment of kissing Kip after winning the Stanley Cup gives Ilya the courage to say the <\/em>line: “I’m coming to the cottage.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Well, in this parody, he’s not played by one of the cast. Instead, they pull an audience member up on stage to play Kip. As Susan, Redmond declared, “Tonight, the role of Scott Hunter will be played by one of you.” And the night I attended, the “you” selected was New York Times<\/u><\/em><\/a> contributor Tim Teeman. <\/p>\n

He was handed a script and thrust into the meet-cute where Kip (Duncan) meets Scott at the smoothie shop, while Maria mostly says “girl” over and over. Teeman was game to play out seven pages of dialogue, as Duncan flirted and swooned. And it was a charming gambit that reflects the popularity of working in the audience on Broadway shows like Titanique, Every Brilliant Thing<\/a><\/em>, <\/em>and Cats: The Jellicle Ball.<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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However, the sheer goofiness of this bit reflects how every bit of Ilya and Shane’s romance is handled. <\/p>\n

Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody<\/em> has sex but no heat.\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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\"Jay<\/div>\n
Jay Armstrong Johnson and Jimin Moon play Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander in “Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody.”<\/span>Credit: Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Perhaps it’s too much to expect a swiftly made musical parody to capture the uniquely thrilling onscreen chemistry of Heated Rivalry<\/em>‘s Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams. But Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody<\/em> doesn’t really try.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The couple’s meet-cute over a cigarette feels stiff in the hands of their Ilya (Jay Armstrong Johnson). And while the show gets sillier from there \u2014\u00a0including a song number about how Ilya’s big butt has been a burden he’s carried and been ostracized for all his life \u2014\u00a0Johnson fails to rise to the level of Storrie’s cheek.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jimin Moon fares better as Shane, heightening the hockey pro’s social awkwardness to comical proportions that feel reflective of rom-com daffiness. The song “This Fuck Felt Different from the Last Fuck” plays hilariously because of Moon’s earnestness, treating the spicy lyrics as if they are a Disney princess “I wish” song. But he’s better paired with Redmond, who plays his bawdy beard Rose. Together, they score laughs with his wide-eyed shock at her frankness, which is bolstered by Redmond’s sensational pipes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Ryann<\/div>\n
Ryann Redmond and Jimin Moon play Rose and Shane in “Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody.”<\/span>Credit: Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In scenes of sex and seduction, Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody<\/em> favors cheap laughs, employing dummies to act out frantic fucking. The actors may look the part of Ilya and Shane, but they can’t recreate their chemistry. So, what we’re left with are jokes about douching and zany reenactments of the show’s most pivotal scenes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Curiously, the one song from Heated Rivalry<\/em>‘s soundtrack the parody uses is t.A.T.u.’s “All the Things She Said,” with Johnson and Moon singing a bit before the full track blares in the small theater, turning the vibe to night club. This club scene that drove fans wild is treated with some reverence, aside from two Susans playing bump-and-grinding party girls who seem oblivious to their dancing partner’s disinterest. Yet the intensity of this moment is lost,\u00a0even with the familiar song, because of an abundance of silliness and a lack of heat between its leading men.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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