Theater Thursday - Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody

We received complimentary tickets to Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Parody Musical for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: Heated Rivalry, the Unauthorized Parody Musical

Where: The Club 

               530 W. 27th St.

               New York, NY

Who: Recommended for Ages 13 and Up

When: Through September 7, 2026

Me -  I have been a huge fan of Heated Rivalry since I first discovered the book in 2023. The Crave TV adaptation quickly became one of my favorite shows of all time, so when I found out there was going to be a musical parody, I was simultaneously elated and terrified. In my experience, it can be difficult for parodies to walk the line between making fun of and paying humorous homage to the source material.

 

To my relief and excitement, Heated Rivalry, the Unauthorized Musical Parody, never crossed into mocking territory. However, many aspects weren't the most accurate to the original story. Obviously, no parody will perfectly represent its source. That said, in my opinion, the humor in the best parodies comes from exaggerating the quirks and idiosyncrasies that are already there rather than creating complete caricatures. 

Unfortunately, the latter sometimes felt like the case in this show. This was especially true regarding the characters. Rather than depicting their intricacies or complexities, this parody chose one random trait for each character and erased everything else about them. For some of the characters, it wasn't even a trait that they exhibited in the source material.

For instance, the official version of Shane Hollander is known to be the more stoic and reserved of the two main characters. He is a man of few words and expressions, and he typically speaks in a monotone voice. In the parody, he was portrayed as having a childlike innocence and naivety. He was also extremely bubbly, perky, and excitable with an almost constant goofy smile. 

While the parody's portrayal of Ilya Rozanov was closer to the official version, it still lacked any nuance. The official version was very grumpy and emotionally repressed, but he was also cocky, outspoken, and playful, among other things. On the other hand, in the parody, he was very one-dimensional. He was portrayed as practically emotionless and completely expressionless. Though I won't get into details, many of the side characters were misrepresented as well.

One of my biggest issues with this production was the way they trivialized Ilya's trauma by objectifying Connor Storrie, the actor who portrays him in the series. Since the release and subsequent popularity of the TV show, the internet hasn't stopped talking about Storrie's body. While most of the comments are meant to be complimentary, and I can understand the desire to capitalize on a joke that would be widely understood by the fan base, I personally believe that it's inappropriate and disrespectful to take a real human being's body and turn it into a subject of satire. Not only did they sing an entire song about how big Ilya's butt was, but they also erased the very real reasons behind his childhood trauma, instead explaining that it stemmed from getting bullied by peers throughout his childhood for the size of his butt. It's one thing to miss the nuances of a character, but it's entirely different to replace their very real trauma with a joke that objectifies the actor who plays the role.

Outside of that, the show managed to be mostly enjoyable. Despite all the mischaracterizations, there were still a decent amount of jokes that were funny because they drew from the original source material. There were also some jokes and running gags that made me laugh, even though they weren't consistent with the TV show. Additionally, the cast was very talented. I particularly enjoyed the performance of  Ryann Redmond. Other than the aforementioned issues, the show was humorous and amusing, albeit largely inaccurate. However, I found it difficult to look past what I felt was a very insensitive way to handle the topic of Ilya's trauma and the disrespectful exaggeration of an actor's real body. 

Mom - Even if you are not familiar with the book or TV show, Heated Rivalry, you can still enjoy the unauthorized parody musical, perhaps even more so in some ways, as you don't have to worry about authenticity. For the most part, the show is amusing and quite over-the-top, as are the performances.

The show can definitely be too much at times, however. There is also quite a lot of humor derived from making fun of a character's body part. This is not okay, especially when it is clearly based on a real person, namely, the actor behind the character in the TV show, and not on the character in the original book. Either way, it really wouldn't be okay anyway.

Much of the show's humor is quite risque, which may offend some people or, at the very least, make them uncomfortable. This also makes the show extremely inappropriate for children, although it is recommended for 13 and up, it is probably more suitable for older teens at best. If you are of appropriate age and you enjoy this type of humor, this show is definitely for you. 

And that's our view. For more information about Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody, or to purchase tickets, visit  www.heatedrivalryparody.com.

Tune in Saturday for Still More Theater Saturday.

Photo credits:

All Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody production photos by Matthew Murphy

Images used in this post were sent by publicists, artists, and/or  PR firms and are used by permission.  Any Concerns regarding image usage can be addressed here.

Where-To-Go Wednesday - Raising Equality

We received complimentary tickets to the New York Historical for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

 What: Raising Equality

           

Where: New York Historical

             177 Central Park. W.

             at Richard Gilder Way (77th St.)

             New York, NY

Who: All ages

When: Through September 25, 2026

Raising Equality is an exhibit that focuses on Billie Jean King's childhood and how it shaped her life, career and future advocacy. King (born Billy Jean Moffit) was raised alongside her younger brother, Randy. Rather than treating Billie Jean differently because she was a girl, her parents treated both children equally and encouraged both to be equally competitive and athletic. As a result, both excelled at sports, and not only did Billie Jean become one of the greatest Tennis players of all time, but her brother was a professional baseball player for a time (although he did not reach anywhere near the level of achievement in his sport that she reached in hers). 

The contrast between the way she was treated in the professional Tennis Circuit and the way she had been raised spurred King's well-known advocacy for Women in sports and in life.  Along with background information on King's upbringing, the exhibit includes pictures, one of Billie Jean's tennis rackets, one of her brother's baseball cards, and more.

And that's our view. For more about the New York Historical or to purchase tickets to visit, go to www.nyhistory.org

Tune in tomorrow for Theater Thursday.

All pictures used in this post are our own.  Any concerns regarding image usage can be addressed here.

Tips for Tuesday - Books: The Secret World of Briar Rose, The Chateau on Sunset, Man of My Dreams, & The Valencia Ex Pat Club

We may have been given complimentary copies and/or access for review purposes to any books, products, and/or any other visual or audio media mentioned below. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

Books:  The Secret World of Briar Rose, The Chateau on Sunset, Man of My Dreams, & The Valencia Ex Pat Club

Me - The Secret World of Briar Rose by Cindy Pham had a really interesting concept, reimagining the classic fairytale princess, Sleeping Beauty, as a teenager battling depression. Unfortunately, the execution fell very flat.

We follow two timelines throughout the book whose characters and stories eventually converge. In the past, we follow the princess– in this story known as Amelia– along with her three fairy godmothers and the demon, Malecine, 100 years ago, leading up to Amelia entering her dream state. Then, in the present, we follow Corin, a cynical teenager living in a war-torn kingdom who accidentally stumbles into the princess's dream world along with her younger sister, Elly.

One of the biggest issues with this book is that there was no depth to any of the characters or relationships. Corin and Elly had a deeply tragic backstory, and Amelia's life was far from perfect either, but none of them had distinct personalities or interests, and while they technically had motivations, those never went beyond the surface level. As a result, it was difficult to truly care about any of them. A reviewer on Goodreads said that the characters behaved like chess pieces, making specific moves to suit the plot rather than acting in ways that made sense for them as individuals, and I couldn't agree more.

This was doubtlessly one of the primary reasons why the relationships lacked substance as well. Romances, friendships, mentorships, enemies, or any other relationships that existed in this book followed the typical formulas necessary to move the story along– for instance, the love interests met, were wary of each other, and eventually made out– but there was nothing more to them. Even Corin and Elly, whose sisterly bond set the whole present-day story into motion and who supposedly loved each other more than anything felt almost like strangers.

Additionally, the writing was very clunky, making the story difficult to follow at times. It was easy enough to make sense of the overarching plot, but numerous sentences, paragraphs, and minor details got lost as a result. This was largely due to excessive use of metaphors and unnecessary descriptions. It felt like the author was more focused on writing beautiful sentences than putting together a story that felt readable or made sense.

World-building was also convoluted. Kingdom politics from the past and present were either thrown into the story via large info-dumps or received little to no explanation at all, and the magic system was much the same. It was particularly difficult to understand the actual mechanics of how the dream world functioned.

All of these issues, along with the lack of significant action throughout the story, made for incredibly slow pacing. I was slightly more invested in the past timeline than the present one, as I was genuinely intrigued to learn more about Amelia's relationships with her godmothers, Malicine, and the prince who was meant to wake her from her slumber with true love's kiss. I also wanted to find out exactly how the dream world came to be. Unfortunately, whenever the timeline gained momentum and I finally felt more engaged, I was quickly taken out of it when the chapter ended switching the timeline back to the present.

I will also note that the depression representation in this book was not what I expected. As a person who struggles with depression, I was looking forward to that element of the story, but the way it was written did not resonate with me at all. It was deeply woven into the plot and the writing, giving the whole book a dark and heavy tone. However, while the descriptions of depression were certainly somber, it felt like they'd be more fitting as Tumblr posts than in this story. The author's note at the beginning of the book explains that Cindy Pham based this story on her own experiences with depression so I do commend her for telling a story so personal to her, and I'm sure the representation will resonate with some people– perhaps very young teenagers who haven't read much about depression before.

I really wanted to love this as I'm a huge fan of fairy tale retellings and the concept of a queer Sleeping Beauty suffering from mental health issues particularly intrigued me. I won't say it was terrible because that's not the case. The concept had a lot of promise. The setting was very imaginative. I appreciate the effort to include both queer representation and depression representation, and with more practice writing, I'm sure Pham could produce a solid book in the future. Sadly, this one was just such a slog to get through that I don't see myself bothering to pick it up.

Mom -Today, I recommend The Chateau on Sunset by Natasha Lester. In 1957, orphaned Aria goes to live at the Chateau Marmont with her aunt, a former star who mysteriously withdrew from Hollywood and into a mostly drug-fogged life. Two young actresses slightly older than her take her under their wings, and she becomes a witness to the way powerful men wield their influence over young starlets. Her plan to raise enough money to escape is nearly thwarted when the hotel is taken over by a new owner, until she convinces him to hire her as a tutor to his young daughter. 

This book is a more feminist, improved retelling of Jane Eyre with a heroine full of gumption. She never yields her power to her Rochester, called Theo Winchester here, but always maintains her own agency and control over her own life. Theo is a good man, though, thoughtful and caring rather than controlling, and their romance is touching. 

The book is also a retro me-too reckoning. Aria is determined to fight the power imbalance between male executives, especially one in particular who is clearly meant to be a Harvey Weinstein type, and young starlets in any way she can. She is gloriously brave and resourceful, and she has a gigantic heart. 

The book's setting is like another character in the story. The Chateau Marmont is indeed a real hotel. Both in reality and in the novel, it contains many secrets within its walls. The book skillfully blends the true history of the place with made-up elements to create a deeply moving story. 

Mom again - Today, I recommend The Valencia Expat Club by June Patrick. After her marriage falls apart, Dahlia, escapes to Valencia, Spain. There she's taken in by the family she hardly knows and a group of expatriates, including a man with whom she shares a past that she'd rather not remember.

This is a book about taking chances and starting over. Dahlia is a very likable and admirable heroine. Her courage and fortitude in bravely picking herself up and moving forward after a setback is a good life lesson.  She is also quite plucky and never loses her optimism. 

The family in the story is so relatable. They can be a bit overwhelming at times and perhaps overstep a little, but they mean well and wholeheartedly embrace their long-lost relative. The book is overflowing with warm and cosy real family vibes and found-family vibes.

The romance is sweet. Liam and Dahlia have a playful relationship and nice banter. They are cute together.  

The book is heavy on setting. Reading it really gives you a good sense of what Valencia is like. In that way, it functions a bit like a travelogue. There is also a lot of eating within the story and descriptions of food throughout, so you may not want to read it when you're hungry. 

Whether you're looking for a little light romance or you want to learn a little about Valencia, Spain, or Spanish cuisine, you can easily enjoy this book.

 

Still more mom  - Today,  we are talking about Man of My Dreams by Olivia Worley. After a tragic childhood, Ivy is now a successful author. On the rebound from a breakup, she rescues a lost dog in the park and meets his owner, Liam, who is too good to be true. In fact, he is so perfect that he is an exact replica of the hero of Ivy's new unpublished novel. However, there is more to Liam than meets the eye, and Ivy has some secrets of her own.

The setup of this book is extremely unique and original.  It is quite compelling, immediately hooking the reader and keeping them interested. Plus, there are some shocking and exciting twists along the way.

However, later in the story, it loses something and becomes much less intriguing. First, the explaination for the book's central premise, while believable, is also rather pedestrian. Then, the book's resolution relies on a commonly used trope that has become all too unbiquitous lately.  This dilutes its impact, so it never really feels like it delivers on the promises of its exciting beginning. 

And that's our view. All books mentioned in this post were published today.

Tune in tomorrow for Where-To-Go Wednesday.

Any and all pictures used in this post are our own.  Any concerns regarding image usage can be addressed here.