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.