Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody skates into Soho
A 75-minute send-up of the hit hockey romance, with a big score and bigger innuendo, runs at Underbelly Boulevard Soho until Sunday 1 November.
If you have watched the TV series about two rival hockey stars who fall in love, there is now a stage show in Soho that wants to tease you about it. Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody has arrived in London after an off-Broadway debut and an Edinburgh Fringe run.
Everything Theatre gave it an "Excellent" rating, calling it a show that knows exactly what its audience has come for.
What it is
The show runs to a brisk 75 minutes. According to Everything Theatre, it opens with a framing device: three "Susans" confess their longing for smut and invite the audience to share their favourite pastime, which involves putting their husbands to bed with an iPad and a "Xanax margarita" before watching the hockey stars battle it out on the ice and in the bedroom.
A "wine mom" narrator, played by May Tether, guides the audience through the story. She also winks at the gaps that appear when television is adapted for the stage, which the reviewer felt makes it a knowingly condensed retelling rather than only a parody.
The cast and the songs
Everything Theatre praised Dylan Marcaurele's writing, saying the innuendo, though used in full force, never feels churlish or overly indulgent. The jokes range from in-jokes about Shane's burgers to a sharper observation about a character whose entire contribution amounts to a single word.
Zheng Xi Yong plays Shane Hollander, and Joseph Dann plays Ilya Rozanov. The review singles out Dann for playing Ilya remarkably straight, which makes his rendition of "Big Ass, Cold Heart" all the more effective. Yong, it says, delivers the best song in the show: "This Fuck Was Different", described as a soaring Cabaret-esque ballad.
Tether is called sensational, with full permission to show off her formidable belting.
Alan Kliffer directs, and the reviewer says he makes light work of the show's dizzying amount of multi-rolling. Andrew Berlin moves between one of the three Susans, Ilya's father, smoothie-shop worker Kip and a succession of jocks. Sylvie Stenson plays Shane's mum and smoothie-shop co-worker Maria.
The quibbles
It is not flawless. Everything Theatre notes that the production sometimes has to catch up with itself, and leans too heavily on a minor blackout while the actors reset. Some of the scenic background artwork is unconvincing, though props, dummies and puppets add fun to the saucier moments. Audience interaction is called a gamble that could be hilarious or fall flat.
The verdict still lands firmly on the side of fun: a gleefully irreverent celebration of the series, powered by a terrific score. One warning from the reviewer: if you turn up without having watched the TV show first, good luck.
The creative team also includes choreographers Brooke Engen and Tiffany Engen, set designer Sully Ross, costume designer Brendan McCann, lighting designer Devin Cameron and sound designer Germán Martinez.
Know before you go
- Where: Underbelly Boulevard Soho
- Until: Sunday 1 November
- Running time: 75 minutes
Sources: Everything Theatre
