Back with some theatre this week – this time Off-West End again with my first trip to the Underbelly Boulelvard Soho!
The full title here is Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody and it’s arrived in Soho after a run at the Edinburgh Fringe and is also running off Broadway in New York. It’s based on series one Heated Rivalry, which is in itself an adaptation of the book by Rachel Reid. If you’ve managed to miss this phenomenon so far the short hand is “canadian gay hockey romance” and the longer version is that Shane Hollander and Ilya Rosanov are both star hockey players and professional rivals as they play for different teams (and are from different countries) but who secretly in a relationship.This is parodying the tv series and and retelling it through the eyes of a “wine mom”.
Now this is the point where I admit that at the point where I saw the show (despite all my best intentions) I’ve only seen the clips and memes of the TV show, although I have read the book that it’s based on. But I don’t think that held me back because I still laughed a lot. The framing is really fun and the cast is great. Aside from the actors playing Shane and Ilya there are three other cast members who take on all the other roles and they’re doing a great job. I don’t think I’d seen any of them in anything before, but they were doing a great job and getting the absolute most out of everything. I was disappointed that some of the backdrop elements of the set look to be made using AI – once I’d spotted that on the menu for the juice bar it made me give everything else in the set design a closer look and a bit of side eye, which is a shame. But the songs are great and there is a cast recording of the Off Broadway cast out now if you want to have a listen.
This is at the Underbelly Boulevard in Soho until November 1 – it was packed the night that I was there and seems to be selling well, so if you want to go and see it you’ve still got time if you’re quick
Have a great Sunday!
