When Julia Fox said in an interview with Glamour UK in 2025 that dating is frustrating for women and that men need to be ‘more f***able’, little did we know that, a few weeks later, the television adaptation of Rachel Reid’s Heated Rivalry would arrive and become a global phenomenon, answering her call in a way that resonated with so many women. Now The Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody lands at Underbelly Soho after an Off-Broadway debut at The Culture Club and an Edinburgh Fringe run.
Written by Dylan Marcaurele and directed by Alan Kliffer, the musical is cheeky, camp and gleefully unembarrassed about what it celebrates: lust, laughs and love, set to pop hits and hockey-inspired choreography. The story follows rival ice hockey players Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander, whose on-ice enmity quickly turns into something much hotter. It is a story told by a trio of Susans, suburban housewives who treat the series as hard-earned escapism once the husbands and children are in bed, usually with a martini or two. The same performers slip in and out of the main plot and its major U-turns very effectively, staying faithful to the source while spicing it up further.
The musical knows exactly why the series won over female audiences, and it is bold about a rarely discussed pleasure: women’s long-standing appetite for male-on-male romance, of which the Susans are knowing inheritors.
In a five-strong cast, Zheng Xi Yong plays Shane, and Joseph Dann makes an onstage appearance as Ilya. Although they cannot fully match the steaming chemistry of their screen counterparts, the score more than compensates. The songs are catchy, quick-witted and destined for cult status, and the punchy lines and high-spirited tunes keep the laughs coming. Shane’s ‘innocent’ song, ‘this fuk feels different from the last fuk’, is a highlight, as is Ilya’s melancholic ‘Big Ass, Cold Heart’, which plays deep feeling against the simple, lusting rush to just enjoy sex. Casts may change between productions, but the tongue-in-cheek spirit and playful explicitness can carry the show a long way.
One memorable joke, borrowed from the series, captures the musical’s spirit. Shane is amazed that Ilya’s English does not stretch to the word ‘compatible’. Compatibility is a filter women are expected to apply to every prospective partner, and the musical happily throws that burden off. This is still and indeed a true love story: two supposed enemies with distinctive characters, in a sport hostile to coming out (as the character Hunter shows), whose booty calls grow into something much deeper through years of connection without being forced.
Watching The Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody is more than a good night out. It proposes bigger questions about the complexity of desire, and it pushes back against the stereotype of a bitter woman who discovers her partner is gay. Here, the female characters are loyal to Shane and Ilya, a reminder that straight women’s solidarity with LGBTQ+ people can look more like connection than conflict in a patriarchal society. The older picture was a puritanical view of lust that the Susans nowadays enthusiastically refuse. With its camp performances and catchy songs, The Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody is a heart-warming treat for the colder months ahead.
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