A review of Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody
★★★★½
When I first discovered that there were multiple Heated Rivalries at this fringe, and realised soon after that I had watched and reviewed the wrong one (though how right it was!), I quickly moved to remedy the situation. Perhaps this wasn’t a mistake, though. Perhaps this was always meant to happen. I may now be in the uniquely privileged position of holding the two against one another. So, after seeing both renditions of Heated Rivalry: The Musical Parody, unauthorised and authorised versions, here are a few thoughts.
First, it goes without saying that both musical parodies make for a phenomenal night out. Each boasts true talent both behind the scenes and onstage, a great sense of humor and an unbridled, joy-filled approach to adapting the source material. What’s really fascinating is just how differently the two productions have turned out.
Unauthorized takes a wildly distinct route to parody, favoring innovation over reproduction at almost every turn. The story is retold through a group of straight female fans, or ‘Susans’, watching the series at home. Their full musical numbers bookend the performance, explain time jumps, and effectively turn them into companions for the audience.
Where The Musical Parody production (or, the authorised version) uses musical numbers to propel the story of Heated Rivalry forward, Unauthorized takes specific moments from the original to freeze time, creating a kind of liminal space in which the production can expand on those concepts. Seemingly more aware of the show’s real world reception, there are musical numbers about Ilya’s “big ass”, audio from the actor Connor Storie’s childhood youtube videos, and of course, the opening number about the Susans discovering the show itself. The result is a show that stands on its own as a fun piece of musical comedy, even if some of the original story is lost along the way. Unauthorized doesn’t retell Shane and Ilya’s story. It tells its own story, with Heated Rivalry seemingly happening in the background.
Having even secured the rights to perform “All The Things She Said”–– unlike its rival ––Unauthorized is, ironically, anything but. In Assembly’s Udderbelly, there is nothing “backyard” about this rendition; the show feels completely professional. Yet perhaps we’re stuffed full and spoiled at this Fringe festival, because I found myself almost missing some of the closer and more grounded feel of The Musical Parody.
Unauthorized also makes the choice to forego the storyline between Scott Hunter and Kip, instead selecting a ‘Scott’ from the audience as a bit. It was absolutely hilarious as the new ‘Scott’ awkwardly read out his lines from an onstage binder, but fans of the original might be a bit disappointed to lose their favourite love story. More than anything, Unauthorized inspired me to rewatch the television series, while The Musical Parody made me feel as though I had.
All in all, these are two completely different approaches to adaptation. And isn’t that a beautiful thing?
Bravo to the Heated Rivalries.
Elena Cebulash
Cover image via Matthew Murph
